If Im not mistaken…

Another plane and another and another, oh and a helicopter and yet another plane!

Yes, we spent the afternoon at the Air Museum.  Except for a few groups/classes of young children the museum was quiet and great for exploring.   My son had tons of room to run around—ok, to walk around at a brisk pace.  We wish they had planes you could actually climb into, not just the cockpits and partial helicopters but, other than that it was a good time.

I noticed on the walls there were emblems from air force platoons.  They all had different mottos and animals.  Some were nice like, “We Stand on Guard”, “Keeping the Peace” and others were scary like, “We Kill at Night”.  I should have an emblem with a turtle, its head in its shell, and the motto, “I’m Busy Procrastinating”.

A sixty year old woman gave birth to twin boys Tuesday morning in Calgary, Alberta.   

Sixty!  Can you imagine?  I feel, personally, that thirty-eight would be my maximum cut off age for having children (nice round number, huh?!) and this would probably have me becoming a grandmother in my sixties.  (If my children decide to have kids of their own…no pressure! Ha!) 

I do hope that this couple has close family that will help raise the twins.  Sure, babies are cute and all, but they do get active and adventurous before you know it.   

But then again, they say that having children keeps you young.  Maybe these new white hairs that seem to be sprouting from my scalp are an illusion?  Eek! 

Anyhow, congratulations to the happy new parents and I hope you enjoy your new bundles of joy!

(yes, donor eggs and IVF were involved.)

I just came across this article about tongue size.  Yes, studies have found that there’s a close link between fat content of the tongue and BMI.  So if you are overweight, your tongue will be larger and with that, you are at a great risk for snoring.  Sounds plausible, so will the next solution for people with sleep apnea, be a little liposuction to the tongue?  Is that even possible?

I also wonder, in the coming years, will they start measuring tongue fat or density at the gym? Will there be a whole new wave of workout videos targeting tongue exercises?  Will women start saying things like, “Oh man that cake went straight to my tongue!”  Just kidding.  Hmmm, does Gene Simmons, from KISS, snore?  He might be game for bit of tongue lipo.  LOL

More snow came down yesterday and this morning.  It covered everything with a fresh blanket of blinding white.   The snow is soft and fluffy and like quicksand when you are up to your knees in it.

I taught my son how to make tractor wheel markings in the snow by walking with his feet in a staggered “V”.  He, however, rather just play Follow the Leader, creating a maze of snow paths, while crawling on his hands and knees.  He stopped occasionally to rest.  I watched contently as he lay dreamily on his snow bed with his eyes closed.  Then for a bit of energy he’d grab a few mouthfuls of snow and zoom, he’d be up and off again.  Thank goodness the snow is freshly fallen.

For fun, I put the frozen bowl out with some nuts inside.  These were cashews meant for human consumption but unfortunately ended up on the floor for longer than 10 seconds.  Who came by to check out my handy work?  (I mean the nuts) A few chickadees and a red squirrel.  There were also juncos, cardinals and black squirrels around but I didn’t see them stop and snack.

At dinner, I brought the ice bowl inside to the table for a festive centre piece.  I think it looked great.

Here’s a fun kid’s activity which will motivate you to get out in the cold weather—making snow and ice sculptures.  Get out your ice cube trays, plastic food containers, pails and even your big recycle bins!

Have fun mixing food dyes in water and then pouring the liquids into all your various containers.  Leave the containers outside over night to freeze solid.  I found the food coloring really sinks to the bottom when it freezes.  Next time I’ll experiment with making snow slush and adding the dye into that, instead of straight H2O. 

Getting the ice out of the molds can be tricky.  I broke a couple containers trying to bang the ice out.  My ice trays popped the pieces out fairly easy but the bigger containers needed to be soaked in warm water for a minute to remove the ice.

I thought the small colored ice pieces looked like jewels.  My son thought our finished snow castle looked like a gingerbread house.

The biggest snow block we made from using a recycling bin.  A couple years ago, I noticed someone had made a whole fort from these large snow blocks.  Of course, it’s nice having at least two bins to create something so big.

Before decorating the sculpture with our ice pieces, I dumped some water over it.  This made our snow jewels sink in nicely and stick well too.  (They also stuck well to my fleece gloves.  Yikes)  I also poured more water after we were finished, hoping that the castle will freeze and last the rest of the winter.  Not sure yet if I’ll be out with a feather duster next time the snow falls on the ice kingdom.

Helping out a friend by being their wedding photographer is a stressful position.  You need to get all the shots done and quickly so that the couple can move on to their reception and enjoy the remainder of the evening with family and friends.

Here are some tips from my experience:

Research some unique shots by looking online at what the professionals are doing. 

Brainstorm with the couple to see what ideas they come up with.  This helps you get a better sense of their style.

Go to the location ahead of time to scope out the best spots to set up.  Also, check for things you don’t want showing up in the background.

Get a list of family members that the couple wants included in some of the photographs.  You’ll be in trouble if you miss Great Grandma Ann.

Ask for a family member, or close friend, to help round up the people that are needed in the shots.

If you are using 35mm film, which is great because the couple will probably want a paper copy of every picture anyway, make sure you have more film than you ever dreamed of using.  Seriously, you’ll be surprised how quickly it goes.

Remember that time is a tickin’.  You may just be starting to enjoy your role as wedding photographer when the happy couple is whisked away in their stretch limo.  But don’t forget click a few shot of the lovemobile too!

Here’s a little craft project you can try at home.  All you need is some old magazines you don’t mind cutting up, scissors, glue and either a coloring book or some paper to draw your own picture. 

Flip though the magazine cutting out chunks of color.  You’ll cut these pieces in to tiny parts and keep the colors organized—different shades of red can go together but blue will be in its own pile.   An egg carton would be useful because of its twelve handy compartments.

Next find a picture in a coloring book that you like.  Spread some glue and place your tiny paper pieces of color down.  It reminds me of the fancy picture quilts.  Looking closely at the pieces you may see textures and different shades or hues but when you stand back the picture comes to life.

Today was my first time trying this with a coloring book.  In the past, I simply drew a rough outline of what I wanted my picture to become.  I think that freeform art is the most satisfying.  I have used this technique to make greeting cards and it might be something to try for Valentine’s Day.

Dealing with the teeny tiny pieces takes patience and might be too much for some little people.  But they can help with the gathering of colors and the spreading of the glue.

I have on occasion suffered from post stress migraines.  When I realized they were of the ‘post-stress’ variety, it struck me as quite odd.  You’d think a person would be headachy because of stress not because of it finally disappearing.  My migraines have appeared after tough days on the job, during the process of buying a house and before having my first born—but I think that was from hormone changes, not from the stress of being pregnant.

Some of the symptoms of my migraines are:  a dot of light in my vision (this is my warning signal) which later turns into a strip of sparkles like a silver reflective tape,  numbness in my fingers or pins and needles, trouble speaking and after this all passes the horrid headache begins and can last for days.  I’ve seen commercials showing the symptoms of a stroke and can identify the majority of them.

I haven’t had one of these migraines in a while (knock wood) and hope that I don’t stress myself out thinking about them.  Ha.

The baby is crawling.  The baby is crawling and trying to climb.  The baby is scaring the heck out of me.

My son was a late crawler and walker but this little girl wants to do it all—NOW!  So, I’m trying to look at our main living space with new eyes and at baby’s level like this article mentions

So what do I notice…

-Multiple outlets that need covering.  We do have some outlets with covering built into them but I think we’ll need more.

-Wires.  (Stereo wires and computer wires.)  I’ll have to start storing my computer upstairs for daytime.

-Baseboards.  Ya, I need some!  Hubby put down new flooring and never put the baseboards up.  Weird little things tend to get stuck in the cracks, like Play Doh.

-Clear the top of the television.  Stuff tends to fall when the kids are bouncing all over the place.

-Move the plastic drawer unit.  I’ve been keeping diapers and extra baby stuff in there.  It’s useful but light and easy to topple over.

-Table cloths.  Good for hiding junk under the desk but again, easy to pull on.  It will have to go.  Actually, I’ll probably move the whole desk.

-Garbage pail.  I need to make space in our closet so it’s not out in the open.

-Baby gate.   We’ll need to start using the baby gate so she doesn’t try to climb the stairs.

-Doors shut.  (Bathroom and closet.)  Also, I need to replace one broken baby safety latch in the kitchen.

-Slip proof mats.  We have a few mats at the doors that need some slip proofing and the foam play mats seem slippery too.

That’s quite the list.