Picklefork3

Catching up - April 2011

2011-12-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

We ~~have~~ had a News Paper route! Three girls, three routes. We lasted 5 months. It was very time consuming, more after school activities were added to our schedule, in the end I delivered to all three routes! On the plus side - We repainted all the white trim work in our house due to black news print finger marks Everywhere!

What the HECK!

2011-03-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

Snow - again!

I was hoping to start taking photo of my spring garden, not a winter garden.

Even the poor garden fairy looks exhausted holding that snow.

This photo (below) was under exposed when I took it, so I quickly beefed it up but I think I went too far too fast - right now SNOW is not my favorite subject - I will now delete this photo from my files.

JoAnna

Kensington Market

2011-03-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I spend today in the city with some photography friends. The 4 of us drove to China town and then walked the streets to Kensington Market. We had a great lunch in a Mexican Restaurant named El Trompo at 277 Augusta Avenue . I tried a drink called "Horcahta (made from rice, vanilla, cinnamon and a bit of milk) ohh it was soo good. Any who here are just a few of the photos I took - I am always learning and my friends were nice enough to try to teach more about taking photos.......so much to learn.

I love all the colours in this small space.

These bricks are a great back drop

I love the shadow here.

Sweet skirts

I can't wait til the next outing.

JoAnna

Am I Crazy?

2011-03-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Am I Crazy?

This couch is sitting on the neighbour's front porch and....... I love it!

I love it - I see soo much potential.

Its a beautiful red velvet with wonderful wood detail. Can you imagine it re-upholstered in linen and the wood painted white. It has 4 cushions so I would re-design it to be 3 but keep the the same puckered back (proper terminology ???). I bet it would be a pretty penny to have re-upholstered.

It looks super long ~ I took the photos from the sidewalk so I haven't had the up close and personal look yet.

I think it could look something like this.

Am I crazy?

JoAnna.

Cake

2011-03-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

Let them eat cake.

Looky looky what the girls made, they made their first fondant cake.

It's much like playing with play-doh - so much fun.

For the first attempt I think it turned out great, a little thick but non the less it's a show stopper.

Lane's 13th Birthday

2011-03-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

TV

2011-02-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to post these photos for a awhile now.

I bought this stereo cabinet from the thrift store, I refinished it, took off the wooden yin and yang symbols from the middle door, took the legs off and had Mr. attache it to the wall.

I forgot to take a photo of the BEST part.......the original working light bulb inside, when you slide the left hand door open the light comes on! Brilliant.

I like to take random photos of some of the rooms in the house - it give me a chance to see whats working in terms of colour and space. As you probably noticed I photoshopped the BLACK iron heat register from the base board under the cabinet on the right hand side - now I know it will look better painted the same colour as the base board - Yup, add it to my list of things to do.

We both like a clean and modern look in home decor but sometimes in my photos I think the room looks stark. I'll take a full room photo and you can be the judge.

Happy Tuesday..... JoAnna

Ellicottville Year 5

2011-02-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

Back from vacation!

We are back from our annual ski/board vacation - and man was it awesome! The runs were great, lots of snow and extreme cold temperatures. We skied 4 days morning til night. I love our winter vacation, lots of exercise outside and then back to relax in the hot tub, but mostly I love hanging out with our family & friends for the week.

I didn't take many photos of the vacation this year, I let the girls take video instead, I hope to have some funny movies.

Below is a photo of my NEW favorite socks, given to me and made by Nanny. I was given them on the trip and I swear to you I wore them everyday after we returned from the hill. They are so warm and fun. I took the photo and sent it to Nanny as a Thank you.

Thanks again Nanny.

JoAnna

my artwork

2011-02-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Had my appointment with the oral surgeon yesterday - 3 more weeks of blender food!

JoAnna

winter display

2011-02-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

blender with a capitol B

2011-01-31T19:09:00.000-08:00

I was in bed last week for the majority of the week. I had some oral surgery done (details are gross) but I am on the mend, swelling has decreased, off my pain killers but still blending all my food.

This photo is a reminder of how much time I spend in bed.

I have used this image in the past but wanted to try some textures on it. At first I loved it, the darkness, the way the star lights glow, the eery feeling...... But now that I'm looking at it again, I'm not so sure.

I guess that's how I felt last week, for the small amount of time that I was conscious.

Like I said I am on the slow mend and I have our ski vacation next week to look forward to. So next week I will take some lovely white snowy photos, brighten them up am mak'em pretty.

Til then, take care.

JoAnna

Miss L's head board - photo by westy

I'm Here

2011-01-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

I'm here just not as often. I started working outside the home mid November. It's great but now I have limited time for the blog and photography. I work for the city, walk to work (5minutes) and my hours are 9am - 2pm Mon to Friday. I am able to walk Miss. P to school in the morning and pick everyone up after school.

Then the real work begins, clean up breakfast dishes to make dinner and rush out the door to an activity. We are both out with kids running in separate directions Monday to Friday! And then 3 games of hockey, 2 practices spread over the weekend.

Love it!

Won't want it any other way.

I will pop in again when I can sneak a few minutes but don't hold your breath.

JoAnna

Banister

2010-11-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

I love this!

I found this photo on the net (sorry, don't know the source) and I love it. I want to do this decoration for Christmas. It will be a lot of work but it's so great to share memories with family and friends and I think this is the perfect way. Now to set some time aside to make it happen....hmmm.

JoAnna

adidas be-dazzled

2010-11-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

Miss P. spends a week in the summer with her Great Aunt Sharon at the cottage. Aunt Sharon is the best at everything, cake decorating, sewing, crafts, and be-dazzling! Miss P. went to the cottage with a new pair of adidas super stars this summer and came home with a be - dazzled pair of super stars! She loves them and so do all the kids at school. I finally got around to taking a photo of them and here it is.

They really sparkle in the sun but this is the best we could capture. The little jewels are actually Swarovski Crystals, Uncle George is a wholesale jeweler - Yup, you know it, I send my Christmas Want list right Aunt Sharon and Uncle George!

JoAnna

Last of the flowers - for awhile anway.

2010-11-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

While I'm looking at end of September photos on my camera ( still have not down loaded) - Christmas is creeping up on us. Santa Claus Parade is next weekend......a great excuse to make chili and ask my neighbor Anita to make her most excellent corn bread, hint hint. Yum.

JoAnna

Working. Really....!

2010-11-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

The time has come.

Dramatic eh?

Well, for the moment anyway.

I have taken on a part-time job with the city for next 2 months.

The hours are great, Mon- Fri, 9am - 2pm. I am still able to run all children to and from school and even walk the dog before work. It's with the Sales and Development department. I like it.

This little venture will make me appreciate what I had. Staying at home, my own schedule doing what I wanted when I wanted and visiting friends anytime of the day, in fact all day if I liked,

wink* wink* ~ Miss Tina.

I'll keep you posted on how I/we manage.

Both photos are from the neighborhood - (Dianne - I know you're going to take a walk around the block. hee, hee.) I have juiced both photos as Karen likes to say. I'm still waiting for both Karen and Dianne to set-up their blogs - let me know when your up and running ladies.

JoAnna

enough already - right?

2010-11-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

I love it - I can't get enough of the textures!

I know they look very messy but I love them because I'm actually learning more about photoshop than ever before. Once I become comfortable with the process behind creating a textured photo (wow, lots of background work), I really think some might turn out nice!

This will come in handy when I take photos around the house and need to blur the mess in the background - genius!

Til next time,

JoAnna

texture 2

2010-10-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Just messing with my photos.

JoAnna

texture mini lesson

2010-10-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here we are. I have soo many photos that get downloaded to the computer and that's it, there they sit. Yes, I print some and make family photo books of others, very nice, but I want to do more with them.

That's when it happened - I came across another blog on the net and the owner had a few tips on how to make your photos pop with texture! She gives great direction and then homework! These 2 photos show a very WEE tiny bit of what I've learned so far. There is sooo much to learn! I know some people might see them as horrible and ugly but the amount of effort to get them to this state is mind blowing........sounds funny to have them look horrible with a lot of effort but I know it will get better. I wanted to post them to hopefully be able to come back to them as a measurement of my progress. Wish me luck.

These photo's are from the neighborhood - Mr. thinks I should do a collection of photos from the hood? Any thoughts?

JoAnna

mini project

2010-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

I set myself out yesterday to take pictures. white pictures. I mean anything white, I just needed something to focus on. So out Charlie and I went for a walk around town. This is what I came home with.

My first lesson - it's not easy to take white photos in the middle of the fall when everything is so beautiful with colour.

I took the next picture which was very grey and thought it's close enought to white - right? Maybe it doesn't count as white....

I think this one does count because the background (white siding) is white - am I stretching it here?

So the project was a lot harder than I thought - I must have taken 50 photo's in an hour an honestly came back with 2 white photos. It wasn't a complete loss I do have some great fall pictures (I'll post later this week) I like the challenge of shooting a certain colour - I'll try white photos again in the dead of winter!

This photo below is what I recieved from Mr. for our anniversary - he choose all the flowers himself.....beautiful .........every time I walk by those flowers I feel a mixed message - what do the thistles mean?

Oh by the way I gave Mr, a special hockey addition bottle of Crown Royal for an anniversary present, on the card I wrote, "Drink Up you may need this to stay with me another 18 yrs". He laughed.

Romance is over rated. wink* wink*

Have a fun week,

JoAnna

Another anniversary - 18yrs

2010-10-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Its our 18 year anniversary this weekend!

I took this photo last weekend - we spend Thanksgiving at the beach.

Have a great weekend.

JoAnna

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad

2010-10-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary with a open house in our home town, a drop in from 2-4.

Wow did the people come.

It was great for my parents and for all of us. We saw old friends and neighbors from our child hood, it was great to catch-up with everyone.

This photo is of my Mom the day before the party helping with the decorations.

Its not easy to decorate a community centre but with help of my sister, Mom and myself I think we did a fine job. My girls painted the "happy 50th anniversary" banner - very colorful, just what we needed.

This is Dad pretending to pin a corsage on my Mom's shirt - it didn't work so well. In fact 3 more people tried to pin it as well and finally we decided it would make a great cake decoration.

I intended to take many more photos but once people started to show up, I started talking and stop taking photos.

After the drop in we headed over to the Flying Club for dinner. Between dinner and dessert we had speeches and my Uncle and his son-in-law put on a skit about my parents life. There is nothing funnier than a man dressed as a women holding his/her breast!

We had some great speeches and on behalf of my brothers and sister I put together a slide show presentation - one of my brothers lives in Sweden so in order for him to see the slide show I have now put it on You Tube - check out Audrey & Jack memories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtFroNNJQCo

We had a small wedding cake for Mom and Dad, the bride and groom on the top of the cake is the original one used on their cake 50 years earlier. (My Grandmother bought it for .89 cents at the "five and Dime").

My Mom and Dad were married on October 14th 1960

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

JoAnna.

Tom Brady

2010-09-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Our cat Tom Brady used to drink out of the dog's water bowl on the floor, until we got a fish!

I'm sure this is common among Cat and Fish owners but WoW it's new for us. Of course at first we were nervous he would try catching the fish and even end up in the fish bowl, but no, he just drinks the water and watches the fish, named "splash" swim around.

I love this photo below - Tom Brady looks like he wants to say "what? I'm not doing anything wrong".

I have had these photo's on file for awhile and just simply wanted to post them so we can look back and laugh.


Tom Brady and Splash - Friends

I should be back early next week - lots going on this weekend, can't wait to share. Have a nice week.

JoAnna

Thank You Scotty and Cheryl

2010-09-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

Do you remember a post call "Ice Time" back in Janurary?

It tells about our wonderful friends with an outdoor ice rink that doubles as a curling rink with boards and lights and everything.
And remember the fire pit that I absolutly love......well at the fire pit they have chairs and rocks and barn beams to sit on. Of course I fell in love with the old barn beams and mentioned this to the owners. As sweet as they are, that spring Mr. Scotty showed up on my door step with a beam from his very own fire pit and insisted I take it.

Spring quickly turned into the end of summer and there sat the barn beam up against the house. Oh I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, I just didn't make the time to do anything with it, and then it happened........ My Mr. took vacation.

When Mr.J takes vacation his favorite place to be is at home, Working, yes a capital "W" he works hard and is very efficient. He likes to "get things done" as he puts it. Mr.J takes on many projects at once, major projects, and finishes everyone of them in a timely manner - my Mom always tells me how lucky I am and I know it.
With Mr.J's input we found a wonderful person that works with metal. After a meeting, drawings and a few emails we got exactly what we wanted. I love it, our new barn beam bench with metal strapping. It proudly sits in the kitchen against a mellow yellow wall and has instintly given the kitchen an edgy modern feel.

So thank you to Scotty and Cheryl for sharing and you have first seating rights on the barn beam bench.

JoAnna

P.S. - Vacation week Mr. J also repainted the master and re-decorated - photos to come.

where have we been?

2010-07-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

So now that school is out, here are just a few things we've been up to.

Miss.S has been involved in training for triathlons and one of the places to train for swimming is the local gravel pit "James Dick Gravel Pit" - water is crystal blue with a sand bottom, kids loved it!

We took a trip to the big city and headed to the top of the CN Tower - and of course sat on the glass bottom floor.

We spend the weekend in Chatham for a ball tournament - between the girls we have 12 ball tournaments in 8 weeks - 4 more to go. nothing better than watching ball on sunny day.

We have been to Gravenhurst and had the pleasure of visiting 2 cottages. Miss L. caught our lunch......and Miss Tina and myself cleaned and prepared it for the grill - a bonding experience *wink*wink. A great story to be told.

And finally my handsome beau once again on the slalom ski.

Thanks to Miss Tina and Handsome Warren for having us up to your beautiful cottage we thoroughly enjoyed you and your family and I look forward to a MUD throwing re match....you know who you are!

Here's to more summer fun.

JoAnna

Turning 9

2010-06-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

She did it again, Miss P. turned another older on us!

The last of the single digits - 9!

We had 3 friends plus her sisters over for a pool party and some crafts. Instead of decorating t-shirts like her big sister did at her party, we decided to decorate socks. It was great for little hands and didn't take too long. We also made candy sticks and played the dress -up game once again.

In the dress-up bag was a coconut bra and everyone was afraid they'd pick it out - but alas Miss P. picked it out and happily wore it.

When someone would ask Miss P. what she'd like for her Birthday she would name of every electronic gadget going, cell phone, ipod, wii, ds, dsi computer and television but in the end we gave her a Fish. A beta fish and she named him "Splash" and said "I'm the luckiest girl in the world".

Priceless.

Happy 9th Birthday big girl.

Love Mom.

input please

2010-06-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of deciding on a new front door - we love the old one but it lets in a lot of cold air. We are replacing with a solid wood door and have many design options.The top photo is what exists now and the bottom photo is one of the new option. Our front entrance is dark inside and we would like to keep light coming in so a large window is a must. The stain colour will be the same as before - we will have a mail slot (no knocker) and simple handle.

We will change the light fixture on both sides of the door with larger ones in the future.

Here's were you come in please leave a comment - do you like it dislike it or have any suggestions.

keegan a BIG brother

2010-06-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

Keegan became a big brother on Saturday June 05 2010 - to baby Braydon.

Braydon missed Sloan's Birthday by 3 hours - but still a very special cousin.

Congrats to Uncle Steve and Auntie Sara and of course to Keegan.

HappY 11th

2010-06-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Day for a Beautiful girl. Miss S. turned 11.

We have discovered a very fun game - Musical dress-up. Pass the bag until the music stops, the child holding the bag reached in and pulls an item of clothing to put on. We chose 3 items per child.

the girls had a pose down and then a parade.

next we make Fruit loop necklaces, bracelets or anklets.

and then it's on to the Birthday cake. In this case it cupcakes, yes, money cupcakes! we had the kids decorate their own once we sang Happy Birthday.

in the photo above the birthday girl is a little frantic....she is telling us that the frogs are melting and their eyes are stating to fall off.

One of the Birthday guests made a stuffed toy for Sloan ~ I think it's the cutest ever.

Also Miss P. made this sign for her Big sister - it took her two days and then she realized she tore the paper and forgot to paint the "Y" at the end of DAY. Too cute.

Happy Birthday Miss S.

Love you,

Mom.

The people in my neighborhood!

2010-05-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hey Peeps ~

I have a funny funny picture.

Last weekend our family actually had a night free and enough food in the fridge to have the neighbors over for a spontaneous mini dinner party. I made lasagna, salad, garlic bread and Miss Tina brought the dessert. My favorite dessert, angel food cake with whip cream and strawberries.

Between us we have 6 children ranging in age from 3 - 12, and thankfully a large enough table to accommodate everyone which makes for a fun evening.

Near the end of dinner I grabbed my camera to snap a picture and this is what the cool kids gave me.

There is a wee kid between the 2 girls, and Charlie's behind (the dog) under the table can you spot them?

JoAnna

These are the people in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood, in my neigh-bor-hoooood......

sewing day

2010-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sewing today. These are some of the fabrics I will be using in the one of the girls bedrooms for window seat cushions. I thought I had better get started, I'm expecting the base seat cushion back sometime next week. I have hired that part out - not sure I could do a proper job of it.

The center fabric is my favorite, it's showing a little darker here than it actual is, none the less I really love it. Off I go, wish me luck.

JoAnna

garden flowers

2010-05-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

I picked these flowers from my garden ~ set them outside on the table along with some birch tree pieces Mr. cut for me and walked around them taking photos.

I love the forget-me-nots I'm glad they look just as good in a jar as they do in the garden.

JoAnna

Mother's Day

2010-05-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

My sister and I had our Mom over for lunch yesterday for Mother's Day.

I set some flowers out on the patio table and took this photo I was hoping to have lunch outside but it was a bit too cold. I love lilac's its a shame they don't last longer. I added a vintage action to this photo - do you like it?

Happy Mother's Day.

JoAnna

Violin, Cross Country Racing and Baseball

2010-05-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

My memory is poor so today's post is about documenting what the girls accomplished this week (it's ONLY Tuesday) so much going on you'll see why I have to post what they're up to, its the only way I can remember. I like looking back on previous posts and am glad I have documented even the smallest details about the girls - it's all happening too fast.

The girls have been busy - Miss L along with her classmates had their adjudication this week for intermediate strings. The class played two songs in front of a panel of judges. They did very well (not sure of the exact grade, had to run right after and grocery shop) but it was nice to listen to the music and see how far they have come in two years time.

Miss P and S had a cross country meet today, at a nearby conservation area. Both girls ran 2.7km. Miss P finished 23rd out of 172 girls (time 17:10) and Miss S finished 9th out of 170 girls (time 14:13) This was Miss P's first year and Miss S's second beating her time last year. Mr, Charlie and I enjoyed a beautiful sunny day with the girls.

Can you feel the energy?

1st ball game of the season. Mite Jr. ~ Miss P plays second base and pitcher and despite great efforts we lost the game. Many more to come, in fact her first tournament is this weekend. Any laundry tips for a white uniform and ground in red clay?

See ya soon.

JoAnna

Walk to School

2010-05-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

This year we have the three girls in three different school .... as you can imagine we are anxiously awaiting summer holiday. This is our walk to school for our youngest (sisters ride the bus) it a nice 15 minute walk through the park along side a river.

we often stop to throw sticks in the water - *note to self, bring bread for the fish. Now that spring has arrived I will have to bring the camera and capture some of the spring flowers along the way.

Have a nice day.

Madeira Beach, Florida

2010-04-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

After Disney World we spend the next 5 days in Madeira Beach with Grandma and Doug.Excellent planning on our part - we needed the time to just sit on the beach and rest. The water was too cold to swim in but we had a great pool you can see in the bottom right corner. This photo was taken from our balcony.

While we in Madeira we did some shopping and and plenty of eating out. In the photo below Grandma and Doug took us to the pier for dinner on a patio at Sculley's. We sat on the patio and watched the pelican, and we even saw a few dolphins, I did take photos of them but you can hardly see the dolphins, they are little black blobs in the middle of the blue water.

I played around with this photo of the pelican in photoshop but may have over exposed it too much...whata think? I like how the green colour shows in the wood.

I loved this sign how its patina.

I'm not sure what kind of bird this is but I can tell you he's smart. The boat had just come in from a fishing expitition and this guy waited until there was no one on his side of the boat, he would walk slowly up the box and then jump up onto the box and wait.......without a sound he would dive into the box and quickly come up with a fish! Now we know its the bait box.

I love this photo above as well, I find it kinda funny, the bird just standing there looking around and then you notice he's standing on a stump covered in poop....

I took this shoot while eating dinner on the patio - yes, he was right above me the whole time and that close. I ate in a hurry all hunched over....come to think of it I ate so fast I can't recall what I had.

Here is Mr sitting on the beach watching the girls collect shells. Everyday after spending time at the beach we would head over for a game of shuffle board

I have so many photos it was hard to choose just a few to share, I may have to post more now and again.

so there you have it our great March Break trip - lucky us 2 trips so far this year and its only April....Hmmmm

Thanks for taking to stop by ~ please leave a comment I would love to hear what you have to say.

JoAnna.

Florida 03/2010

2010-04-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what part of Florida we visited for March break this year? You bet..... Disney World!

And ohh how we loved it. The first day we arrived was the the marathon day. We stayed in Buffalo the night before and woke at 4am to catch the flight out at 6am. We were standing in The Magic Kingdom Park by 10am. We entered and stopped dead in our tracks, it was huge, busy, colorful and full of smiling faces, we slowly walked a little ways up the street and the girls spotted the pin display right away.....that was fine because it gave us time to look at the map and ask the staff a few questions. Then the parade started, Disney Dreams Come True Parade, right in front of us! after the parade we made are way on to the see the sights. The weather was perfect, just right with blue sunny skies. Here we are getting on the ride "it's a small world" - oldie but a goodie (Joe was in Florida when he was seven and remembers it's a small word) so this was a must.

The teacup ride is a favourite of the girls and they know I don't really like it, so they beg me to go on the Mad Tea Party with them and then try their darnest to make me dizzy - This photo of course is before the ride starts, I left out the after photo....uhg - just thinking about it makes my stomach turn.
they look like their up to no good!

Miss S is the kid that loves rides the bigger and faster the better. So Mr.Dad mustard all his wits and agreed to go on Space Mountain with her - This photo was taken after their ride. I was elected to ride Splash Mountain with Miss S. We also went to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Peter Pan's Flight, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Cindeella's Golden Carrousel, Stiches's Great Escape, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Monsters, Inc. The Laugh Floor Comedy Club.

We did eventually head back to the Polynesian Resort (we stayed here as well) and had dinner reservations at 'Ohana, it was a fun time for the kids, they were involved in a parade through the restaurant (Lane being the leader) fun and games. The food was incredible. Our resort was on the monorail system so it made it simple and quick to go to and from the park, which we did right after dinner. We ended up getting back to our room close to mid night ...hows that for a 20 hour day!

The second day we enjoyed Animal Kingdom. We saw It's Tough to be Bug, Festival of the Lion King, we took an incredible Kilimanjaro Safaris and saw many of the animals we saw on our trip to Africa way back when. We also went to Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, Finding Nemo The musical and Dinosaur.

We had dinner reservation that night at The Floridian - Chef Mickeys. The girls loved the food here, self serve and most food was in the shape of Mickey's head - Mr loved it too!

Mini what a gal!

Third day we were planning to do another park but decided to to Downtown Disney instead. We headed out in the morning and walked the streets by the water until noon. No we did not eat at McDee's - Where there's a McDonald's you are sure to find Mr. The afternoon was spend sitting by the pool at the Polynesian. We could see the Castle across the water from the pool and even take the fairy over to Magic Kingdom. The Polynesian hotel was beautiful and the people were so helpful.

Please tell me we are not the only parents that let their kids try on the hats, take the picture and then put all the hats back without buying anything?

And of course it wouldn't be complete without a photo with the man himself our dear old Walt Disney!

Wow what a Magical trip - can't wait til next time.

It's my Birthday!!

2010-04-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

I turned 42 today! These beautiful flowers were delivered to me at work this morning from my most awesome husband, 3 super fantastic daughters and our wonderful pets. Thanks everyone for all the Birthday wishes.

typography

2010-03-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Today I have running around to do - bank, book store, groceries just to name a few, and all the regular stuff - on going laundry, (never ending) and vacuuming (larger than life hair balls). It's actual a lovely day and I will take the camera with me - as I did in the photo above.

The laundry mat is no longer there and I have often admired the sign - so I made a point of walking down town to take the photo. I have a thing for typography and you may remember the apartment sign from an earlier post you can see here .

So off I go - I am looking forward to the book store - so many books so little time.

til next time -

JoAnna.

garage sale find

2010-03-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

2010 Olympics - Canada

2010-02-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

Hockey is our Game!

The Canadian women's hockey team celebrates their 2-0 win over Team USA to win the gold.

Canada beats U.S. in overtime, 3-2, to capture men's hockey gold medal at Olympics

rod iron bed

2010-02-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

We have had this gem in the garage for years ++. Since we decided to redo the attic and give each of the girls their own rooms - we needed one more bed.
So we pulled her out of storage and took a look at the work that would need to be done.

I started to scrub away at the bed with a wire brush but after 10 minutes knew it would take me a very long time to make any progress and also knew I wouldn't be happy with the results.

Not only did the bed need refinishing it also needed to be welded in one spot. As you can see it has some fun detail.

An hour on the phone and internet and I found a company close by that would sand blast, coat any colour (I choose white...of course) and weld the spot by mid week!

-So I loaded up the van and headed out, true to there word 3 days later we have the beautiful results. Its a double so we didn't have any trouble buying box spring and mattress, we did opt for the 5" box spring (shortest available) and she still sits high, but not bad at all.

Now I need to shop for the perfect linens. Sooo....once I have it all together I will post again.
We now have a lovely old rod iron bed, restored. I love these ikea lights, we've had them forever and keep moving them around.

Winter Olympics - Vancouver 2010 - Day 8

2010-02-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

whata* busy week! So busy I can not account for all the time! Monday was a holiday, Family Day. We headed to the park for a family skate and so did every other family in the city! We did have fun though we met up with some friends and headed over to the local pub for a beer.

Later that evening Lane had a hockey game, she is now in the play offs as well as the provincials - this is the first year her team has played together and they are doing well but more importantly have a ton of fun.

We have also been glued to the television watching any and every olympic sport that is televised, and then we watch the replays on the computer in morning while were waiting for Vancouver to wake-up and start it all over again. Piper's school is running their own olympic games this week.

Piper volunteered to make the olympic flag for her class. Joe helped her cut out the rings, and pin them down.

Sloan helped set the sewing machine up and I helped her sew.

It was pretty cute watching Piper sew, we had to jimmy a seat for her and lift the sewing pedal so she could reach it with her toe. As you can imagine the speed varied with every stitch and in some places the material bunched up and, we just kept on sewing. I think it makes it even prettier. In the end Piper added a fancy stitch around the outside.

Piper carried the flag in to the gymnasium with her class close behind, and enjoyed a full day outside at the SWC Winter Olympics.

Till next time - Go Canada!

2010-02-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Mr. and I woke up to breakfast in bed. Miss.Piper, brought a tray up with 1/2 a bagel, and an apple for each of us along with a homemade card. Super cute.....she did mention that her sister's "bailed" on her and so that's why she scribbled their names off of the card. Down stairs Miss.Lane and Miss.Sloan made us each a card. Miss.Sloan made a necklace for me and she drew a hockey picture for Joe. You can't ask for more than that.

So...this week I was trying to think of something fun to give the family for Valentines, I didn't want to spend money and didn't want to give anything materialistic, I thought we could bake some cookies or make a craft but we seemed to be running out of time. Anyway somewhere along the way an idea popped into my head, cheap, fun and the girls could have some fun with it as well.

I filled a bottle with food colour and water - Late last night I snuck outside after everyone was in bed and wrote a valentines in the snow......

The girls thought it was so much fun that they tried their hand at it in the front yard. They were out in the snow by 8am and wrote their own messages.

Mr. has a birthday at the end of the month, lets hope for snow again and we will have a new palette.

I have to tell you, The Mr. of the house was the sweetest of all. He gave us all tickets to the Raptors Basketball game in March, in the box (I can't wait I've never seen them play and I'm always asking to go) and to top it off he gave me a day at a lovely new spa a block away and the girls each a manicure - how much fun is that!

A very sweet day.

JoAnna.

Valentines Party

2010-02-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

The girls were busy writing Valentines over the past few days to get ready for classroom parties. Piper decided to make a special Valentines Box for her classmates to drop their Valentines in. So last night was a busy time at the kitchen table - and this morning - final touches needed to be done ya know!

Yes, as you can see Piper does her best work while sitting on the kitchen table.

And voila the final product - totally cute!
Even Lane walked by and said it's cute - huh Ma?

Piper's big sister Sloan decided to make the bag version - quick easy and fits in the backpak!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone - flowers would be nice *hint......

JoAnna.

before and afters

2010-02-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

We have decided to create a new bedroom in the attic for one of the girls. In creating one new room of course now both old and new rooms have to be decorated. It is a slow process and in the next few blogs I will post before and after pics of pieces that I have re-done. When the rooms are finally complete..... you'll have to patient** I'll post finished pics. To start I found this mirror in a thrift shop for $9.00 it was green and I simply painted it white, nothing more needed to be done.

I will be placing it above a dresser in one of the girls rooms, it's huge and heavy, I was thinking of leaning it against the wall but I'm afraid it may fall so on the wall it will go. It has a wee bit of detail, not too much, just the way I like it.

There is not a big difference in tone, the green was fairly nice, but I knew I wanted an overall white theme. In my mind white = clean do you think the girls will see it that way and keep the rooms clean + tidy?

Here is the finished product (my photos not the greatest) like I said not a huge difference but I am so pleased with my $9.00 purchase.

ski vacation~ year 4

2010-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Just home from a wonderful ski vacation in Ellicottville NY - Holiday Valley. This was our 4th year running, we travel with 4 other families and together rent a beautiful chalet walking distance from the hill. The chalet windows face part of the hill and this is the view at night.

There were 6 kids traveling with us this year the youngest being 8 - or do I mean 5. *wink *wink and the oldest just turned 14 yesterday, 4 girls and 2 boys. They are great bunch a kids that help each other out and stick together on the slopes. Pipes, Matthew and Sloan were new to boarding this year and all 3 loved it!

I love this photo of Sloan riding the chair lift on her own ~ her wee mousy ears.

We would ski 2 - 3 times a day. when we weren't on the hill you could find us playing clue, crib, putting a puzzle together or in the hot tub. It's a great vacation, outside all day, and coming in hungry - everything taste better after being outside all day. Here's Piper and her zebra helmet.

Oh and we can't forget the kids main staple throughout the trip......pop tarts - 11 boxes between the 6 of them! Most flavors we cannot buy here, and if you look close you'll even see the easy cheese - Yes ~ we love it!

Looking forward to next year!

joanna

I had a dream

2010-01-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful invitation this morning from my very clever friend Miss Christina.....
I hope it makes you laugh too.

Miss Christina writes ~

Dearest JoAnna,
I had a dream last night that you and I were shopping in Las Vegas and you wanted to spend $2000 on a giant oil painting of a beer keg. I convinced you that it was obviously a print reproduction and you would be better served to buy the original for $10,000.

I believe this shows that I always have your best interests at heart. I also believe that this is a sign that you will be having a party soon. We would be delighted to attend!

I have nothing planned this afternoon if you would like to join me for tea.

Kind Regards,
Miss. Christina

I write back ~

Dear Friend,

Your dream from the past night not only reveals a party on the horizon but that you do in fact look out for my best interest. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I am in your foremost thoughts. With that being said you will indeed be formally invited to a future social affair, and as you previously declared I can count on your attendance.

As for tea this afternoon - I would be delighted to attend, please advise of a time that is fitting.

Wholeheartedly yours,
Miss. JoAnna

Miss Christina writes ~

Great Joy! Such a fortuitous day is this that I may partake of your delightful company and insightful conversation. I will be awaiting your arrival at your leisure twixt the hours of 1 and 3 this very afternoon.

Might I be so bold as to offer a selection of confections for your enjoyment along with the libations or will you be fasting in your endeavors to reduce the size of your considerable hiney?

Your Busom Friend,
Miss. Christina

Miss Christina and I did meet for a splendid cup of tea and glorious tète-à-tète.

Thank You Miss Christina ~ till next time.

Your friend,
Miss JoAnna

Rebuttal

As you know I posted a lively chat between my chum Miss Christina and myself about an invitation to tea the other day, well as it turns out Miss Christina was not the slightest bit joyful with the likeness I posted of her. I have since then received a rebuttal from Miss Christina as follows....

Dear Friend,

Am tickled to learn of the recent posting to your electronic publication, and was pleased to know that your friends and family found it humorous. What I do not find humorous is the ghastly tintype attached to said posting of my likeness in a somewhat unflattering manner.

Most upsetting is the depiction of my startling "bean-like" head perched atop a "too-large" body with bare untoned limbs exposed for all of cyberspace to giggle at. In efforts to rectify the situation, and in lieu of retaining counsel, I have attached a more flattering image of myself to serve as a replacement. I hope this will please all involved.
Otherwise you may find a hefty dose of ex-lax in your next cup of tea be-atch.

Lovingly, Miss. Christina

Attached to this email is "the more flattering" photo of Miss. Christina......

Save some chocolate for the rest us would ya! *wink *wink

Love you,

Miss JoAnna.

P.S On for tea next week?

Ice time

2010-01-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

For our family it's all about Hockey and Baseball. Since we are heading into the dead of winter I will blog often about the hockey. We are fortunate that all 3 girls love the game and enjoy outdoor rinks.

Many of our friends have taken on the major task of building backyard rinks complete with boards and lights. This lovely family, Mr. & Mrs. Sexy along with teenage son. have created an excellent outdoor haven, not only does it have the boards, nets, lights, music it also has the red line and doubles as a curling surface.

oh forgot to mention they also have an outdoor fire pit! Hockey and beers by the fire - does it get any better than this?

Kids waiting their turn to play.

Every year a few days after Christmas we rent the local arena ice for a few hours to play shinny, its become a wonderful tradition, here is Dad with his very own hockey stars.

Next up ... a few photos I took while everyone was skating. I know there a bit Artsy, but I can't resist!

Enjoy the snow and ice,

JoAnna.

shoes

2010-01-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Introducing one of my sweet nephews - Keegan. I was lucky enough to look after him last week and I had him all to my self for the whole day. Keegan is one and quickly learning how to walk.

Keegan's Mom dropped him off with a pair of the cutest shoes and a pair of boots. I couldn't resist putting on his new converse shoes size 4, but...sadly they did not fit.

So I ran up stairs to the girls baby bin (a bin chucked full of things I can't let go of...you know the one) and to my surprised pulled out three pair of shoes and a pair of slippers in Keegans size - now 5.5 !

These beauties are great walking shoes lots of ankle support. Yes, those are pink flowers you see embroidered on the sides.....He wore them home but I know that was the last time he wore them - your a good sport Keegan - glad I have the photo.

Love Auntie JoAnna.

2010

2010-01-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

So I think I will try to blog more often - thinking 3 times a week .... because what fun is it when you check out a friends blog to find out they haven't been there in a month.

This means I will be up later at night which in turns could mean for a grumpy girl, but then again I will adjust and it will be so worth it. My family, the girls especially love to check out the blog and re visit the past, so with that being said let's get to it.

Over the holidays we did not have a lot of snow but just the same we managed to find some winter fun - we went for long walks through parks and along rivers.

Ah - here is the only mound of snow in the city and the kids found it!

At the river we spotted many ducks, they all came quite close to us we assume looking for bread. Believe it or not they were not interested in Charlie at all, but Charlie was interested in them! The girls refer to the ducks as Mr. and Mrs. Malards.

There is one particular apartment building in the area that has a fantastic sign painted on the front of the building - I have always been meaning to take a picture and here it is.

So there you have it my new years resolution, blogging at 3 times a week. I already have pictures and thoughts for Thursday, wish me luck.

JoAnna.

Merry Christmas + God Bless

2009-12-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Picklefork3: Lord Stanley

2009-12-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

Picklefork3: Lord Stanley

Lord Stanley

2009-12-23T12:09:00.001-08:00

Today we took a family trip into the city - we went to the Hockey Hall Of Fame...played a few interactive games and touched the stanley cup.

2009-12-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

A birthday in December - Lane turned 12. Next, the teen age years! YIKES!

Ain't he a beauty.

2009-12-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

Meet Tom Brady, the newest member of our family. He will be two on New Years day.

the Christmas urn

2009-12-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

Here is our front door urn for this season. As you can tell I spend some time on it which translates to some money spend on it. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

Here's a close-up of a few goodies to give it sparkle!

2009-12-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

Are you ready?

These are some decorations hung in the kitchen above the table.

JoAnna.

Thanksgiving~Halloweeneee

2009-11-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

September Photos

2009-10-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

Grandpa and our youngest nephew, Keegan.

This was taken the last day of summer vacation (Sept 7) . We had both sets of Grandparents and my sister's family over for a bbq outside.
September 18th - Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs came to the theatres in 3D. Sloan was so excited to see it, she even waited for all the credits to roll in order to see her friends name on the screen, and we saw it! Ya for David.

We spend my Dad's 70th Birthday at my brothers house in Owen Sound and on the way there I took some photos of the wind turbines in Dundalk. Since taking the photo I have had the chance to read up on the Dundalk turbines, and I have to say its harder to find the positive effect of them than it is to find the negative. I have read a few articles and wonder how much we will benefit from them in the long run. Interesting.

North Bay- Beaucage - Nipissing First Nation Reserve

2009-10-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

We have started camping with a group of friends every year up in North Bay. Piper and I swimming in Lake Nipissing at Beaucage Campground.
Here is a photo of some of the gang at dinner time. Fun to eat together.

The bayview

2009-10-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

The Bayview - otherwise known as the Candy store when on vacation at Wasaga with kids. Joe remembers it from when he was a kid, and it still has the fry shop in the back!
Lane and Peri digging holes in the sand.
Lane and Joe, nothing better than reading on a sunny afternoon.

Summer at the beach

2009-10-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Can you tell what's happening here? Lane, Sloan and Piper have some friends at the beach, Veronica and Sophie, between the 5 of them they decided to try rolling Sloan along the beach in the inter tube! I think she liked it.
Piper using the boggie board - we had great weather both times we were at the beach this summer. Thanks to Aunt Sharon and George for offering their cottage to us.

See ~ there's that sunset again. Love it! Oh and I love the summer hair the girls have going on...!
My man, Charlie.

2009-10-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

Sisters in the pool.

Wasaga Beach

Catching some minnows and one or two tadpoles

Our Sunset every night. I must have 25 pictures of the sunset - I just couldn't get enough of it! Beautiful.
A few of our friends

Pool Chairs

2009-09-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Back to School - This is the 2nd week back and I still have not finished posting photos from the summer - Yikes. I hope to spend some time on the blog at the end of the week to catch - up! At the beginning of the summer Joe and I re-stained our pool chairs - now that the weather is beautiful outside no one is home to use them. I miss the kids.

A New Friend

2009-08-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Charlie met a new friend at the ball park.

City Scape

2009-08-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

Fairies in the Garden

2009-08-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Lavender

The girls build a fairy house and invited the garden fairies to stay for awhile.

Theatre Camp

2009-08-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

The girls went to a local theatre camp for a week and on the last day the children performed an outdoor play. The title of the play "I want to go Home". Piper playing the part of a spaceship mechanic, Lane played the scientist.Sloan played the part of an evil villain. They all received awards at the end of the camp. Piper won "the smallest actor with the loudest voice" she received a gift card and a membership to the City Arts Council. Lane won "most friendly" and Sloan won for "most sportsman like" very hard award to win at a theatre camp!

Summer begins

2009-08-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

The fountain in the park filled with soap - we love this prank. It happens a few times a year and I always take a picture.

One I forgot to post of Lucas and Joel using sleeping bags as toboggans and sliding all the way to the bottom of the stair case at Nana and Grandpa's.

This photo of the children lying on the hot asphalt is a game they made up - who can keep most body parts on the hot pavement the longest.

5 cousins chil'in on the front stoop after a great 2 day trip with Grandma to Great Wolf Lodge. So fun we want to join them next year.

Strawberry Season

2009-08-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

We went strawberry picking with the neighbors one afternoon. One of the few warm days. Piper enjoying a strawberry.

Lane and Jake hard a work and picked the most berries together.

The Barn

2009-07-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

My parents barn - at one time it had chickens, turkeys and even rabbits. Our pet bunny was named Buck Rogers, large and docile. I remember bringing him to Brownies for show and tell. Now the barn acts as a shed and a wonderful back drop to the property.

Clay Hills

2009-07-25T04:54:00.000-07:00

We took a little side trip to the Clay hills or Bad Lands as some people know them. The kids can run like crazy here and get dirty.

Badlands is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has become molded into a rolling landscape of rounded hills and gullies. Such areas are rare in Ontario. They exhibit the reddish hue of the Queenston Shale that forms them. It is the presence of iron oxide in the shale that accounts for the red colour. The narrow greenish bands that can be seen throughout the shale are due to the change of red iron oxide (iron III) to green iron oxide (iron II) brought on by the circulating groundwater. The relatively soft shale is essentially clay and easily eroded by water

My brother's visit.

2009-07-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

My youngest brother Steve and his family - wife, Lena and boys Lucas 8 and Joel 5 arrived June 25th from Malmo Sweden, for a 2 week visit. It has been 8 years since Steve has been home, so the whole family was crazy excited to have them come and to meet the boys. Of course 2 weeks fly by and even faster when you have to share with 4 other siblings and your parents. We have been fortunate enough to have a photographer take family photos (thanks to my parents) host Lucas's 8th birthday on Canada Day, shop, talk visit together, laugh and get to know the boys. Of course their departure is fast approaching and it breaks our hearts to see them go. Thank you for taking the time to come to Canada and for spending your vacation time on us,

Love your family.

texture photos

2009-07-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Two friends sneaking a peek.

Love in a Nut Shell

2009-06-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

Gardening in early spring I found this walnut, how could I not keep it.

Last Day of School

2009-06-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Last day of grade 6, 4, and 2. It all happens too fast.

i love my camera!

2009-06-24T07:38:00.001-07:00

Father's Day

2009-06-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Dad's Day.

Joe and I went for a run together this morning - well... I ran, Joe had to do a few loops to make it worth while for him. When we came home Joe proceeded to do his favorite things - cut the grass, and wash his car. The girls gave him some great cards made at school, "Roses and Red, Violets are blue, Hockey is cool and so are you". After lunch we lazed by the pool and later we ordered pizza. What a great day.

Piper's 8th Birthday

2009-06-22T07:45:00.001-07:00

June 13 09 - Piper's 8th Birthday

Pool party - Piper asked for an angel food cake, whip cream and strawberries and of course a money cake.

Can't make a Birthday Cake without money in it!

Piper's favorite gift was her new guitar. Piper is now writing her own music.....watch for video coming soon!

Sloan's 10th Birthday

2009-06-22T04:37:00.001-07:00

June 04 09 Birthday #10

Sloan's backyard pool party with school friends and neighbors. Sloan loved the giant cupcake, but... "next time Mom please don't make it organic"!

Her favorite gift was from her new friend "David, the most excellent animator" who send her a signed poster and book of the new movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".

Sloan asked to change her Birthday to Sept. because that's when the movie comes out. Thank You David - Best Birthday Ever! Sloan also received her first very own camera - with video, look out YouTube!

Laaadies Lunch May 03 09

2009-06-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

May 3rd 09 -

Fundraiser for Bark Lake

Lane and Peri served lunch and entertained the Laaadies on a sunny afternoon in May. The girls are heading to Bark Lake Haliburton Highlands on a school trip for 3 days in June. We asked the girls to raise 1/2 of the funds for the trip. They decided to have a Luncheon inviting Laaadies and asking for a $10 donation they were both able to meet their goal and on Monday they paid for the trip! Thank

you Laaadies for your support. Thank you Dad's for the help and Thanks to Sloan and Piper for serving.

Menu - Veggie Panini, stawberry spinch salad, mini cheesecakes with raspbarry sauce. and of course Sagrias, lots of Sangrias!