Friday and October? Already!?

Where has the time gone? Does it feel to anyone else like time is just slipping through your fingers at an alarming rate?

If anyone was wondering (probably not), my doctor is sending me for a pelvic ultrasound and blood tests next week to try to find out what's going on. Since I had a miscarriage in June, I've had some issues with pain and my cycle is just wrong. Honestly, I'm frightened that I won't be able to get pregnant or keep a pregnancy. I've "only" had the one miscarriage, but I'm 33 and I feel like time is running out. I'm trying not to worry too much because right now there aren't any answers, but I can't help feeling scared and unhappy about it.

Anyway. Trying to focus on good stuff. Here are some giveaways for today:

For baby:

• Win a Bath Luve duck at Adventures of Wanna-Be Supah Mommy. Ends October 16th.
• Win a bib and burp cloth set from The Modern Baby Co. at My Wee View. Ends October 16th.
• Win a Smart Pocket diaper and boosters at Mommies Angels. Ends TODAY so hurry on over!
• Win your choice of cute Hatley Coveralls at Piece of Me! Ends October 16th.
  

For the ladies:

• Win a book: Making Babies at Park Avenue Princess. Ends October 4th. As you can imagine I would love to read this.
• Win a Bravado Allure nursing bra at Just for Me...and You. Ends October 12th.

For the home:

• Win a set of stylish storage boxes for the nursery (or for elsewhere!) by JJ Cole at Project Nursery. Ends October 9th.
• Win a Glade prize pack (including wine and a Chapters GC!) at My Organized Chaos. This is for Canadians only! Ends October 10th.
  

I also have a great announcement for my readers... I want to let you know that there's an upcoming giveaway here on my blog! It's from a company with products that I'm pretty impressed by and I think you will be, too. Watch for a review and giveaway soon!

You know it's going to be a good day when...

...the espresso machine reaches the magical and elusive optimum point that creates perfectly steamed milk for the morning cafe latte.

I adore my Krups machine (it's mine, all mine - DH is allergic to coffee - can you imagine?!), but it does have its issues. It requires special finesse (and a ribbon, my low-tech solution) to keep the tubing for the overflow water going into the reservoir and not all over my kitchen counter. It doesn't shut off the steamer properly when you turn the dial, and you have to wiggle the dial to make it stop blowing hot steam everywhere. The steamer doesn't always make perfect steamed milk with the thick foam I love (though that may be more a milk issue, if it's not the perfect temperature to start out, or if it's a day or two past its prime).

But I love it. I use it every single day (well, aside from the couple of months during my ill-fated pregnancy, when I had an aversion to coffee). I'm drinking decaf these days but it's still amazing thanks to my Krups machine. And today's latte is perfect. Yay!

Stressing myself out

I could not sleep last night for the life of me - I was up until 3:30 am. Worrying. About work, about other stuff... I'm a little stressed over work. I am working on a commissioned painting that is taking longer than it should be... I have another, smaller and hopefully quick commission after that, and a gallery in Whistler wants 4-5 paintings for the end of November. I'm not a fast painter so this is a lot for me. I'm not sure how I'm going to get it all done. Eek.

And I'm a little worried about something more personal... things really are out of whack with me in regards to my cycle... I want to be in a place again where we're trying to conceive, but not knowing what's going on has me freaking out. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and hopefully will get some answers.

So I'm procrastinating and entering some giveaways. As usual. And I know that life would be less stressful if I didn't procrastinate - it's just a habit that I can't shake.

For baby:

• Hurry up and enter to win a SoftBums Bamboo Basic Pack that comes with 1 Softbums Perfect Fit cover, and 2 organic bamboo inserts, plus a FREE Bamboo doubler at Diapers and Dimples. Ends "sometime" TODAY, September 29th.
• Win a $20 gift certificate to The Soft Landing at My Wee View. Ends October 9th.
• Win a $50 gift certificate to Ochanga (boys' clothing) at Candid, Clever & Cost Effective. Ends October 11th.
• Win a Bath Luve Duck at Cute Like Me Giveaways. Ends October 5th.
• Win some super cute Muddy Pigs bath toys from Munchkin at My Wee View. Ends October 9th.
• Win an aden+anais swaddling blanket at Monkey Toes Reviews & Giveaways. Ends October 12th.
• Win your choice of clothing item (for little girls) from Prairie Wild Rose at Glimpse. Really cute handmade pinafores, blouses, etc.! Ends October 13th.
• Win a Banana Bottoms diaper (made in Canada!) at The Cloth Diaper Experiment. Ends October 11th.
  

For the ladies:

• Win a Bella Materna Seamless Cup (nursing) Bra at Take Time To Smell The Rose. Ends October 19th.
• Win the book Your Best Birth at The Greer 5. Ends October 12th.
• Win a $150 gift certificate to Yumi Kim (super clothing) at I Am Style-ish. Ends October 4th.
  

For grown-ups:

• Win a $50 gift certificate to Eden Fantasys at Candid, Clever & Cost Effective. Ends October 6th.
  

For the home:

• Win a $30 gift certificate to Accent Furniture Direct (loads of home decor) at Baby Loving Mama. Ends October 9th.

Little things...

One little thing that has been good for me lately is Swagbucks. Have you heard of it? You just register, use their search engine just like any other search engine when you are looking for stuff online, and get randomly rewarded with Swagbucks, which you can then redeem for gift certificates (from loads of places) and other swag. If there's a catch I haven't found it. They actually add up pretty quickly. I recommend it, it's a super easy way to get a little bonus from something you use every day. I have already 'earned' $20 in Amazon.ca gift certificates!


I used my gift certificates towards a new cookbook from the fantastic restaurant rebar in Victoria, B.C., which we visited when we were out on the west coast a few weeks ago. I found it kind of similar to another amazing restaurant in Toronto called Fresh. They are both vegetarian restaurants that serve simply amazing dishes that are inventive, full of flavour, super good for you, and so filling. Both are ranked MUST GO (according to me) if you are anywhere nearby. So on visiting rebar I knew I had to buy their cookbook... I can't wait until it comes. Yum!

Thanks for the encouraging words on Friday... I was having a rough day. I think sometimes I just need to let it out, have a good cry, and then I can get on with things. It is getting easier despite my feeling that it never would... but there are still rough spots.

I spent the weekend cooking which is totally my way of comforting myself when I'm feeling down... I made more pickled beets, two carrot-apple loaves and some carrot wheat muffins, four batches of pesto, froze a pile of prepared tomatoes, made a beet-greens and bocconcini pizza that was AMAZING (based on this recipe from Vegetarian Times), made an Indian Lentil Pilaf (one of our go-to meals for easy, yummy dinners)... all this mostly with stuff from our garden (carrots, beets & greens, basil, tomatoes).

And of course finished moving the furniture from the house painting which is finally done! Well... except he touched up our ceilings in a whole bunch of places with the wrong colour and sheen of white, which looks crappy... And then the regular vaccuuming and tidying that goes into every weekend. Busy.

We visited last night with our good friends and their 2.5 week old little girl... she has more hair and a stronger cry than she did a week ago when we saw her last! She is simply adorable. I sure hope it's our turn soon.

Okay. Now it's been a few days and of course there are some giveaways to catch up on! Here's a start:

For baby:

• Win a $25 gift certificate to JamTots at Organic Girl. Ends October 25th.
• Win a $75 gift certificate to Lola & Ben at {Natural} Mommie. Ends October 7th.
• Win a BabyBjorn Synergy Baby Carrier and bibs at Organic Girl! Ends October 15th.
• Win your choice of outfit from Kumquat at Piece of Me! Ends October 11th.
• Win a Hello Baby Gift Pack by All Things Jill from Trees and Tots at Canadian Natural Mama. Ends October 20th.
• This is a big one... win a City Jogger Micro Stroller from Country Moose Kids at Organic Girl! Ends October 19th.
• Win your choice of shirt from SnugFits at Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous! Ends October 26th.
• Win a Mini Toy Wrangler at Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous! Ends October 2nd.
• Win a Wet Happened? Wet Bag from Let's Go Strolling at The First Time Around. Ends October 9th.
• Win a 50-piece block set by Wonderworld (age 2+) from All Modern Baby at Babies Gotta Have It. But hurry, ends September 30th.
• Win a $30 gift certificate to the All Childrens Furniture store by CSN Stores at A Mom's Balancing Act! Ends October 12th.
• Win a set of Bummas cloth wipes at Mommy Loves Giveaways. Ends October 2nd.
  

For the ladies:

• Win a $25 gift certificate to GoJane (women's shoes, clothing and accessories) at All Ruby Cakes. Ends October 8th.
• Win a Bumblewee nursing top and bra at Organic Girl! Ends October 4th.
  

For anyone:

• Win a $70 gift certificate to AllModern.com (furnishings & accessories for the home) at Traditionally Modern Designs. Ends October 5th.
• Win a Coffee Beanery Gift Set at Things Moms Like! Ends October 10th.
• Win a 1 pound box of Enstrom's Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee at Sweeps4Bloggers. Mmm. Ends October 4th.
• Win a Maple prize pack from Coombs Family Farm at Wishing Penny! Another mmm. Ends October 8th.
• Win a $55 gift certificate to CSN Mirrors at It's Trickey! Ends tomorrow, September 29th, so hurry!