Convocation

Well after 7 years, well only about 5 years of actually attending classes, I (Tamara), finally graduated from University. I am now the proud degree owner of a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, with a Concentration in Geographical Information Science. It took a long time, and many detours, but it is complete!



Convocation was Thursday, May 29th, and my parents, brother, and his girlfriend Anh, all came out for it. We had a good visit, and had a couple days of celebration (also being my 25th birthday on the 30th). I think my parents were hoping for Paisley's arrival that weekend as well.

Here are a few pictures of grad:

My good friend Jen (Geography) and myself- she photographs very well... so lots of photos:




With other good friends Rachelle and Marissa (both Environmental Science)


Just with Rachelle:


On stage - look at the awkwardness. Convocation Regalia is not flattering on a 9 month pregnant woman:





Feeling hot and exhausted.....


Glad it's over.....

Eviction Notice

Dear Paisley,
This is a formal notice of eviction. Although the last nine months have been enjoyable, your contract is up and it is time for you to move out. We will discuss the damage deposit only after you have moved out.
Management
xoxo

(courtesy of my friend Jen)

Time for an update

We've kinda been neglecting the blog for a while now. Really nothing much has been happening in our lives lately. Now that I'm done school, I spend my days around the house, tidying, organizing, and crafting. Josh has been working a fair bit of overtime lately, so he's at the University a lot. So really not much to say on the day to day stuff.

On a positive note, Josh is now classified as an employee of the University of Lethbridge as of May 1. Prior to that he was contract. So that is great news, as it comes with benefits, as well as a raise. He really enjoys the people he works with, and has become pretty good friends with them (as well as myself with the wives). It's a great group of people. In fact we have them all coming for a BBQ at our house tomorrow. :) We also have plans for S'MORES! On my fancy new firepit (which was an early birthday present):


This weekend, Josh's parents are coming down for a visit, and I believe they're going to do some work for us (in exchange for my cooking skills - which are still lacking, but getting better). They have plans to put up the baseboards that Josh has been putting off, and putting another coat of paint on the banister for us (since it will be nice and I an be outside). I believe we also have plans for a picnic in the park on Sunday. Rumor has it, we're having Swiss Chalet (which just opened here about a month ago). Looking forward to the weekend, and hoping to spend some time getting the garden in shape.

We've nearly got the baby's room together. The crib and change table finally arrived (about 10 weeks we had to wait). But the shipping company dropped the change table, and it is broken, so we're waiting for it to be sent back and a new one to arrive. We have another dresser we can use in the mean time. But in the room we just need to hang the floating shelf, and some decoration to the walls (painted name and such), an hopefully paint the baseboards and window frame (although not a priority). But it's looking good in there.

Well although I have been doing plenty of crafting lately (now that I have a space that I can leave set up), I have been actually doing a bit more organization than anything. Last summer I decided to go "unmounted". This just means that I ditched the wood blocks that stamps come on, and have transfered all my stamps to EZ mount, and use acrylic blocks. Takes up WAY less storage space. I had started the process last summer, but had kinda left it half done. So I've gone back to it, and am getting most of them done now, as well as inventoried by stamp company and theme. Not an easy task when you have as many stamps as I do. But I'm making progress through my stamps, and hopefully will have it all done in a couple weeks, and there will be no stamps floating around and getting lost anymore, they will all be stored neatly in CD cases in an old CD rack of my brother's (shhh he doesn't know I stole it) ;). But I look forward to this massive task being complete, so that I can have everything in one place.

Here's a recent card. I haven't been posting many here lately, as we are working on getting my site set up. Well I shouldn't say we, Josh has the site set up, I just need to get myself in gear and load it up.



One more bit of news, as we grow to a family of three, we will be changing our blog location. Josh has a domain that he's been itching to use, and so we decided that we will use that time as our transition to the new blog. :) SO you'll get the news when it happens here, and we'll also add a link to the new site.

More Wedding Invitiations

Invitation #3




Invitation #4




Invitation #5



Invitation #6

Some sample wedding invitations

I made a bunch of sample wedding invitations a while back now, but have never shared them on here. :) So since life has been a little dry around here lately... I thought I'd share them.

Invitation #1





Invitation #2





Well blogger is having issues... so only 2 invitations for now. :)

They've arrived!

The rest of my cloth diapers arrived today! :) At the early stage, we're trying a couple of each company's diapers that got good reviews. Then we can see which ones work for us and which we want to invest in for the rest of the diapering stages. Although several of them are One Size diapers that can be used from 8 lbs all the way up to 30lbs. So we'll see how it all works out. I've still got to pick up a few more doublers, or make them. Also have to finish making cloth wipes (my project this coming weekend).

Last night we got rain and snow. So this morning when it warmed up again, I heard water running (rather loudly), so I went to investigate. The gutter that goes above our front door was pouring down over the front step (opposite end of the trough as it is supposed to). It wasn't just pouring out... it was waterfalling! There was no way to get in or out of the house! It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was crazy. Guessing it's something that will have to be attended to this summer. In the winter the same thing happens, then the water freezes on the front step (not so safe).





Since we've put up the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs (we put it up to keep the cats out of the bedroom area of the house while we were working), I've noticed the cats aren't getting as much exercise as usual. Normally they're chasing each other around the house... but this week... they've been laying on their pet bed, and sleeping. But as you can see.... Teemo is definitely more comfortable than he ever used to be.

More Renos

Well we spent our Saturday working around the house. We got the first coat done in the spare bedroom in the morning, and then a second coat in the evening. This room will be used as the baby's room eventually, although right now it has all the furniture for the extra bedroom (which we are waiting for the tennant to move out of before we can do anything with it). So here's couple pictures of the work done:

Here's the room before we started (weird.... it's showing 3 pictures in one.... gotta get Josh on the debugging of that one!):


Here's Josh painting (the first coat):


I also got a chance to work in the garden yesterday. Twenty degree weather in April, not complaining. Hopefully today I'll get some more done in the garden.

I am no officially done classes. :) I'm so happy about that. Have 3 exams to write still, one today (a take home), one this week (just a multiple choice webct based exam) and then one April 24th, which will be brutal (but I'm sitting with 100% in the course, so I am sitting very well going into it). Then I will be a graduate. Only took me 6 years! (or was it 7?)

I've also gotten a chance to do lots of crafting this last month. I'm actually pretty well caught up to my card a day status.... although I usually make 6 -12 at once... not one everyday. Here's just a few of the cards I've made recently:






Josh is headed to Vancouver today, until Wednesday for a conference, so the house will be quite quiet. I'm hoping to get a lot of things done while he is gone, just organization and such. The next two weekends we will also be travelling and getting some visiting in. Then it's May. Time is going very fast!

Guitar customization

You may recall my complaint about the aesthetics of my new guitar. Luckily it was an easy tweak to make the look more pleasing. I pulled off the amber knobs that came on the guitar and replaced them with some chrome ones. Here's the result:

Original amber knobs

New chrome knobs

The new knobs look great, and my repository of chords is gradually growing.

My life at the Enmax

My week of residence in the Enmax Center has come to an end now. Four of the previous seven evenings were spent in the seats of the arena. Thursday night Tamara and I went with some friends to see Paul Brandt in concert.



Because Michael from work went to school with Paul he was able to get us some meet & greet passes for before the show. We got to chat with Paul Brandt for a few minutes and have a picture taken with him. Much like myself, Paul will be a father for the first time in the next couple of months, and like me, he is both scared and excited about it.



Round two of the WHL playoffs started on Friday at the Enmax. We were all heartbroken with the 3-2 Hurricane loss after blowing a 2-0 third period lead. They almost blew a 4-0 third period lead last night (see photo above: 3-0 at the start of the third), narrowly escaping with a 5-4 win in OT. The good news out of that is that we are guaranteed a game 5 in Lethbridge next Friday.

The Enmax Center: My home away from home

I'm thinking of having my mail forwarded to the Enmax Center; I've been spending that much time there. Brian and I took in game 6 of the Hurricanes' opening round series against Brandon on Sunday night. A dominant performance by the 'Canes that was, and they earned themselves a spot in the second round. So Friday and Saturday I'll goto the Hurricane games against Kootenay with some of the guys from work. Tonight, however, we're going to see Paul Brandt, and since Michael went to high school with him, we've managed to get backstage passes.

It should be a fun weekend! If you're looking for me, try section LL at the Enmax.

Birthday comes early

My birthday arrived a week early this year! I got the call from Note-able yesterday that my new guitar arrived. I love the colour and the look of it: an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top in translucent blue (not quite a Gibson, but close enough for me). The only complaint I have is the amber knobs. I'm going to look into replacing them with chrome ones to match the other hardware.

So far I've had about an hour to play it, and I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can play some more.

I forgot my camera in Crossfield last weekend; better pictures to come when I get it back.

Weekend Excitement

This weekend was a busy one. We had a couple friends come down from Calgary for the weekend. My friend Melanie, who I grew up with in Revelstoke, and Josh's friend Mike, who he grew up with in Crossfield. Full house, but lots of fun. As usual, Mike brought some group video games with him. Was great fun. But the best game he brought was Rockband. Now, Josh plays this at work quite often, but I hadn't experienced it yet. It's beyond what Guitar Hero is! :) You have a full band, drums, guitar, bass guitar and singer. :) So I snapped a few pics of us playing!


We've got Josh singing.


We've got Mike drumming.


We've got the oh so enthused Melanie (she refused to play). Couldn't even get her to play Dance Dance Revolution (which is very tiring when your almost 7 months pregnant).


Here's a group shot. I think I liked the drums best. Guitar and bass were too much like guitar hero, and I wasn't brave enough to sing!


Also this weekend, my friend Jen threw a baby shower for me with a bunch of school friends. It was a blast! She made quite the feast, and planned a few fun games. I also snapped a few pictures of this event. I realized upon loading the photos on the computer, that I hadn't used my camera since last summer when I was working for the City of Revelstoke. Still had tombstone pictures on it!


Some of the girls at the shower (Melanie, Andrea, and Marissa).


Jen made a massive and delicious spread! Too bad she didn't tell us not to eat lunch first ;).


Check out this awesome cake Jen made. :) It was just as wonderfully tasty as it is wonderfully decorated.

Well...

Things have been very hectic around here.... and when there's time to crash, we've done just that.

School is busy with projects and exams. Last project of the semester is due next week, so will be nice to have that out of the way, leaving only exams and lab assignments. I sure am looking forward to being done school forever! :)

The little one is moving A LOT! Barely any rest for her! It's actually really amusing to watch her movements through my belly. :) Although all that movement is really not helping with my sleep at all. I think she'll be a rambunctious one! We've done a little bit of shopping in preparation for her arrival, and are starting to gather the things we'll need. 12 more weeks!

I have a pile of cards to share, but haven't been able to get pictures of them yet, so they sit and wait. Josh has also launched my website... but I've been slacking and it doesn't have any content yet. I'll keep you posted, and give you an address once I actually have something on it to show!

Hopefully I'll have pictures soon!

Brownies

Apparently these brownies were a big hit at Josh's office. And well they were just delicious... So I thought I'd share the recipe:

Chocolate-Cherry Brownies

1 (18 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs , beaten
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1 (6 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In mixing bowl combine cake mix, cherry pie filling, almond extract and beaten eggs.
3. In sprayed, floured 9 x 13 inch baking pan, pour batter and bake for 25-30 minute.
4. Icing: in medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, butter and milk, bring to boil and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until smooth and creamy.
5. Remove from oven and pour icing over warm cake.

Photo shoot

We hauled out all the lighting gear tonight for some maternity photos.  Here's one of my favourites so far:

A little quiet around here

So it's been a little quiet on the blog lately. So here's the latest exciting news from the Schroeder home:

WE GOT A DISHWASHER! :) That's right... no more stacking dishes precariously hoping that they'll somehow wash themselves. :) Thanks to Josh's dad for doing the dirty work of adding the hookups and tearing out the cupboard to put it in. :) I'm SO happy about this development.

Our new couch has arrived. :) It's glorious chocolate brown leather. Has a recliner on both ends of it. :) Super comfy. Great view of the new LCD TV. The living room is mostly in order now, so we'll have to take a picture to share with everyone. The cats are enjoying having the living room back. Always ready for a snuggle on the couch.


It's currently reading week. SO I've been working around the house, doing some tidying, some crafting, and some project work. Currently working on a project that involves watching lots of movies and compiling clips. :) It's a very enjoyable project so far!

And finally, Josh took a few photos tonight. I'm looking big... and there's still 3 months to go!