Paint Party Friday! Leaves And Nature

Linking up with Paint Party Friday! Check out all the lovely artists!

Happy Friday! Hope you all had a lovely week. I’ve been stressing a little this week. My father will be staying with me permanently and I’m going to be taking care of him. It’s a bit stressful because I have both my girls at home doing online learning so I hope things will flow nicely. Fingers crossed. I’m sure it will be fine but I’m stressed and worried. My father is old and Can’t see very well. I also don’t want to see him grow older. My heart is so sensitive at the moment. I will do the best I can for my family. That’s all I can do. Take it one day at a time. I pray for God to keep everyone safe and healthy at this point. Each moment is a gift.

I’m going to be honest and tell you that I’ve already watched two Christmas movies. 😁 I’ve been so stressed that the only thing that has helped is the good spirit of Christmas. I watched “Love the Coopers” and “Christmas with the Kranks”

In the beginning of the week I took the girls for a little walk behind our home and we picked some leaves.

I then had my girls use crayons and do leaf rubbings. They had a lot of fun. My 8 year old set this picture up for the photo. She likes to be creative.

My daughter is studying plants in class and she grew these carrots. I find it so amazing how you can grow things in your own kitchen. Isn’t it fantastic? The possibilities are endless when growing plants.

It’s so nice to go outdoors and play in nature. We need to do it more often. We are stuck indoors doing school and on digital things too much. I’m going to try to get them out more often.

I also made one watercolour painting this week.

I’ve been reading “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. So far I love it.

I hope you had a lovely week and I also hope you have a fabulous weekend. Be safe and much love and positivity. Thank you so much for reading my post today and thank you for your lovely comments. Take good care.

Hello September! 🍂 🍁 🍃

Dear Sunflower,

I thought you wouldn’t make it but here you are, opening up your petals and facing the sun. I admire your beauty and elegance.

Sunflower opened its petals
one day to another
facing the sun with love.

I’ve been in a creative mode. Trying to keep busy and creative this month. I’m trying to write as many posts that I can for October. It’s challenging but fun. I’ve been reading, writing and drawing. I’ve been enjoying writing in my journal with a new fountain pen! It’s a lovely gift from my husband and I love it so much. ❤️ We went on a couple of road trips in Ontario. First stop was in Perth.

Perth is a lovely little place and I recommend visiting in the Fall. 🍁 A cute little town with a beautiful park and river and shops. Also really cute Book Stores and a huge vintage shop. I only went for the day and I wish I had stayed for the weekend. A lovely place and the park is so stunning.

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I also visited The Big Apple in Colborne Ontario and bought incredible pies and apple bread. We bought pecan pie, apple caramel crumble pie, apple maple pie and apple bread. So delicious! The best pies that I’ve ever tasted. I recommend you go first thing when they open because it gets very very busy at lunch.

I’ve also visited a couple of Vintage shops. Vintage shops make me happy. It’s like an adventure and traveling back in time. One vintage shop in Perth Ontario and the other in Colborne Ontario. If you walk into a small town vintage shop you can tell a lot about the History of the town. Very beautiful in my opinion. So many stories in each piece. In the Perth vintage shop I found this lovely candle stick holder. I was looking for something like this and there it was!

When I was in Colborne Ontario I visited a vintage shop and found a very old book that’s a childhood favourite: Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The cover of the book has fallen off and the book is very fragile. I opened up the book to a random page and this is where it landed…

Sometimes things happen for a reason. I believe it. ❤️ Everything in good time.

The book broke from the spine and broke in half to pg.112-113. The passage speaks to me in so many ways. ❤️ I believe that this is a sign from the Universe. Do you believe in Signs?

I won a bunch of books and popcorn last month. I’m so grateful! The popcorn 🍿 didn’t last long. 😋 Thank you to @bookbrunch and @eatableinc on Instagram for the lovely books and popcorn.

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I kindly won the book Heatwave written by Kate Riordan from @ohthebooksshewillread & @GrandcentralPub. Also about 7 weeks ago I won The Lions Den written by Katherine St. John from Jennifer Bairos on IG @jennbairos. I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all these lovely book loving people for the wins. I’m truly blessed and lucky. Thank you.

I bought new reading glasses. They are my favourite. I like a big frame. They are simple and lovely. I do have to go back and have them adjust my prescription though. They made them too strong and I get really bad migraines.

Thank you all so much for reading my post. I hope you have a beautiful September and I wish you all the best. Positivity, kindness and love. God bless!

Dear August…

Dear August,

You have been AMAZING! Travel and more Travel. So many adventures and now I seek more! So many memories made and fun in the hot August sun. Time with family and friends. Yummy food and swimming. Beautiful Ontario Beaches. I wanted this since last summer. I still need to reach the ocean but Ontario Lakes are lovely too. I’m grateful and I look forward to being close to the ocean very soon.

This summer we enjoyed delicious food and ice cream. Lots of ice cream. The kids had so much fun and spent time with their cousins. They had the opportunity to make decisions while they ordered their food and they slept in spaces that were not their own. I found it hard to sleep in hotels though. My youngest wanted to sleep with me so I didn’t get much sleep. Mom life is beautiful. These moments will not last for ever. I don’t like to complain but I accept it and cherish each moment.

Travel teaches you many things like taking chances, putting trust in others and being in the moment. It also teaches you what to do next time you travel or what you need to bring with you. I have some great tips from my sister-in-law Susy. She’s probably laughing at me now. Hopefully these tips will help you out.

Travel Tips

I learned most of these tips from my sis-in-law Susy who’s a travel junkie. lol

Bring a sound machine. This is perfect if you don’t want to hear other people or noise in the hotel room. I hate that the walls are so thin you can hear everything. Also sometimes it’s too quiet and this too can be strange for my ears.
Bring febreze and Lysol spray and wipes (not all hotels are clean even if they are rated 4 stars. Some hotels that are rated 3 are in better condition.)
Keep disinfectant and wipes in your purse. If you are a parent you understand that kids get messy.
Always check the sheets and bed. Make sure they are clean. One of my pet peeves is unclean sheets and pillows. To all hotels “YOU HAVE ONE JOB TO DO! MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN THE SHEETS AND PILLOWS AND BATHROOMS”
Bring a diffuser if you don’t like the smell of hotels & Febreze.
Buy a cooler that plugs in your car that way you have water and beverages any time you need and they stay cold.
A great item to have for the beach is a buggy to carry all your things. My sis-in-law had one. Love this idea!
If you are crossing the border make sure you have American change because they have tolls and you need to pay.
Keep your passports with you at all times while you travel around the USA. Don’t leave them in the hotel because if you are stopped by authorities they will ask for your passports.
If you are travelling long distance make sure you plan and book a hotel half way point. It makes things easier for the driver.
My sister in law Susy used Hotels.com to book the hotels. I download the app and it gives you great options. You can actually get a free hotel after a certain amount of bookings.
I used google maps a lot while I travelled and it offers a lot of places to eat and discover. I even added my own reviews which is pretty cool.
Make sure you contact your phone provider if you are driving out of range. You can get charged so much if you don’t. I’m with Bell and we called them right away and they changed our plan so that we were able to use our phone freely.
Pack some snacks for the journey.