Murray just posted a comment on my Kiddies post (below) and got me thinking about being an aunt. I love it. Ki loves me so much, it’s super adorable.

The other day her mom and her came over in the morning and I was showering. Ki ran around the house calling me “Keke! Keke!” (that’s her name for me because she can’t say Katie yet. But I hope it’s always Aunty Keke). That was the same day she got mad because “uncle” wasn’t home.

That afternoon I kissed her on the cheek, she tilted her head and sighed “I love you Kee”. Talk about melting my heart!

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Kiddies

My sister in law is pregnant. Again. This will be their second child and unfortunately, it leads everyone to believe that her brother and I will be getting in the baby mood too. We won’t. They can stop asking now. Her stomach churns, they tilt their head and say “Oh, mmm, because you’re pregnant” and then turn to me “Katie, when will you guys start having kids?” Yeah. Because seeing a sick pregnant woman really makes me want to pop a kid out.

I love kids. I’m almost forced into loving them, really. I’m the oldest of eight kids, the youngest are 20 years younger than me and just turned 4. My parents have the cutest babies! I can’t help but love them to pieces. And my first niece, she’s soooo cute! Kids are all around me and I love them! But that certainly doesn’t mean I’m ready to have children myself.

Like I said, I’m the oldest of eight, so I think that has a large part in why I’m not ready to have my own. Not only because I had to half-raise the younger ones, but also because I’ve seen the reality of having kids. I have a “too-realistic view” of child raising. At least that’s what I call it. All my friends oooo and aaaaah over having babies. For me, instead of seeing cute perfect babies (although I do see that too, that’s just not ALL I see) I see the crying all night (all my mom’s kids woke up every two hours until they were at least two, no matter what she tried), the constant attention, the thrush, the emotions etc.

I know I’m going to have moments where my kids are perfect and googoo’ing and smiling and so adorable I just want to bite their chubby little hands, but I also know it’s hard work.

So no, we’re not going to start having kids anytime soon…maybe in a few years…but not now. Like my mom in law said in the family Christmas card “Katie and Brett are busy having puppies” (: And I’m happy with that for now!

Ooo, more later! I received some items in the mail on Friday so I have pictures to post!! YAY!

Art

I meant to post this picture in my last post but couldn’t find it. This piece is my favorite so far, it’s awesome. There are no words to describe it other than awesome! (:

Confusion!

Last night when I checked my views on this blog, they had mysteriously jumped 200-and-some since the afternoon! I’m thinking that I was blogged about or featured on a site and am not aware of it…either that or Blogger is messing up. But I like the first option better.

I’ve been checking my favorite blog and haven’t seen anything…if anyone knows something, fill me in!

Graffiti

I have a weird interest in graffiti. Well, I think it’s completely normal, but my husband thinks it’s strange (: I don’t know what it is, but something about it just catches my attention. I love it! It’s true art work…too bad someone had to vandalize a piece of property to make it (most of the time), but it’s still art.

Every summer I go out to the train depot and walk up and down the tracks, finding pieces that I like. If we go on a trip, I’m constantly scanning the trains and making my hubby stop so I can take some pictures. I love building to my photo collection.

Last summer I was taking my dog for a walk along the tracks. I didn’t feel like walking down to the end of the train but Piper needed a better walk so I dragged myself down there. I was so glad I did! The second picture here is of the graffiti I found. Amazing!!

Ps: You can see more pictures on my Flickr page!

Invitations and Snow

I decided to use Tricia’s engagement (the new sister-in-law-to-be) as an excuse to buy some new colorful paper, a stamp and ribbon, to design some wedding invitations. They’re simple enough, nothing too fancy, and so much fun to make! I made some while I watched A Midsummer Night’s Dream last night. Maybe we’ll make one of these options for Tricia’s wedding, maybe not, either way it doesn’t matter, I just love working with paper!

It’s snowing again. When will this winter end?!

Guest Blogger

I just blogged another guest blog on TransCanada Etsy Team blog. Take a look and leave your comments!

Books

We’re sitting in the office listening to to Lonestar, No News (us country hicks!), and watching the sun shine outside. Hopefully it means the snow is leaving us and beautiful Spring is joining us.

Last time the Hubby and I were in Edmonton, we made our usual trip to Chapters. I could spend all day in that store but Hubby isn’t so eager. He loves books and reading, but he gets antsy in any store (I tried bringing him to IKEA and we walked in the store, rode the escalator to the second floor and he slumped into chair “I’m exhausted!”). I, on the other hand, could spend all day looking at books, checking out new authors and drinking Starbucks.

I finished my latest book yesterday. Ruth Richards, writing as Barbara Vine (and it says this on the cover. I don’t understand why they do that! if you’re going to have a pen name, why announce it?), writes about a family where the husband, a famous author, dies. The daughter is asked by his publisher if she will write a memoir of her life with the famous author. In doing so, she discovers he isn’t who he said he was.

At first, the book was super slow. It seemed to go at the pace of real life. It could have been that I set it aside too often. I was tempted to put it aside and read another of my books but I’m stubborn and couldn’t abandon it. It got better and more interesting the more I read. By the end, I was dying to see what would happen but surprised at the ending. It was “interesting” but not in the way I expected…at all.

I’m not sure if I’m going to read another of this authors books. It was thought provoking, which is always good, but it was really different and I’m still not sure if that was a good thing.

At the same time, I don’t count the purchase of this book as negative.

I’m so indecisive aren’t I? (:

There was a blog post on one of my favorite blogs, This Eclectic Life, about Blog Rolls and who really reads them.

I am one of those bloggers who reads my Roll frequently, always updating myself on who’s posted and what’s new with my blogger friends. I love commenting on their blogs since I find it such a joy (simple things make me happy!) to receive comments. I’m always surprised at how fast my Blog Roll is growing. Just a few weeks ago, Make It was at the top of my list and now it’s closer to the bottom.

I don’t put blogs on the Roll lightly. They are always blogs that I love and read constantly and comment on. I will need to clean it out every now and then as there are always bloggers that quit or I will (maybe!) lose interest in. But for now, they are all, honestly, blogs I read daily.

Lately I’ve been on a wedding blog kick. Since I’ve been asked to do a couple weddings for the summer and fall, I’ve been trying to find inspiration and unique ideas. Take a look at Snippet & Ink, Enjoy, An Excited Bride and i heart peonies.

Another Wedding!

My new sister-in-law-to-be has asked me to be in charge of her wedding decorations (Yay! Another one!) and I’ve been brainstorming for ideas. Her colors are Chocolate Brown and Voilet. I have yet to find out if this is a deep color or light so mostly I’ve been concentrating on the brown and coming up with original favor ideas. Here’s what I’ve come up with for the favors:

Personalized Jones Bottles
Personalized M&M’s

I know, I know, it’s not that original. But I’m just getting started (:

Then for table centerpieces I’d like to go with the picture below as well as walnuts and t-lights. The table itself would be mostly browns and then I’d like the chair covers to be white or ivory with a violet bow.

We’ll have ivory tooling from the ceiling to make a tent-like atmosphere, perhaps some violet colored Chinese lanterns here and there to bring in the color more.

More ideas to come!