Although probably most of you saw these on my facebook ... (click to enlarge if you like)

I love it. More mature, more grown-up all ready for high school (bummer). The entire time I was doing it, I was totally freaked about the colour. We had a love/hate relationship going on. OMG I love it! OMG I HATE IT!!! heheee ... not to mention that I was having scary thoughts of daughter not liking it at all.

All's well that ends well. She totally loves it. And a wish I would've had a camera ready to capture that shocked look on her face when she walked into her room. Total shock and confusion, like she didn't know where the heck she was. Funny. And thoroughly rewarding.

daughter, coming home to her new room after her Montreal trip
"OMG Mom, do you HAVE to take my picture???"

I've finished the cushions on the deck, but have yet to tackle the back parts. All the planters are done, umbrella is up and I made a little flagstone path to my backyard gate. Still need to take pictures of that stuff. Pictures! You sick of them yet?

Still scrapbooking. In fact, one of my layouts was chosen by a magazine! How cool is that?

So yeah ... keeping busy, keeping out of trouble. Anything creative always has a way of relaxing me, so that's my goal these days (amongst others I'll probably blog about later). I've kicked the drama and baggage of others to the curb, refusing to let it drag me down. The old J has finally shown up, bigger and better, and I am ever so grateful.

Took ya long enough, wench

I got almost every single item on that list down there done by Friday. The only thing that saved me on daughter's room was the fact that her bus was three hours late arriving home from Quebec. yay! Funny how that would normally, under any other circumstances, annoy the snot out of me. heh.

Only two things yet to be completed.

1) The seat cushions for the patio. But look! I started today...

So there! One down, seven to go! LOL ... that's including the backs, which I'm not quite sure I'm going to do yet. Oh, and I'm told by the lazyass Husband that covered seats on those planter thingies he made (you can sort of see them behind the chair) would look nice, so I'll probably do that too.

These are the butt-fugly, faded out cushions I was dealing with ...

Ick.

2) I didn't get around to taking photos of the lilacs and crabapple tree in bloom. But I DID manage to at least snap this shot ...

Lilacs I snipped and placed on my bedside table. Love, love, love the smell of lilacs.

So, this week I'll be finishing up the deck ... cushions, planters and whatnot. I'll take a picture when it's all done (of course!) if it turns out halfway decent.

And pics of the daughter's new room are coming too. I had to take some today when the sun FINALLY came out of hiding. The ones I snapped when I finished up on Friday were much too dark and looked like crap.

So, 'til then! ciao wenches .

before friday:

patch walls, sand and paint daughter's room
find new bedding to match
(hmmmm ... or vice versa)
make or buy curtains to match
move her ikea towers to her closet and install rods
mulch the garden before I end up weeding and edging again
Sew new chair pads for the deck
clean the house before Grandpa gets here friday
find something for the daughter to wear for Confirmation on Sunday
take some pics of the gorgeous crabapple tree before the blooms fall off
screw around on the computer and procrastinate about it all

and probably something else I'm forgetting ...

any helpers?

Dear Lee,

Well, I made it through last weekend in one piece. Traditionally, you and I have always spent the May long weekend together, celebrating your birthday. Last year, was the first time in a long time that we missed it. And it was your 40th!

Damn cancer.

And damn it to hell and back for making this year's celebration obsolete.

*sigh*

I missed you. Well, I miss you pretty much daily, but not having you around last weekend pretty much sucked ass. I remembered our last birthday weekend together ... total girly trip! Pedicures and manicures, lazy lunches at whatever place we could find with a patio ... remember that one place we found? The patio looked like it was straight out of somebody's run-down cottage - complete with the wobbly, bird shit stained picnic table. But it was perfect! And the waitress kicked ass. I wonder if she's ever been asked to 'bring anything on the menu that resembles PMS food' again? Ha! She loved us (and our cool flashy pedicures!).

And of course, there was the requisite shopping. I giggled, watching you buy stuff that you'd always hated until I converted you into a pajama loving, toe ring collecting, diet Pepsi drinking chick. Gave me a laugh. You're such a stubborn wench. Changing your mind in any way, shape or form always gives me a rush. Ha! Love it.

When I go out shopping now, it never fails that I'll see something that you would like. Something for your place, like those big chunky candle holders that we searched high and low for, and are now all over the freakin' place. Shoes, a cool nail polish or lipstick, anything african ... and I think "Lee would like that" and then remember. Ugh.

Every single day, there are so many things I wish I could talk to you about. Seriously, I can't remember going a single day without talking to you, whether it was for hours or just a few minutes. Major, important stuff or some trivial little thing. Idol will be on TV and it's strange not to hear my phone ring, with you yelling "OMG did you SEE THAT?" or any number of other crap things on TV that we'd laugh or talk about. And as for the computer ... well, that's just weird. No IM's popping up every few minutes from you, no game chick running around trying to kill my game peoples ... hell, I don't even have my webcam hooked up anymore. Remember the time you helped me pack for Mexico on the webcam? Hilarious.

For living four hours away from each other, I don't think there's a single person I shared more with on a daily basis.

Oh, and speaking of computers, I deleted your facebook account. I left it alone for the longest time, but then I just had to shut it down. Your face kept popping up everywhere, challenging me to games and whatnot. Send this gift to LeeAnn! Yeah, if only I could. So ... off it went into cyberspace.

There's sooooo much to tell you. Good and bad. But I'm just going to go with the belief that you're around somewhere, knowing everything anyways. I have a feeling you'd be proud of me these days. I know for sure that you would've wanted to kick my ass awhile ago. What can I tell ya? I dropped the ball, girlfriend. Not so surprising though, is it? The way I dropped it? Well that's pretty pathetic. But I just didn't give a shit anymore. I got tired.

Anywaaaaaaysss ...

So have you seen Mom around anywhere?

*sigh*

It was never supposed to be this way. We were supposed to grow old together. We were supposed to wear purple, and big bright funky red hats and travel all over the place. We were supposed to bitch about arthritis and bowel movements and all that old age stuff. You were supposed to have more cats and wear the Crazy Cat Lady crown.

I miss you. Every single day, I miss you. More than I can say. More than should be possible.

But ... I'm okay.

Happy Birthday to you, my oldest, dearest friend. Sister of my heart. I hope you're up there somewhere having a shot of tequila and a huge piece of cake, knowing that you are loved and remembered. Always ... all ways .