Post Easter Egg post

*Mila* made some eggs.  I blew some eggs.  Boy, do I ever feel the pain of the Ukrainians.  

She loved NY. 

I  love our largest Canadian version:  T dot (while *Steve* says I should call it HogTown).

signed, the willow

8 years later and whole lotta chocolate

How the world has changed in 8 years.  My world has changed.

Happy birthday sunshine

signed, the willow

Christmas Eve with the Chickadees

And after....

signed, the willow

Back to Work

My challenge this week has been to balance a new work life with home life.  Working full time for someone else hasn't happened for 8 years for me.  So, it's a bit of a stretch for me.

First, I'm tired.

Second, there's no time to exercise. Or, if there is, I'm sleeping due to the point above.

Third, I miss my little girl and feel like the few precious moments in the evening are spent demanding her to do things.

Fourth, I feel guilty because everyone has made accommodations so that I can work.

Fifth, I feel squeezed, incapable, and fragile.  I'm new at this, so I know that it will get better and no day will be easy or perfect.

signed, the willow

Oddly Quiet

Tonight (because it's so dark out) This Afternoon the house is oddly quiet.  It's never this quiet.  *Mila* is quietly drawing, colouring, writing, and I'm typing with the tv on mute.  It's nice.  I love being together just doing all sorts of quiet things.

Next week, this will change.  We're taking a turn in our lives.  The only one sacrificing will be *Mila*.  For the past 7 years, I've been there to pick her up from school and take care of her every need.  For 7 years.  Some mothers have been working since their babies were 7 months old, or even 7 weeks old.  We've been lucky and we've tried to provide her with the best push start into the world that we could.  But it's my turn to contribute and make up for lost time lost dollars.

It will be fine.  Tell me it will be okay.

signed, the willow

Candy Corn Nails

*Mila* asked for some candy corn nails.  I struggled with how to create these ones.  

First, I pulled out a Science project book.  Why not?  Use it to protect the table and use it to maybe come up with a better idea than intricately painting finger nails.  This is not my forte.

I figured some scotch tape might help us out for this and taped the top 2/3 of her nails.

So far, so good.  She thinks this is all legit and what the candy corn nail process is all about.

Paint the bottom layer orange (yep, I'll get to this later).

We let them dry and got down to taping off the top 1/3 of her nail and carefully painted in the yellow.  How fabulous is that yellow nail polish by Joe Fresh?

Order some cucumber slices from the kitchen for your tired eyes and relax.

We topped it off with some globs of white for the tips and hello Candy Corn Nails.  

Until we saw this:

Yeah!  Yellow goes on the bottom.

signed, the willow

Taming of the Shrew?

Hard to believe that this wonder needs taming.  Sadly, it's been a hard road reining in her spirit.  It's a struggle for us all.  She has such strong attributes and one is her will.  That will just needs some guidelines and rules.  One of them is school.

signed, the willow

Art of Ghosts

Tonight as we're trying to finish watching the Canada/Russia jr. game, reminiscent of ol' '72, *Mila* came running down the stairs screaming about a white mist that she walked through.  "BAWWWW!  A ghost in my room and I walked right into it."

As the Universe is feeling off, I don't doubt that something haunts her room.  Which brings me to sitting beside the little girl (who will be sleeping with me as her big brave dad sleeps on the sectional) thinking about art with ghosts. 

 source:  art&ghosts and you can find more about Louise here.  Unbelievably haunting and so beautiful.  I'm speechless.  I'm aghast.

source:  jonas löfgren & ingest some of his art here.  As bob & doug used to say...."Beauty!"

source:  nendo's cabbage chair find it here.  The only fright associated with this ghost story is that I don't own this chair!  Sweetness.

source:  malformed bones by angie iver.  Found her on deviant art's page here.  Unreal how talented this young lady is.

P.S. The ghost has caused miss *Mila* to drink beer and do handstands on the couch.  Oooooh scary!

signed, the willow

Alive & Kicking

What a fun filled summer

Gramma came to visit and the *mila* painted her own face

We listened to Ruth at our store. 

ruth cassie.  Ruth Cassie.  RUTH CASSIE.  Ruth Cassie.  ruth cassie.

We made over the store a wee bit and got some pillows in the inventory thanks to Gramma! 
(Lady of the Lake)

Then Debbie Travis came to town and it rained.  Those are my boots with the *mila's* umbrella.

The town came out to watch.  Most of us were female.

And Debbie revealed that her new CBC show "All For One" was filming an important episode in Huntsville.  A local hero who had volunteered much of her time was having her house renovated and it was up to the community of Huntsville to come out and help.  Be sure to watch.  You might someone you know. 
(Hint: Ruth Cassie; mila; willowofthewood)

No summer would be complete without a swim at the beach.

Hutcheson Beach that is.

And in a flash, the summer was over.  The rain came on strong and long.  School began and Grade 1 is a huge milestone in our house.

xx

signed, the willow