well christmas is coming. the geese are fat, the turkeys are huge and also restless.

we are ready for the big day. tree is up, and gourgeous. presents are bought and wrapped and under the tree the only i have to do really is get the stockings stuffed. except that i have lost our stockings. oh woe! maybe i can make new ones. that would be fun. mine will be lack of course. (just kidding!)

we've had some big changes since my last post. sonnet no longer sleeps in her crib. shes a big girl and too heavy to be lifted in and out. now we find her passed out on the floor alot, as she gets out of bed and plays until shes exhausted and then she passes out where ever she is. its very cute. this is her bed for the moment. thats her beloved ernie doll that the firefighters gave her on the evening of our fire.

things have been a little hetic here. troy took another instructers course and passed with flying colours. this week he been teaching all week, plus the 24 hour shifts.

friday we had a small fire. everyones fine, and troys coworkers came and saved the day. the only casualty was the toaster. troy was at work of course, so it was just me and sonnet to take care of everything. but i did exactly what i was supposed to, so we are all fine.

we are almost all done our christmas shopping, with only 4 people left to buy for. i have bunches upon bunches of stuff to wrap though.

i made fudge today and did tons of cleaning.

tommorrow my friend kathy is coming over to watch pirates 2 with me. it should be awesome.


i have a bunch of movies to uplaod to youtube for everybody to see.

got another video up on youtube. clicky this time of sonnet dancing her little heart out.

man its nice to have my digi cam back. i didn't do much today, put some laundry away and cleaned the kicthen. i did a bunch of work on book three and started writing a novella.

DIGI CAM LIVES!!!

woot! we have recived our digital camera back from the fuji people! it works!

so i immediately well... ok, first thing i did was realize i had no clue where the memory card was, and then panic. and then i searched. i still have no clue where the damn thing is. so we bought a new one. a bigger one. a better one. a huge one.

so then the first thing i did was do a tour of the house video! yay! so i uploaded it to youtube, so that everybody could see the house! it took forever to upload, and process, but the link should work now CLICKY

there will be new pics of sonnet, and new videos of her too. we've been working on getting her to say nanny on video, but so far, she only says it when she watches the video. i'm thinking of how much shes changed since anyone on here has seen her, and its alot.

and this just in, my child is a genius! i was up here blogging away and i heard the phone ring. but it didn't sound like my phone was ringing, so i headed downstairs to find sonnet on the couch, phone in hands, she had it on speaker phone and she called my dad! she called grandpa! she hit speaker and redail to get him on the phone. shes so smart!

thick and gentle

the skies opened up and we had snow for christmas.
yesterday was the family christmas in enterprise. and we got five inches of snow out here in bc.

the power went out at some point, either last night or this morning. and outside is a perfect winter wonderland. so we got all dressed up in layers of clothes and took sonnet out to play in the snow. she wasn't too sure what she thought at first, but she quickly started to enjoy herself.

i showed her how to make a snow angel, but she declined to try it out herself. then mackenzie and i ran all over the place and sonnet laughed and clapped. then we came inside.

we are having stew for dinner, its cooking away in the crock pot, and i made molten lava chocolate cakes to have for dessert.

big news on the book front, i got my first royalty check. which is awesome, and dad has agreed to be my second editor for book 2.

things are crazy

MY GRANDMA IS NINETY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!

so yeah, things are crazy. we've started christmas shopping. which is nice, but you know, insane.

i had a great friday night. the MFRC (military family resource center) had a ladies spa night. so, for five bucks, i got a half hour massage, a facial, a yoga class, a lecture on plants (which was lame) a swim, and a soak in a hot tub, plus daquiries and chocolate fondue. twas awesome. the yoga and massage were the ebst part of the evening.

sonnets doing good, full of energy and stuff. she started stripping at night, until shes only in her diaper. which thankfully, she leaves on.

troy is on course all week, taking his emr instructers course through work. he still has to work a 24 hour shift on wenesday though, so it sucks.

we've been busy planning things for when mom and dad come up in december. i'm getting really excited about it.

oh its ben ages since i've been on here.
and so much has happened!

we went to victoria for the night and had a blast with Jeremy and Sheryl. Sonnet and Alex enjoyed each other too. we went out for dinner at the keg and then went on a carriage ride through downtown victoria, which was awesomely fun and still romantic.

we had halloween, which wasn't as festive as it could have been, but we took lots of pictures of sonnet in her costume. she was adorable. we only trick or treated at two houses.

we got a new computer, though we need to get a new modem before it gets hooked up to the internet. we also got a new matress set so our bed is now super comfy.

i opened my online shop, which can be found at www.kirastorm.esty.com and sold my first item.

i've been working on the guest bedroom/office all week and i finally finished it today. troy helped with some of the heavier stuff, but we moved two book cases down to the landing, moved the computers to one side of the room, and then today i cleaned the floor and set the bed up. its ready for guests!

today i also cleaned sonnets room, hung her curtains (finally) and set up her over the bed netting. she still in the crib, so the netting can stay up for a while. it looks really cool, and sonnet certainly loves it. i did some room decorating in our bedroom, i hung a butterfly mobile (hand made too) in the corner over the bed, and added a sparkly crystal rope to the curtain rod for no reason.

troys working every day this week, so things are kinda stressful. i'm trying to stay on top of things and it seesm to be working well.

strawberries and scallops

so yesterday while we were out and about, i saw a little sign. it said 'east coast scallops' and my brain, immediately jumped to the thought of 'i wonder if they are from digby...' after much laughter, troy informed me that they were probably from the east coast of the island, not the east coast of canada. its funny where your brain goes. i don't even eat seafood anymore, but i see the word scallops, and i think of digby.

things are good out here. Sonnet is just getting over a little flu bug, which was hetic and stressful, but we pulled through with some help from nanny.

i've got her costume and my costume all finished.

we went to a nursery the other day and got a free strawberry plant to go in my garden. unfortunately for the garden, the dog seems to be in love with my pansies, and keep showering them with love. sadly this means she rolls over and over on them. so we need a little fence to go around it.

friday and saterday we have plans in victoria with Jeramy, Sheryl and Alex. i'm going down to spend the evenign and overnight on friday, and saterday troy and sonnet are coming up and having lunch with us. it'll be nice to see them. Jeramy is on leave from his tour in afganistan, so its very awesome that they are out here to visit.

things are going good out here.

Its raining today, and it rained yesterday. i posted a lovely and quite appropriate poem over at homewolf. http://www.homewolf.com/board/verses/show/2192

got the last needed fabric for sonnets halloween costume and her wings yesterday. she'll be a cute little fairy. We're only gonna go around the block, and then the dress will go into rotation as a play outfit. the wings will go on the wall with her other wings.

she starts week two of her daycare on monday, and we are all loving it so far. She like the kids and she loves the lady. She has a great time while shes there, so its going great.

i've been working on surpise gift packages for friends back home who i miss. i'm done the two commissions for my mom, plus some earrings, and i have tons of stock made up.

troys had some extra days off lately and its been nice to have him at home.

no topic

randomly, we rearranged the bedroom the other day and freed up tons of space. the room seems alot bigger now, which is really cool.

troy is working today, and sonnet and i are having a lazyish day around the house. shes down for a nap, and i'm taking a moment to post before i head back to doing laundry.

we have an appointment tommorrow afternoon about daycare for sonnet. Its private, and theres only one other kid, but its better than nothing and should help sonnet out with her interaction skills, which have been slipping since we left north bay.

its a bit cooler out today so we have been in the house all day. It only 17 out, and theres a bit of a breeze and its overcast. I think it might rain. mac got an unexpected bit of exercise after i failed to check the backyard completely before i let her out. the neighbors cat was hanging out on one of our lawn chairs and she gave mac quite the chase before escaping to sit on top of the fence and clean her paws, just out of macs jumping reach. Mac and the Cat both appear think that they got the better over the other animal.

i plan on doing some work on the halloween costumes tonight. i'll get the pattern cut out for troys shirt and start on sonnets dress. (i have some fleece downstairs that i'll use). fabric land had a huge pattern sale on last pay, so i had randomly picked up about a billion patterns (they were two bucks! i couldn't resist) which will now come in very handy. i've got fabric for troys shirt too so i might even get it cut tonight.

have turkey, will cook

sonnet was too sick to attend her birthday party today. we were up all last night with her fever. her fever is almost gone tonight, thought shes woken twice (lost her soother probably) though not long enough for us to go in.

we did our groceries and some other shopping this afternoon. troy got new clothes, two pairs of jeans and two long sleeves shirts, chocolatey brown shirts cause they make his eyes goldish (and no i didn't pick out clothes that nade him look extra sexy at all....) sonnet got new clothes too, two pairs of pants and two long sleeved shirts(wally world had a sale and shes growing again). i got a new winter jacket (black, double breasted and woolen, so cool!) as my columbia one was pretty much useless last year.

we got our turkey, i think its 9 pr 10 pounds. we also got the stuffing and the cranberry sauce, so that we may celebrate thanksgiving awesomely.

i've been making more jewllery today. i got some labradorite chips, though the labradorite isn't the same quailty that we used to see at that one guys workshop in Sheshatshit (you know they've officially changed the name for that place?)[its pronouced shes-a-shee]. its still pretty though (the labradorite, not the new name) .

did some sewing last night, with the ribbon embroidered taffeta that i couldn't resist at fabric land. i just have to add a zipper, and then i have a fabulous skirt to wear... well admittedly i have no where to wear it to, but apparantly theres a wedding coming up on the noseworthy (Mary's) side of the family. i've heard that its gonna be traditionally scottish, and i want to go just so i can make troy a kilt and then he can wear it. in public. traditionally... (just kidding!)

have decided on sonnet and troys halloween costumes, for sonnet first year trick or treating. shes going to be a fairy, and hes going to be a green man. (male fairy with leaves on his face and in his hair) i'm gonna make sonnets dress out of fleece, so that we can get her wool tights and with undershirts and pants, we wont'have to worry about the cold. i'll probably end up as a fairy too, but we'll see.

brewing

well we had our welcome wagon visit yesterday and got a load of free stuff. from potted plants, to free wine brewing to dentist check ups, they give you a lot of stuff.

so now with the problem of picking a dentist solved, (free first check ups for the entire family, with no charges for anything, including x-rays- i won't say no to that!) we followed through on the best of the deals. we went to the local u-brew, grape expectations and redeemed our free ticket. Our brew will be finished in a month, with one taste test so i can see how dry/sweet it is. we're doing a heritage savignaun blanc brewing of thirty bottles. so people who come to visit us after we get our wine bottled, will get a bonus, absolutely free, bottle of great wine! (everybody go ohhhhhhh and then ahhhhh) and no i'm not trying to bribe people with booze. we'll also throw in a stunning handmade gemstone bracelet! i'm trying to bribe people with booze and jewellery, the combination that wins!

and yes i am in an odd mood today.

we went down to the filberg heritage park, which is oh so freaking pretty. we saw 7 deer, all hanging out in a litte herd. and one tabby cat, who purred very loudly and was very friendly. that park is so so nice, it has old fashioned log buildings, a long grape covered walk way, beautiful gardens and inviting little benches everywhere.

feathers and rocks

o we went on a little adventure today, all the way out to campbell river. took us almost an hour to get there, thanks to people who wouldn't drive the speed limit. but it was a nice drive, with views of trees and feilds sheep and a llama. We also got some nice ocean views in, tons of seagulls, one seal, and one mysterious splashing thing. but nice views aside, we were on a mission. the annual ripple rock and gem club was having a rock and mineral show.

so away we went in our nosey-mobile (the car is as yet, unnamed) and listened to some good music. Sonnet enjoyed cheerios and raisons for her in-drive meal. when we finally got there, the show was small, but filled with mostly very nifty things. I got some nice rocks, which sounds odd, but i shall explain. I got a string of picture jasper chips, 3 medium sized mexican jasper polished stones, 5 small mexican jasper polished stones (which are oh so pretty) some crystal spikes, 7 slabs of cut, but unfinished rock(snowflake obsidian, tigers eye and 5 unknown but pretty rocks), one of which will be in sonnet room once i get it mounted. and a queen charlottes agate, which is nifty.

on the way back home we stopped at a hobby shop. oh it had soo much stuff. i just went in to look around, but ended up running back out to the car so i could buy me some feathers. i grabbed two peacock feathers, and some nifty dyed feathers that probably came from chickens originally.

sonnet has a slight headcold, so she is cranky, but quieter than her normal. troy is off until tuesday, so tommorrow we are going to go to a heritage park in comox. we went the other day and it is amazingly pretty. i could just hang there all day.

PICTURES!!!

sonnet and troy at the waterfall in the garden at the royal tyrell museum in alberta. its known to other people (ie. anyone i talk to before the trip) as the alberta badlands dinaosaur museum. i got lots of pics of dinosaurs and stuff to come too, but i liked this one cause, you know, cute kid n'all

sonnet 'driving' a very very old fire truck, at the suikoden ship museum outside of moose jaw. we spent a few hours there with two guys who restore old fire trucks, thanks to John who we were visting. it was one of the coolest parts of our trip. we got to go for a drive in one and everything!

this is sonnet being rediculously cute somewhere after winnepeg. shes wearing my hat, which we got in winnepeg.

above you see the very creepy priavte church, grave and full moon at the suikoden ship museum. the grave belongs to Tom suikoden (and i really hope thats atcually his name and that i'm spelling it right) who was originally form switzerland or sweden, he was an inventer and really awesomely smart. anyways as he got older, he wanted to go back to his homeland, so he built a ship that he coud sail there in. unfortunatly he died before it culd be finished, and the ship is now a musuem. His grave was moved to be with his ship in the seventies, and volunteers built the little church that stands next to it.

i can hear the ocean....

its miserable here today, raining with highwinds. the ocean sound is the noise of the wind racing past the computer room window every few seconds. Its very much like the sound of waves on a beach at low tide.

troys at work today. sonnet slept in until a quarter to one, which was very nice. Troy called home and was talking away and i was just like "shes... not up yet" so i went and got her food ready and woke her up, because i don't want her to be up all night. Then she threw a large hissy fit and threw her cereal on the floor. the dog enjooyed it, but i did not. So i made her a bottle and we had a nice cuddle in my dark tomb of a room. (calling it that because we took the ac out and put up the rest of our curtains and now its really dark, yay!)

had all sorts of geekish poetry last night, where in i wrote a poem about my reaction to a pretty song, and the return of my favorite wrestler to the wwe. the first is here: http://www.homewolf.com/board/verses/show/2134 and the second is here: http://www.homewolf.com/board/verses/show/2135

i know i'm odd, but thats why most people love me. i just asked sonnet if mommy was odd, and she clapped, which obviously means that i am indeed odd, and that makes me awesome. but we are gonna go make a box fort in the basement and play there till she gets bored.

birthday blog!

woah so sonnet is two! we had a good day, though she hasd been all sorts of cranky (curse thsoe terrible twos!)

she got all sorts of stuff. most people just sent her money so i'll just list all the stuff she got and people who sent her presents can argue over who got her what.

She got some dvds, season one of Talespin (by Disney) and season one of Darkwing Duck (also Disney) and A storytelling Robert Munch DVD.

She got some clothes, two george outfits one in purple and one in green, one hawaiien sleeper, and a mermaid pj set, and a green and purple outfit. She also got some baby einstien socks, and yellow rubber boots.

Sonnet got tons of toys; a pink lawn chair (by Dora the explorer), a fairytale talking Dora the explorer doll, a fisher price pirate set, a carebear (birthday bear), a popping balls walker thing, a noisey hammer, a keyboard, and some playdough.

We are having cheesecake for the brithday cake (cheesecake 101 outlet near us is so good) and shes got a big # 2 candle fr us to light and help her blow out.

i hope everybody else had a great day.

so i didn't get around to scanning any images. The tiny amount of time i wasn't chasing sonnet around the house i was doing laundry and other house holdy chores.

Troys days off between shifts were nice. we watched some tv and rented some movies. He got called back in yesterday for a suspicious package, which turned out to be a tool box or something.

its been pretty much miserable here today. cool breeze and then it started raining this afternoon. sonnet wanted to go outside so bad, and she got very upset when the doggie got to go out and she couldn't. shes really starting to get into the terrible twos.

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so i'm starting to feel settled.

I got troy to hang curtains and put art up today. We haven't found all of our curtain rods, so the only room with curtains is the master bedroom. Not that anyone else in the house cares. Sonnet; could care less, the dog is naturally clothed, and Troy... well he just doesn't care. But i am quite pleased with the curtains. No art up in our room yet, but i need a frame for my phantom painting, and a frame for my phantom poster (its a theme, and i know i'm a sad geekish person). Sonnets art is all up but for her butterfly and one of the geddes images (i can't find it and i think sonnet hid it somewhere). The computer room is going to have all our various awards and certificates, half of which need frames. All our family paintings (thats paintings by family members) are on the walls in the stair way an the top hall. Grandpa's painting is at the top of the stairs, right where it belongs. Beckys painting moved out of the bedroom and is halfway up the stairs, where it is surrounded by Dads paintings. I'm pondering doing an installation peice up the one wall to the top of the stairs, but it'll definitly be waiting till later on in the year.

We used our barbeque for the first time yesterday and had steak, which was awesome. It was so good, in fact that we had to use the barbeque again today, to do burgers. So so yummy. Its nice having an actualy barbeque. Also yesterday we took the dog to the beach for the first time. She loved it, though she was quite confused about the fact that she can't drink salt water. Sonnet ahd a blast as per her norm, and threw quite the hissy fit when it was time to leave.

Sad news all around today. An other canadian death in afganistan, in another 'friendly fire' incident. A death in petawawa, not someone i knew personally, but sad all the same. And then theres Steve Irwin. Oddly shocking, yet not. The weird bit is that it wasn't a crocodile. Still, though he was a complete nutter when it came to animals, he did a lot of good work in promoting animals that need help, even though they might be butt ugly. He is surely in a special heaven, full of mud and crocodiles and other ugly reptiles to wrestle.

troy works his first 24 hour shift tommorrow. Sonnet has been behaving awesomely, so i am sure things will go well. i'll try and get some images scanned from our trip and posted, in between laundry and other chores.

Have dog, will not travel!

the family is complete! Mackenzie arrived yesterday, though we had to travel to Nanimo to pick the poor thing up. She was definitly stressed out, as her poor kennel showed. Thankfully, the airport had a little carwash shack that they let us use to clean out the kennel.

After we loaded the kennel onto our brand new roofrack, we headed for home, via the nearest pitapit (like i'd be in town with a pita pit and not get me some!). We got home at midnight and put the baby straight to bed. She settled off like a dream, and we let Mac sniff her way through the house.

Mac seems settled, and she loves the backyard. Things are good. Troy goes back to work on tuesday, and hes actually changing to a new shift. The base is sending off a full crew of firefighters to various tds, deployments and courses, so the three shifts left are moving from 8 hour days and 16 hour nights to 24 hour shifts. It will definity be interesting.

we are headed out to an artesans festival in a big garden place outside the city this afternoon.

Comox!

well, we've been here a week, and its crazy. some days it seems like its only been a day or two, and some days it feels like forever.
'
we are all settling in nicely. Sonnet has fallen in love with the ocean, which is hilarious to see, except for the bit where she doesn't want to get out. Troy has fallen in love with his job, and its really great to see it. I have fallen in love with the prettyness of this place. Seriously, i will never get tired of the veiws here; windswept craggy snowcovered mountains with clouds dancing round the top, lush greenery that barely hides the wild life.

The town of Comox is pretty small, maybe silghtly smaller than petawawa. It seems smaller due to the way its laid out. either that or i'm crazy. Courtney is the bigger town next door, and its rather awesome. It has a great downtown, some very nice art shops, and the majority of the good restaurants. (sadly none of them seem to deliver up here).

things are going well.