the tits of 2010.

Yes, folks, "the tits list" is back!  It is the list of all things lovely and awesome.  And like last year, I will use it to ponder, remember, and relive all the tits of 2010.

Come and check out my tits.  heeheehee... that's funny.  and apparently I'm a 10yo boy.

Ahem, anyway, in no particular order...


- my little girl reading a whole book to me for the first time ever: Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop.


- my son getting into the Grade 3/4 class instead of the Grade 2/3 class.

- having my hair grow out to past my shoulders after last year's short 'do.  (Brace yourself for a couple of make-up free pics.)

Feb 2010

Dec 2010

- the happy surprise of Matt Smith after the sad departure of David Tennant in the role of The Doctor.

- my new ND, who told me that I wasn't crazy, that there was indeed something wrong with me, and that there was a solution to my illness.

- the continuation of our monthly Sushi with Larry with my girlfriends.

- the best sci-fi/fantasy shows on the air right now: SGU, Sanctuary, Smallville (the final season), Dr.Who, Eureka, Fringe, Wizards of Waverly Place (yup, still).

- my pretend boyfriend Gerard Butler.

- iCarly.

- painting out the green from my family room with the gorgeous creamy white that makes me want to hug and kiss every wall.

Before

After

- my daughter's first ever dance recital.

- my son LOVING and excelling in his kung fu classes.

- hot yoga.

- Earth Hour

- quinzhees and roasted broccoli

- writer's workshops, Studio30+, and Facebook Groups.

- Turtles!

- surgery that turns out well -- even the ones I really didn't needed in the first place.

- my son on twitter.

- putting up my daughter's new loft bed.

- mineral makeup, mascara, and lipstick that I can swipe on in less than 5 minutes and look hot yet natural.

- that my kids now know how to ride their bikes without training wheels.


- discovering my new favourite cheesecake: Key Lime from Double D's (and it has to be frozen!)

- and so much more that I can't remember because there are JUST. SO. MANY!!!

How about you?  What's on YOUR list of The Tits of 2010?!

Christmas Year End Cards! Finally.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Ours was quiet, low-key, and VERY germ-filled, but nice.  With both Roomie's and my sides of the family unable to meet-up and Roomie, Mini, and I fighting off pestilence of our own, we were able to be more relaxed and casual with our festivities, enjoying our stuffed chicken, ham and fixin's in our pajamas and watching loads of Christmas specials on the tele.

I don't know about you, but this Christmas really snuck up on me.  Sure I had the majority of my shopping done in November, but what felt like a week later, I turned around, it was Christmas, and I was coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose all over last-minute shoppers at the mall.  (Just kidding, I didn't do that -- I'm a very responsible sick person.  I've had PLENTY of practice.)

What usually gets me into the Christmas Spirit of things is sending out our Holiday cards, and we didn't even take the family pictures until after my friends' Annual December 23rd Christmas Party!
But oh, it was fun taking them.  Still, instead of the crazy one from last year, we decided to go a little more status quo this year.  No "cans for hands".  :)

Have a look and tell me which is your favourite...  BTW, I LOVE the last two!...

Merry Christmas!!! From me and mine... to you and yours. xo

... and Mr. Bean!

all I want for the holidays is...

... to not be coughing up various body parts.  I think my right lung is around here somewhere.  Have you seen the left one?

And if you're a FB friend, you'll also know that Mini and Roomie have been sick as well.  Lam's managed to dodge that bullet.  For now.

But by far, Mini's had it worst.

She's been down for the count since Thursday.  Fever, runny nose, coughing.  And nosebleeds!  Oh, the nosebleeds!  The first night, she bled for 10 minutes straight!  Blood everywhere!  Like the shower scene from Psycho.  Minus the knife.  And shower.  And water.  And Janet Leigh.

I got the bleeding down, while Roomie tried to figure out what was wrong.  Did you know that the country that googles "nose bleeds" the most is The Philippines?!  Yeah!  Apparently, my old countrymen get nosebleeds a lot.  Weird.

Anyway, Mini's feeling much better today, but not 100%.  So she's still home today and missing the last day of school before Christmas break.  I'm sure her classmates' parents would shower me with kisses and chocolate in appreciation for me keeping my kid home and NOT coughing up gooey germs all over their kids in time for the Holidays.  Yup, I rock.

But despite feeling so polly-wally-crappy, Mini has never lost her great attitude.  Well, you would too if you had hair like hers.  It seriously puts my 80's hair to shame.

Me: "Okay, honey, after you finish your noodle soup and chocolate longjohn, I need to comb out your hair.  You've been lying on it unbrushed for 4 days."

Mini: "But Mama, my hair is so pretty!"

demolition, the doorbell, and mo.

10:05am - As I type, three men -- hammers in hand -- are demolishing BOTH of my bathrooms.  Yes, folks, it's finally happening!  After a year of putting up with a defective bathroom, construction -- well, at least, destruction for now -- is in progress.  But after the dudes go, it'll be a shell of a bathroom with a marginally usable shower... for the next while until we get someone in to finish all the work.  Bummer.

2:46pm - I ran out of yarn for that project that he won.  I need to get more.  I'm in the Knitting Zone, and if I wait too long, I'll fall out of the zone.

4:10pm - The frickin' doorbell's broken.  It keeps dinging, and dinging, and dinging... gah!  Roomie better get home to fix this thing, or I'm going to get one of those beloved hammers and "fix" it myself.

As you see, chaos reigns in my house.  My head hurts.  Stupid broken doorbell.

So, today, I will give you something that makes me smile.  Because I need it.  And hopefully, it'll make you smile too.  It's Roomie's Movember Mo that he sported to help support prostate cancer awareness. He's not giving his 70's porn look in that pic, but it's there.  Somewhere.

HOT...

winning is cool.

Wow, do you guys ever love cheese!  I'm starting to think that I should've also asked what kind of cheese you all like, because I need to live vicariously.  You see, I too adore cheese, but my ND has put them on my Forbidden List.  Sad.  Because I do love a good chunk of Wensleydale every once in a while.

If you know what I mean.  ;)

Anyway, I will keep the poll up until tomorrow, so tell your friends, your family, your neighbour, your neighbourhood hobo, and hobos from other neighbourhoods that they still have a chance to vote for their fave layout for their fave blog.  Yes, this blog is their fave blog.  And yours too.

(Big segue here) And having all of you wonderful folks chiming in, voting, visiting, and loving Life Candy -- and by transitive property, loving me too -- makes me a winner!

This is why I'm a total liar when I say "I never win", because I totally do.  Here's more evidence that I win...

1: From Miss Nikki
I am a winner because Miss Nikki said so.  She's moving, and she asked all of us to announce to all and sundry that she wants money for her stuff, so she's not entirely poor when she travels.  And if we did as she decreed, one of us lucky folk would get some of her fave stuff.  Yup, I was the lucky folk!  And I got...

I think there are a couple of things missing in the pic because my kids took them and squirreled them away.  I was lucky I got the "goo timer" back from Mini for this pic.  I had to give it back afterward.

2: From Loukia
My darling buddy Loukia hosted this wonderful giveaway a while back.  Two autographed books by Alison McGhee!  They are so beautiful, I almost never let my kids touch them.  Look!  They're so pretty!

3: From Rougie
Way back, my sweet friend Rougie needed some ideas for a name.  Every Friday, on her old blog, she'd feature something delightfully food-oriented, and she wanted to call this feature something equally delightful.  I entered with "Feed Me Fridays", and she loved it.  So, she sent me THE BEST TASTING COOKIES IN THE UNIVERSE!!!
Recently, one of my BFFs also won a Rougie contest, and because I live a block away, Rougie packed some extra cookies for me!  Yes, (a) I am such a winner that I also have the power to win indirectly, and (b) my friends rock!
See?  Best cookies ever!  (Note says "Share with Nen")

4: From Heaven/The Universe
I'm not religious, but I'm somewhat spiritual, and I know I was given These Folks by someone/something who thinks I did something awesome. Because only a winner would win such awesomeness...

Uh, what the-?!

ps - I also think The Universe has a sense of humour.

So, what have you won lately?

changing up the blog. like moulting, except less gross & creepy.

Burnout is a bitch.  And I think that's what I've been suffering from for the past few weeks.  It's led to a lot of not-good things.  Infrequent posts. Surfing my favourite blogs but not commenting. Random visits to blogs I would never have visited before (now *that* was a time suck!).
And even on some days, avoiding going online altogether.  Because it made me feel icky.  Yeah.

So, to help get my online mojo rising again, I've done some much-needed (at least, I thought so) bloggy renos.  Cleaned up some margins here, changed a header there, used new colours in some places.  Oh, and yeah, added a new sidebar.

In case you've forgotten, it used to look like this...

About that new sidebar, here are some notes and requests for you...

1: Accepting ads.  Not a lot.  Just some.  Being a capitalist, money-grabbing tyrant an independent free-spirit, I decided to stop serving BlogHer Ads and strike out on my own ad-wise, and I squeezed in that new sidebar specifically for advertising.  So, ...
a) if you if you know of any folks who'd like to advertise a product that would be a perfect fit for my blog, please send 'em my way!
b) if you're thinking of getting something from Amazon.com, please use the search box at the top.  Your support will help keep this blog going and you supplied with a constant stream of my kids' crazy antics and my self-inflicted experiments with baking soda, vinegar, and other bizarre things I willingly put on my body for the sake of natural health and personal care. 

2: Stripping down for speed.  On the down side, adding the 3rd column slowed page loading a tad, so I taken down some superfluous gadgets, like the FB fan window and replaced it with a button, to help the page appear faster.  If it's still frustratingly slow for you, please let me know.

3: And now, a poll!  Despite loving that new column, I'm still open to going back to the old layout.  It looks pretty to me, but if it's a turn-off and keeps people from visiting and sticking around, I'd rather ditch it.  You can see I'm totally on the fence about its usefulness.  And here's where you come in.
Please vote, comment, and tell me what you think!

Which layout do you like best for Life Candy?
	2 column
	3 column
	either way is fine.
	I love cheese.
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