OMG Moving is awful.
We just moved from our Port Moody condo into a rental house in Belcarra. Took us three days (so far) and we are still in the process of cleaning our condo to prepare to sell. Not sure why we thought that moving everything ourselves with no help would be a good idea, but it wasn't. We are exhausted, sore, cranky and so far slightly unappreciative of our new place (I may feel this more than Ed at this point). I hope this feeling will dissipate because the setting is lovely, close to the lake, quiet and roomy.
This post is mainly for documentation for both Ed and I to refer to in the (hopefully very) distant future for any moves we decide to do. HIRE MOVERS.
THAT IS ALL.

What I'm learning from saving money and how I'm actually enjoying being thrifty:
I can make interesting lunches and snacks
I started giggling today about how when I make snacks at work I feel like I'm camping or playing house. I have my tiny Tupperware container of butter, my compact click-together cutlery set and my Pokemon inspired plate on which I serve myself raisin toast.
My crafting and artwork is becoming more creative as I have more time to spend on it and I'm rummaging through the library to find art books that I normally would pass by in search of the newest, greatest thing.
I'm spending more time with my family. I'm home, not thinking about shopping, I'm finding great movies, playing fun games with Teagan, relaxing on the couch more and just generally less frantic.
All in all, I've come to settle into cutting back on expenses. I'm not seeing it as a threat so much as an opportunity.

Rainy weather

I woke up this morning with the attitude that the day will be depressing and dull as Mondays tend to be and the rain is continuing until who knows when.
Then I started thinking. What if I turn all of that negative thinking around and think of Monday as an opportunity to start the week fresh? Why can't rainy days with heavy cloud cover be considered a beautiful thing? When I watch my four year old get excited to break out her umbrella and pink rainboots at the first sign of a shower, I get reminded of when I was small and ran around in the forest behind our house stomping on wet moss, smelling the earthy scent of the dirt under my feet.

Podcasts
I have recently "discovered" the wonders of podcasts. Not sure what took me so long. I feel like a whole new world of entertainment has been offered to me. I don't run full tilt ahead into technologies unfamiliar to me. Instead I let everyone else in the world test them out and then I use their tips and reviews guide me. Silly I know. Really what it means is that now I've missed out on years of testing out cool stuff.
So far I've enjoyed a couple episodes from Comedy Death Ray. I ended up laughing my face off at work while I listened. As well, I've been learning a lot about American culture from This American Life.

End of Summer:
I love Fall, I really do. I love the way that the air just feels crisper, cleaner, and a bit more electric. I can't wait to pull on a snug cardigan, some cashmere blend socks and sit in front of the tv without feeling like I need to get out and do "summer stuff". Every Spring I think to myself, "Gosh, I have so many ideas for this summer" and most of those ideas get pushed to the wayside by the exhaustion that the heat induces in me or the fear that I may actually get skin cancer.

It was my first working at home day today, it was very hard to not be distracted by tv and eating all the food I could find. I even ended up taking a nap because it's hard to resist the comfy pillowtop mattress calling to me.
Ed and Teagan and I just finished watching the opening olympic ceremonies. Up until a week ago, I would not have envisioned myself watching it, I was against Vancouver hosting the olympics and still have many issues with it, but I figure that there is not much we can do about it now and seeing the amount of spirit and togetherness that comes with something this big is pretty awe inspiring.

Resurrection of a blog.
I've had the urge to write more lately, so here I am back at it. Posting Facebook status updates and Twitter "bits" is okay, but not so satisfying.
I am really looking forward to spring this year. We've had an amazingly mild winter thankfully, but seeing all of the little buds hanging out on the trees is making me really happy. I walked by one tree the other day and the way that the dew was sitting on the branches and the buds, it looked like the tree was filled with tiny Christmas bulbs.
I've been thinking about trying to be more grateful for the things I have and am able to do. Things like: I can go to yoga class and do my best at the poses, I can cook a mean macaroni and cheese and my kid is one of the funniest people I know!

I challenge you to tell me what you are grateful for!

Happy New Year!
We had a nice low-key New Years with Teagan...we ordered Pizza Hut (yum!!), played some Mario Kart on Gamecube and watched Miami Vice. Teagan didn't want to go to sleep until she rang in the new year, so she was up until after midnight-yikes, we'll get on a better sleep schedule soon. Here are my New Year's resolutions: Keep our house cleaner, keep our car cleaner, do more sewing and knitting and reading. I don't know, I don't want to be too rigid because I know I'll break all of these resolutions.

Bah. Snow.
I really love how beautiful the snow looks out my window, all whistler village like and bright, but I am getting bloody tired of being stuck at my house not able to drive my car. I just read in our local paper that the municipality has excess funds for snowplows and salters-then why the hell aren't they plowing our side streets for god's sake? Not only this but I am freaked out of other drivers fishtailing and roaring down the icy streets at 80 kms/hr. Maple Ridge is FILLED with trucks and SUV's and crazy drivers who think they are immortal.

I'm done now.

I've spent a nice evening deconstructing t-shirts and sewing a fleece baby blanket and finishing a pair of pajama pants. Woo hoo! I really needed to do this. There is something cathartic in pulling out the ol' sewing machine and just going to work on fabric with nary a care in the world. I almost reached the point of actually cutting out my dress pattern but I think I just feel like watching TV now. I'll post pictures soon.

I decided to treat myself and buy the book Sew U today-I also threw in a copy of Jane just for good measure. I'm stoked (haha, Laguna speak) to get back into sewing, as long as Teagan lets me. She's been needing more attention lately because of her teething so any projects I've wanted to work on will just have to wait, but I have so many ideas for sewing, beginning with a new lavender fleecie baby sleeping bag which should see her through 12 months and a fleece blanket for walks. I was at Fabricland tonight and picked up a few fleece remnants. For me I want to sew a couple skirts, pajama pants and work on my DKNY black dress pattern I've had for like 4 years now.

So, I am in the midst of furiously trying to finish the last 100 pages of my online book club's October selection, Little Earthquakes. It is a pretty good read. The characters are all new moms plodding through the early days of motherhood and I think it is safe to say it hits pretty close to home. I wonder what our next pick will be, I might try suggesting the new Janet Fitch book Paint it Black. I just had my nightly mug of Ovaltine and am trying not to turn on Saturday Night Live. Must. read. book.

Teagan is getting a tooth or two. She's been very drooly lately and I can feel the little tooth (teeth?) on the bottom gum. The last few days she's been in pain, I've been giving her Hyland's homeopathing teething tablets and baby Tylenol for bedtime. Last night she slept for four hour stretches as opposed to the night before when she was up every hour. I just love her so much and even more when I know she's in pain. I feel so protective of her, like a mother bear.

I really want to take an art class, something that I can do for myself so I feel creative again. I've been looking at pottery, soapstone or wood carving. I may have to wait until Teagan will be able to stay at home with her daddy and not have to nurse every couple hours. In the meantime I will refine my search and pick out the perfect class. Any suggestions?

Things I'm enjoying this week:

• Fergie's new song Fergalicious (spelling?)

• KOS's new album Atlantis

• Teagan's little giggles and squeals

• L'oreal's liquid eyeliner (Lineur Intense) in mineral grey

• St Ives Energizing citrus body wash (really wakes me up in the morning)

• Laguna Beach season 3, especially the montages of Cami that MTV puts together-Har!

• Mom and baby fitness class

• Bright crisp fall mornings

• All the new fall fashions-sweaters, skirts, tights and flats

• Lost season 3 (man, it's getting weird, but so enjoyable)

Ok, so this is how far I've come along with Teagan's little hoodie cardigan.
I must finish it before she reaches 6 months, which is in a month. I screwed up the one side as you can see, it is supposed to be in stockinette but I did the opposite for a couple sections, which means I have to mirror that on the other side which I'm working on right now. It's actually hard to screw up on purpose so I'm going to have to do some careful measuring.

This is on the way to the closest grocery store to us. It's a nice pastoral view, especially during the sunset-I tried to capture that effect but it doesn't show up very well here.

Time to brag-here's my little beauty, all alert and looking cute as a bug's ear as per usual and waiting for her mama to finish her waffles and play!

Tofurky is a wonderful thing. We had our big Thanksgiving supper last night, complete with Tofurky roast (tofu shaped like a football with stuffing inside), baked rosemary yams, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, dumplings, brussel sprouts and cranberry stuffing, pumpkin pie for dessert. It's great because we don't feel like we're missing out on the tradition of turkey at Thanksgiving. Now we can have "turkey" sandwiches with the leftovers-one of my favorite things that we used to have the day after when I was a kid.

So, I suppose it is time for me to stop wearing jewelry, Teagan has proven that earrings are for playing with. Yikes. But I love my jewelry, this is going to take some getting used to. I don't want to risk her breaking or eating any of my necklaces or earrings, so I think its better to be safe than sorry.