Catch-up

My poor neglected blog!  I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything of significance on here.  I'll catch you up in bullet point:

• I went on the September Downtown Artwalk, with my super-cool friend Melissa.  I wish I was an artist, as I need some big pieces for my living room once it's painted but I can't afford what's out there.  It doesn't help that I love nudes and my husband has told me that I'm not allowed any more nude paintings in the house (I have a big one over the couch in the family room).  I'm considering attempting a large acrylic painting myself, using colour blocking, as it's very popular right now.
• I've been to numerous baby showers, birthday parties, school functions, therapy & doctor's appointments, and church events (we have a new pastor, yay!), etc.
• I've been sick with this, that or the other since mid-August, and Tuesday night I have a doctor's appointment at which I intend to beg on bended knee for a tonsillectomy.
• We went to St. Albert for Thanksgiving, and it was a very productive trip.  I bought a new media storage unit at Ikea for our DVD's, video games and CD's. Unfortunately the CD's are going to stay in their cardboard boxes until I can find the time/money to order the sleeves that we are going to use for them.  Otherwise I think the weight of them would cause the unit to collapse.  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find adequate storage for large music collections.

Yay, organized movies!

• While we were in St. Albert I was able to go into the office for a meeting with my boss.  Public Interest Alberta shares a floor with Friends of Medicare and The Council of Canadians in a beautiful, window and light filled new office building just west of downtown Edmonton.
• Also, while we were up in St. Albert, we (me and the kids) went to my brother & sister-in-law's place and looked at the 1000+ pictures of their recent trip to Europe.  Then we went for lunch at a charming cafe near Whyte Ave., The New York Bagel Cafe. They had huge servings of delicious food and the best coffee I have had in ever.  I had the eggs Benedict and the kids shared the french toast (I'm all about breakfast for other meals).  After that we strolled around to the local used bookstores to see if I could add to my Nancy Drew hardcover collection.  I'm about 2/3 of the way to a complete collection, and it's getting harder to find books in good condition that I don't already have.  We stumbled across a candy store and my 6 year old told us that it was the greatest day of her life.
• On Thanksgiving Monday we (Mike's extended family) went to Prairie Gardens where we competed in teams to make it through the corn maze and solve the puzzle.  The team I was on won!  It was a fun outing for everyone, and the kids slept well that night!
• We went out to Elkwater for our church's family camp for a weekend, and had a great time getting to know people from our new church.  Although, it was pointed out to me at a craft night that since we have been attending the church for 8 months, we aren't really "new" anymore.
• Mike painted our bedroom, I will post a picture as soon as the furniture is put back into place.  We also got new throw pillows for the downstairs family room (thanks to my Auntie's amazing sewing skills), some new furniture, and lamps & accessories for the living room.  The last big project is still the painting of the living room/dining room/hallway, and putting up baseboards in all the bedrooms and main floor.  I'm stuck on colour selection.  I thought I had it picked, but now I'm second guessing myself.

Family room couch with new throw pillows.
(+ the nude oil painting that my MIL hates.  Come on, it's not full-frontal!)

I'm prepping for what I hope will be some big, upcoming events here in Medicine Hat in the next few weeks.  I'll keep you posted.