Guest Posts Galore!

Apparently I am all over the internet this week.  Yesterday I posted about summer camps on TBB and today I am talking about where I'll be in 10 years.

Deena is running a Mommy Diaries series on her blog and I was featured yesterday, to read it click here.  Check out my answers to the same questions now and five years ago, surprisingly, not much has changed!

Happy reading!

Create 28: Mustard Mania

Welcome to day 21 of Create 28!  Today we are talking mustard.  IF you would have told me 2 years ago that I would not one but TWO mustard colored shirts AND a pair of mustard pants I never would have believed you, BUT it has quickly become one of my fave colors.

I picked up this shirt in Edmonton on our girls weekend from Express.  I am a big fan of their dress shirts for tucking into my skirts and this pattern caught my eye.

I love how it looks with Jeans and I've also worn it to work untucked with a pencil skirt.  For these photos I chose to wore it off the shoulder since that is really in.  Truthfully, I'll probably never wear it this way.  I wore it to work with the shoulders so it looks more like a boat neck and more work appropriate.

I don't feel like it is very comfortable with the shoulders pulled down.  With every arm movement it just creeps up.  I mostly love how I look with no glasses.... if only I could make contacts work with my huge astigmatism...

Check out TBB tomorrow to see how everyone else styled the prompts this week.

HEre is what you can expect to see next week.  Join in and link up!

What's in my...... Handbag

Let's start with the basics.

I used to be a one bag kind of gal. I had one purse for 12 to 18 months and I only used that purse.  Then when it started to fall apart, I bought a new purse and carried it around all the time.  It had everything in it from my gift cards, to makeup, to garbage, or when my kids were young you may have found snacks or toys in it.  Then, my wallet got stolen out of my purse in my desk at work and a few years later, I forgot my purse in a cart and the whole thing got stolen.  So.... now I am selective about what I put in my bag.

Here is the bag I used this past weekend for shopping with my friends, hanging on the hotel door handle might I add.

This was a spur of the moment purchase one year that Dee and I went to Vancouver just the two of us.  We were walking through Holt and there was a sale so we both jumped on it. It may have been my first designer bag and the purchase didn't happen guilt free.

I love that is is Christy Blue. I love the size, not too big and not too small.  I love that it can be cross body or over the shoulder.

Anyhoo.... let's take a look at what is in the bag.

You may be surprised, given the size of the bag that I only have 3 items in it.

1. A wallet

2.  Keys

3. Sunglasses

That is it, that is all.

I only carry around exactly what I need and it makes it easy to transfer from bag to bag, because now I have more than one.  Each time I purse change I get rid of the garbage that I have accumulated while wearing it and start fresh with my three items again.

You may wonder where my purse goes?  It goes in my jacket pocket.  If I don't have a pocket, then it goes in my bag. 

What do you keep in YOUR purse?

May in Numbers

Here we are again recapping the month of May with Deena from Shoes to Shiraz, who I just happened to spend the weekend with.  Let's get started.

We had 12 soccer sessions this month. Grady plays 2 times a week and Cooper once.  Although Grady's team is in the rec league, they are pretty competitive and are beating the other teams 5-0 or more.  The kids love winning, but I hate to see the other teams lose so badly.  There are 8 kids on our team and we have the pleasure of knowing 3 of the families. I've really enjoyed the chat time twice a week. Even if it is raining....

James and I are keeping up with our spinning and managed to go once a week all month, so 4 in total.  James sneaks in a extra one on Saturday mornings before soccer sometimes. But truthfully, I'd rather lounge in my PJs then sweat it out first thing.  What I do miss is going to Barre.  Through the winter I went on average once a week and right now I can't remember the last time I went.  I will make it my goal to go at least once in June.

I've started going to the chiropractor this month.  In total I've seen him 10 times.  In April I was having lunch with Deena and Shaunacey and I turned my head and it just started to hurt.  When it didn't go away 10 days later I booked a physio appointment.  People kept telling me to try chiro. I was so certain that it was muscular just based on how it felt and I was hesitant but I finally made an appointment with a doc that everyone at the office uses.  Apparently office workers need chiro.  So it turns out that my hips were out of alignment along with my back.  He straightened me up and now I don't get knee pain when I run.  While I still believe that there is a place for physio, I'd been going for years and the progress I made after a few chiro appointments blew my mind. 

Over the long weekend we purchased 3 Nerf guns and 75 bullets over 2 separate trips to Walmart.  Each of the kids gave me $5 towards the $25 bullet replacement pack.  They wanted them that bad.  I agreed to it since I actually enjoy playing army.  But I scream like a girl when I get hit.

We made one trip to Costco.  Our cart was only half full since it was an unplanned trip and it still cost me over $250!  What is it about Costco that makes us spend money??

I purchased one pair of sunglasses from Clearly.ca I thought these were black, but it turns out they are dark purple.  I am anxiously awaiting their arrival.  The ocean ate my expensive pair in Maui so I wanted to make sure I have a cheap ocean pair for the future.  These prescription sunnies came in at under $200, which is really a steal.

Now let's take a look at my activity levels... I am down 2% in steps over April.  My average daily steps was 12,700 in May with my highest step day being 22,611,  the day I ran my race.  That may be my highest step day ever.  I should have been prepared for this decrease.  I got a parking spot closer to work and have lost 3000 steps a day due to the proximity of my spot to the office.  Truthfully, I'm surprised it wasn't less.  

Two boys had their hair cut on our deck by their dad.  They really needed a cut and beaners is closed on Sunday - who knew?  He bribed them with a play date if they cut their hair.  He actually did a pretty good job of it to!  Maybe a second career for James?  Dad's Barber Shop?

I received 12 pretty tulips for Mother's Day.  In true James fashion, he let me choose them when we were at Safeway getting groceries so that he didn't have to come back.  It's the thought that counts, right?  Truthfully, I loved picking them myself.  James usually defaults to roses.  I love tulips for spring.  Although I would say that my all time fave flower is the tiger lilly.  We had them growing in the yard in my childhood home and they somehow always make me think of home.  They were also in my wedding bouquet.

There are 22 snap chat screen shots of me and the kids this month.  There are many of me as I email them to Cooper.

Since Grady got his email address a few weeks back, Cooper decided he wanted one as well.  So we created him a gmail account.  Cooper can't read or write so he is learning to recognize names or at least they letter they start with so he can figure out who sent him emails.  He likes to send emails with at least 25 emoticons per message, usually with no words.  So I send him back snap chat photos of myself.  He just laughs and laughs.  He loves getting email.

After 3 years in preschool, we got Cooper's acceptance letter to the big kid school Grady goes to.  Next week we have a Kindergarten orientation with 60 other kinder kids and their parents.  I am so so excited for Cooper. He has been waiting all year for this and he is almost there.

We attended our 4th carnival at the school and for the 3rd year in a row it has rained on carnival day.  Boo!  There are about 20 typical carnival games, 3 bouncy castles, 4 food trucks, and 1 gaming truck (that will be making an appearance at a certain 8 year olds birthday party in 2 weeks!).  The kids had a blast while I held the prize tickets, the food, and the jackets.  There is a reason I carry a huge purse!

That's it for this month!  Happy Monday!

Mother's Day and Mombies Unite

I am so honored to be guest posting over at Grumbling Grace today.  Abbie recently became a regular contributor to the Blended Blog and she is an IRL (in real life) friend of my IRL BFF Deena.  Any friend of Deena's is a friend of mine.  I love Abbie's blog. She has 2 young daughters and is always keeping it real.  Even though I have been through the stage of 2 in diapers, sleepless nights, and the terrible twos, I can still relate to everything post Abbie writes like it was yesterday.  If you have young children, you will love her ability to see the humor in the things that inevitably go wrong with 2 young babes in your presence all the time.

Today, I am posting about putting yourself first.  On making me a priority.  Do you ever feel like every thing you do is for someone else?  Your kids?  Your husband?  Your job?  It's time to make time for yourself.  Pop on by to Grumbling Grace to see some of the ideas I have for making time for yourself.

It is fitting that my guest post was chosen for the day after Mother's Day.  A day when your kids take the time to thank you for all you do for them.  A day that your husband cooks for the first day in weeks, or in our case, makes a reservation so I don't have to cook.  A day where your friends text to wish you a Happy Mother's Day because they are thinking of you.  A day that a Mother is made to feel special.

Or... a day where you spend the day being a Mom.  Yesterday was a typical busy day around our house starting with art class for the kids while James and I went for a run, followed by brunch with Nana, Grady's last hockey on one end of the city, and finally a birthday party at the other end for one of Cooper's friends.  It was a typical day in the life of our family, or maybe even busier.  While some years this may have bothered me that we didn't have the perfect celebration or even time to take a nice photo of me and the kids, this year I am content.

I feel blessed to be a mom, to have a mom, a mother in law, and a step mom in my life.  I have the best support system of friends in my life to help me navigate through parenthood while laughing, crying, and drinking copious amounts of wine.

My kids made me homemade gifts at school and my husband bought me flowers at Safeway when we were together grocery shopping because there was no point coming back to the grocery store later because we are here already.  Typical attitude of a busy parent.

Grady made me these felt flowers which I just happened to be at school when he made.

I also got this card, which may have been my fave by the way.

Makes the best chicken nuggets

Only one that gets me Gaterade

Tries to be a good Mother

Helps me with minus homework

Excellent at math

Really nice and generous.

Cooper drew a picture of me.  I do have a very faint month that doesn't show up in the photo, but look at my eyelashes, if only I those in real life.

Someday my house will be clean, quiet, and I'll have all the time in the world to relax but it won't be filled with the chaos and noise that currently lives in my home.  And you know what?  I like it just the way it is.  It doesn't take a special day to celebrate motherhood.  I celebrate it every day.

Currently Snap Chat addicts.

April in Numbers

How is it that the month of April has come and gone and it is time to do another month recap already.  Where does the time go?  So here we are linking up with Dee again to tell you what we've been up to.

- In the past 28 days my average steps per day was 12,697 steps.  This is down 8% from March.  It includes a day at the spa and a hangover day where I barely got any steps.  It is still disappointing to see a decrease.  My best day was this past Friday where I got 18,841 steps, mostly because I ran 8km at lunch.  By myself.  And my phone died about 2/3 through and I had no music but I survived.  Barely.

- I got to meet 3 babies this month.  All boys!  After a lull of not welcoming any babies for some time it was so nice to hold and snuggle 3 different newborns.  While I love holding big balls of pink, when I hold baby boys I remember my own baby boys and how little they once were.  No, it doesn't make me want another.

-This past week was our first full week of spring activities. We have soccer 3 times, hockey 2 times, and swimming and art class 1 time per week each.  We have Friday evenings free, and that is it.  After 3 weeks, spring hockey ends and we'll be back to a manageable schedule.  I like a busy schedule, keeps the kids of the electronics.  Does anyone else struggle with kids who don't want to do anything but play on the ipad?

I donated blood for the third time this month.  I'd like to think that it has become a part of my routine.  This time it took 2 nurses to get my small vein that rolls, apparently a lot.  I ended up with 2 bruises, 1 on each arm and looked like a drug addict.  Not really.

Did you know that you can take your Pandora bracelet in and they will clean it for you? Neither did I.  I've had my bracelet for probably 3 years and it was looking pretty terrible.  I brought it in last month and they were having an 'event' and wouldn't clean it, so I finally made it to the mall and left with a shiny bracelet along with all my 13 of my charms.

Cooper had 3 of his 4 cavities filled this month.  They little guy has been such a trooper. He hasn't complained once about the frequent trips to the dentist.  I think it has something to do with the 4 video consoles they have.

Or maybe it has to do with the 2 mustaches to 'bought' with his coins after 2 of the appointments.  I think the blond one looks more natural on him.

I managed to get away for 3 lunch time runs this month, usually on Fridays.  One fun I ran almost 8km all by myself and my phone, aka music, died about 3/4 of the way through... I actually think it made me run faster....  Really proud of myself for running the longer distances. I have been strictly a 5k runner for years, feels good to push yourself a little further and succeed.  Yay me!

You can see downtown above the trees and to the right.

Every Monday morning I have the pleasure of walking these 3 to school.  I take Grady's BFF from across the street and Cooper has to come since we go straight to preschool.  I love taking them to school.  Having one day off has allowed me to play SAHM for a day.  Some days I love it, on others it reminds me why I go to work the other 4.  Ha!

One of the highlights of the month was finally getting to meet one of the other Blended Bloggers, Shaunacey.  Deena, as you know, I met in Kindergarten when I was 5, so I've only known her 30 odd years.  They were on their way to a bloggers conference in Vegas and had a long layover in Calgary so decided to pop downtown to say hi.  I am so glad they did.  Meeting someone whose blog you have been reading for 2 years isn't meeting a stranger at all, it is making an instant friend.  Shaunacey is exactly as I imagined her.  I apparently was much chattier than she imagined. Me, quiet?  I don't think so.

This month, James introduced the bracket challenge to our household for the hockey playoffs.  Both my final 2 teams were eliminated in the first round.  BOTH!  Couldn't someone have told me I made 2 bad choices.  The playoffs are much more exciting when your team is still in.  For the record I can't remember what 2 teams I chose.

I also had the pleasure of spending a 12 hour day with my friend Stacey.  We drove out to the spa in Banff, 100 odd kms away.  It was such a great day.  The sun was shining, we had a nice lunch, a great massage, and finished the day off with a pedicure that only lasted about 1 week. Boo.  It took at least 5 selfies to get a decent one.

This month hockey officially ended with the year end party.  The team bought me 1 bouquet of flowers for my job as manager that lasted a full 7 months. It was an honor to be a part of the team of sixteen 7 and 8 year old boys.  Such a great group of kids and parents that I hope to cross paths with at the rink next season.

Each of the 16 players got their name put on the back of their practice jersey. It was a hit!

Grady is bottom left

April was a good month.  It was supposed to be a slow month, but you can see that it was not.  I'd like to say May will be slower, but I am sure it will not be.  Sigh....  I've always said I thrive on a full Calendar and trust me, I am thriving!

March in Numbers

I just love this link up that Dee does each month.  Must be the accountant in me.  Now let's to get to it!

In March, we travelled 4,999 kilometers to Maui.  To get there, we had to wake up at 4 am and travel 6.5 hours with 2 kids under  8.  Surprisingly, the kids were rock stars on the plane.  They played minecraft and I started my first of 7 books.

On said vacation we took 465 pics.  Of these 465 pictures I swear 60 of the photos were of sunsets taken by my hubby and only about 3 photos taken of me.  In this picture I am building a sand castle on all fours and sporting multiples rolls.  Thanks for the photo evidence James!

This month we only had 5 ice times!  We missed 2 tournaments while we were away.  Cooper had a tourney in Canmore which would have been a blast and Grady's team won their 1st gold medal in their final tournament!  We were so sad to miss it but what a great way to end the season!  When we returned hockey was over for both team and we get a short break before activities resumed.  And by short i mean 9 days.  Spring hockey started yesterday and runs 2 days a week for 5 weeks.... let the fun begin!

This month I averaged 13,203 steps a day which was 4% more than February. My most steps in a day this month was 18,393 steps and surprisingly this was on a vacation way.  Being a numbers gal, I love looking at these stats.

The kids had dentist appointments this month.  Grady had a perfect check up and Cooper has 4 cavities which means 4 trips to the dentist starting in April.  Boo.

This month is a short one.  Besides our vacay, we didn't do all that much.  I'm sure you've all heard enough of our trip so we'll just leave it at that.

Happy Monday!!

What's up Wednesday

This has been a weird week as I took yesterday off to volunteer in Grady's class.  I worked Monday, took Tuesday off and am back at work today, which is Wednesday, but feels like Monday for the second time this week to me!

What we are eating this week...  I am eating lots and lots of hummus.  Lately that has been my snack of choice.  Usually I buy the hummus but this week I was motivated to make my own.  It is a touch bland but overall pretty good for my first time.  I plan to add in sun dried tomatoes in my next batch.  This is the recipe I used.

What I'm reminiscing about....  I don't reminisce.  Each month when I read this questions I try to think about what I should be reminiscing about and I still don't know.  I'm a lost cause.

What I'm loving... The spring like weather.  We've barely had winter this year and I am certainly not complaining.  James may feel differently after all the hours he spent on the rink that is currently melting... in February.  Mother nature has been good to us this year.

What we've been up to....   We've been watching hockey, going to birthday parties, walking on the treadmill and catching up on Suits.

What I'm dreading....  Nothing.  And that is a good feeling to have.

What I'm working on.....  I'm working on getting my 10,000 steps in each and every day.  Even the days that I do strength training and only get a few steps, I try to make it up with a walk on the treadmill.  Our treadmill has never seen so much action between James and I!

What I'm excited about.... I'm starting to get excited for our winter trip to Maui that is coming up very shortly.  Maui is my happy place.  With the dollar the way it is we are expecting this to be our last Hawaiian vacation for the next few years.  Boo.

What I'm watching/reading.....  I've currently reading Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo.  It is a murder mystery that was rated well on Good Reads.  I signed up for an account this month and love seeing what all my friends are reading and rating the books I read.  I set a goal to read 20 books this year and I think I am going to blow it out of the water!

What I'm listening to....  The radio.  I'm not picky.  I love me some top 40.

What I'm wearing...... For the past several weeks I have been taking part in Lisa's What to Wear Series.  Here is one of my favorite outfits.

What I'm doing this weekend.....  Cooper has a hockey tournament this weekend and the kids have a birthday party on Sunday.  Not to mention I am off to a flames game and Grady has his own hockey practices.  The weekends are always busy and fly by.

What am I looking forward to next month... Next month is vacation month - how can you not look forward to that???

Any further questions?

January in Numbers

Once again, I'm linking up with Dee to tell you all about January in numbers.  Perfect for the numbers gal that I am!

We have had the the rink for 31 days.  Yes, James built the rink on New Years Day.  I have been on the ice exactly 2 times.  Truthfully, it is a little small for adults.  I would like to skate laps for exercise and to add to my step count, but when I did 10 laps I started to get dizzy.

These 2 or 3 kids, on the other hand, have been on the ice everyday that we have time to get them laced up and outside.  Grady would stay out there much longer if Cooper was willing to stay out longer than 30 minutes.  Also having a friend over increases the time outside.  Considering it takes about 15 minutes to get them geared up, and an extra 10 if Grady wants to be goalie, it is a huge parent time commitment get all that gear on!

My fit bit numbers this month are pretty impressive.  I met my 10,000 step goal every day except one day.  I broke my own personal best at 18,378 steps in one single day.  Per my app, I worked out all but 3 days in the last 22 days.  I'm not sure how the fit bit deems that I exercised, but I suspect it has something to do with heart rate.  I guarantee I didn't not go to the gym that many times!


Cooper had the flu for 1 afternoon.  He was really grouchy all morning and I dragged him around Grady's hockey and didn't have much patience for him.  Then he threw up.  3 times.  Then I felt terrible.  Why don't 5 year olds tell you that they are sick to the stomach??  After a 90 minute + nap he was pretty chipper and ate non stop.

The morning that Cooper had the flu, Grady's team had its first bottle drive. I emailed many friends in the area and collected their bags of bottles, some even donated 4 bags full of bottles to the team.  No matter how little or how much you were able to donate I really appreciated it.  We filled the entire van and still had 2 bags in the front, not to mention the one bag we forgot on the deck.  In the end, the team raised $630!!

 

I watched 65 episodes of Scandal this month which is an average of 2 per day.  Wow.  That is approximately 2,730 minutes or 45.5 hours.  Again, wow.  About 50% of these episodes are watched on the treadmill, the other 50% after the kids go to bed.  So at least I got some exercise.  Sadly, these extra calories burned were not reflected on the scale.  Ha!

James was away for 1 night this month and I had a sleep mate.  Every time that James is away, Grady keeps his side of the bed warm for him.

Mom and I went to see Dirty Dancing the musical earlier in January.  I saw the movie at least 30 times as a kid and a handful of times as an adult. I can't get enough!  I enjoyed all 120 minutes of it.  I grinned through the whole thing.  Was so glad to share the show with my Mom.

The kids also took 2 ski lessons right after the new year.  We took lessons last year and it was -20 three out of the 4 days.  The 4th day was cancelled because it was colder than -25.  This year the temperature was mild and the lessons were a success.  Cooper made it on to the more advanced carpet and Grady went on the chair lift for the first time.

This month we had 22 ice times between both of the kids.  Grady played in net for 1 practice and 1 game.  Our team won but he let the first 2 shots in.  The first one should have been called interference and him and all his team mates were talking about it at the end of the game since he physically got pushed into the net.  In the end he had several good saves and came off saying he liked being goalie, but scoring goals was better.  I agree.

Phew... that was a lot of numbers.  Stay tuned for next month when we do it all over again!

What's up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday?  It's hump day, and I don't know about you, but I'm already for this week to be over!  What have we  been up to lately, well let me tell you.

What we are eating this week... Lots and lots of Mexican food. I adapted many recipes to come up with one that James and I love for a 'mexican' chicken.  I throw the following ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed:  layer of salsa, chicken breast, pkg taco seasoning, can of corn (drained), can of black beans (rinsed), top with salsa.  We eat it in fajitas topped with cheese and jalapeños.  I love this recipe because it is also great as leftovers heated up in the oven the next day....

What I'm reminiscing about.... Is it odd I rarely reminisce. Unless I look at photo albums but who had time for that?

What I'm loving... the mild winter.  It has been a great winter for being outside, especially since we have the backyard rink this year.  It may even be to warm for James liking some days as the rink has started to melt on more than one occasion.

What we've been up to....   I don't think it comes as any surprise when I see we have been at the rink our fair share this month.  When we aren't at hockey, the kids are out in the back on the rink or playing mini sticks in the basement.

What I'm dreading....  Another busy week at work.

What I'm working on.....  Catching up on Scandal.  I am almost caught up with the season that is starting on Feb 11.  I love love LOVE that show.  When I am done I am moving on to Gilmore Girls.  I love having a show to watch when I exercise.  It makes me want to exercise!

What I'm excited about.... I'm looking forward to a few few trips coming up.  One involves snow and one involves sand!

What I'm watching/reading.....  I've already mentioned scandal many times so we'll bypass that.  I just stared the new Nicholas Sparks book called The Choice.  I'm only 2 pages in so too early to say what I think, but I've heard good things and it is coming out as a movie in Feb.

What I'm listening to....  I'm loving the Biebs, in particular Love Yourself.   Embarrassing, i know.

What I'm wearing...... When this shirt comes up in my closet rotation I am never excited.  I tried tucking it into a pencil skirt and I liked it way more than usual.  It survived this cycle!  I have 2 shirts in the past 2 weeks that haven't....

What I'm doing this weekend.....  Outside of hockey our weekend is pretty wide open.  I'm trying to schedule some play dates for the kids but other than that, I hope there will be some wine and relaxing coming my way.

What am I looking forward to next month... Our long weekend to white fish is next month and I'm super pumped since I've never been there but also, I'm dreading the 5 hour drive....  While one may think we are going to ski, we are actually going for a hockey tournament.  Our very first away tourney.  I've heard they are as much fun for the parents as they are for the kids, fingers crossed!

Another What's Up Wednesday completed.

December in Numbers

Today I'm linking up with Deena @ Shoes to Shiraz to talk numbers.  December was a good month.  Busy but good.

This month we had 18 hockey practices games in 23 days.  We took the holidays off of hockey and focuses our time on other things.  Like xbox.

Our house was overtaken by Minecraft.  The kids get 60 minutes of game time on their new xbox each day they have no school.  Not to mention the 7 figures or more they were gifted and the 1023 pieces of Minecraft lego in the form of gifts.

December brought our last game of the year for Grady and one recipient of the heart and hustle hat.  I was one proud mama.  He got 2 goals that game... playing defence!

December was also the month that James and I got our fitbits.  I hit my personal record of 18,378 steps on Jan 2.  But we'll just pretend it was in December.  This week I've averaged about 14,000 steps a day with the help of a daily run or walk. I was motivated after a week of averaging 5,000 steps while we were away to step it up when we got home.

Our month was full of Christmas parties.  We had 2 corporate parties, one children's party and a few holiday dinners.

This was one photo from my corporate party.  I may have consumed 7 (or more) glasses of red wine and suffered from a minor hangover the next day, I am no angel.

Cooper had his first hockey game and his first 2 game goals.  They also had a visitor on the ice from the big red guy.  The players became his 12 reindeer.

Since James' family was headed to Palm Springs for Christmas, the 7 of us celebrated an early Christmas.  It took 4 attempts before we got a decent one using the self timer since I forgot my selfie stick.

We had 2 trips to the doctor with a bad rash for Grady.  It turned out he had an infection that we suspect was caused by not airing out his hockey equipment after each game.  It isn't that I didn't know we should be airing it out... it was just laziness and lack of space.  We welcomed this equipment tree to our family to air out his 15 pieces of equipment between games.  Thankfully, the infection was cleared up after 10 days and the application of 2 creams twice a day.

The kids and Jasmin hosted a Christmas parties for the 4 neighbourhood kids and their 3 nannies.  They did a gift exchange and had a talent contest. I am so happy with how close these 6 kids have become over the last few years.

I've watched season one of Scandal and 17 episodes of season 2 of Scandal.  I'm hooked.  I can't stop watching.  If I calculate correctly, that is about 1,040 minutes or 17 hours of TV watching since December 19 when I watched the first episode.  The good news is many of those hours have been watched from the comfort of my treadmill.  It that doesn't' motivate me to exercise, I don't know what will!

37 Beverages.  Honestly, there have been countless 'beverages' this month.  From wine to cocktails to beer, you name it, I drank it.  Let's just say that I consumed at least one drink every day since my first day of vacation on the 23rd.  But who can say no to a cocktail that looks so pretty.  Good work Sheila!

The flow of presents for the kids seemed to be endless... I kid you not they got 15 presents each.  Every where we went there seemed to be one or two presents to open.  They are lucky to have so many people that love them.  Minecraft and Pokemon were the big ticket items at our house this season.

I tobogganed 6 times this month.  That is more than I care to admit.  But with the addition of the fitbit, it sure helped me add 3000 steps per outing and up to 50 flights of stairs.  I don't just watch when the kids go, I sled to!  It was the only exercise my body got when we were away with a hill right across the street from my moms place!

December was a good month.  A very good month.  I was a naughty elf this month so January we are back to getting healthy, consuming less wine, getting more steps, and finding white space on my calendar.  Wish me luck.