My Creatively Random Life

It's time again for the Celebrate the Small Things blog hop hosted by  Scribblings of an Aspiring Author .  It's a chance to look back over the week and remember the things big and small that made it a little brighter. I am excited this week to be getting to be nearing the end of my Christmas shopping, one or two small thing left and I will hopefully be done long before the day arrives. Also Ace is going to a birthday party tonight so Cat and I are going to drop him off and go have dinner out.  That will be nice. And to top the weekend off with a bang the kids and I are getting together with a friend and her son tomorrow to go to kid's fest downtown.  It should be a ton of fun and lots of outdoor fun for the kids means a quiet Sunday with Auntie Margie putting the Christmas tree up. What are you celebrating this week? This is a blog hop, feel free to join in below:

The last Friday of the month is time for The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a chance for bloggers to get together and discuss the best books they have read in the last month.  Hosted by  The Armchair Squid  it is a wonderful chance to gain new entries for your to be read list and of course make new friends. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and find out what I have been reading this month that I haven't all ready bored you with.  Which is Terry Goodkind's Chainfire, the ninth book in the Sword of Truth series which I have been reading amid all my other reading.  As I may have mention a time or two, Richard and Kahlan rank highly in my top fictional couples of all time so the fact that Chainfire starts of with Richard critically injured and Kahlan missing and wiped from the memories of all but Richard does not a happy Melissa make.  This book also puts Richard in mortal danger from a beast that the Emperor Jagang has had his Sister's of the Dark cook up.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, I was compensated for the post but as always all opinions are 100% my own . Christmas time can sometimes be more than a little stressful with all the gift giving that goes on.  I know they say that gift giving shouldn't be stressful but have you seen all the commercials?  They imply that you should be buying people some pretty crazy stuff.  It puts a lot of pressure on a person.  Especially those of us who have to get gifts for teachers, daycare workers, co-workers, the kid's best friend, the dog walker... Ok, I made that last one up, I don't have a dog but you get what I mean, it starts to get to you after a while.  There's a point where you're standing in the store racking your brain for a meaningful, useful gift for some person on your list and you are stuck.  Or at least if you are me. I hate getting gifts for people that aren't loved or useful so Christmas can be really stressful sometimes.  This year, at least fo

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With all the trouble they have caused me lately it's good to look back and remember when they were sweet and talked back a lot less.

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted  Bouquet Of Books  and  Entertaining Interests .  This week's topic is: name five fictional characters you would want to have in your life. This is actually last weeks topic but I was sick last week so I am playing a bit of blog hop catch up because I really like both weeks topic and didn't want to skip one.  I figured you guys wouldn't mind because you are probably dying to read about my fictional character obsessions. The first in my list of fictional characters I would want in my life is Ianto Jones from Torchwood, because there is nothing I love more than a man in a well cut suit and a good cup of coffee. The second fictional character who needs to be in my life is of course Captain Jack Harkness, (I wouldn't want Ianto to be lonely) because if weevils ever attack the Greater Toronto Area I want to be prepared.  Or meteors or Daleks or whatever. A third fictional character I would want in my life would be Cara

I recently read the Haven Series Collection: Books One and Two and was thoroughly enchanted with the characters and what I learned of the world of Haven to this point.  I am already looking forward to how the story is going to unfold from this point, which is great because it's been a while since I've look forward to a new fantasy series. In Book 1, A Stranger Magic, we meet Sam Dalcome (and his family) who thinks he is an average teenage boy.  He discovers a mysterious stranger lurking outside his house and tries to uncover his intentions but is sidetracked when he and his friend Travis stumble upon a secret passageway in a cave that leads to a hidden cavern.  The discoveries the two boys make from there change their lives.  They are also pretty creepy in some spots.  There is some pretty vivid writing that made me want to put the book down because I was terrified, very well done. In Book 2, Revenge of the Viper, we learn more about the Dalcome family, Sam's mother

There's been something lately that has me stuck in a real nostalgic mood.  Not just in the mood to look back to the past but back to my much younger days.  Happy hours spent with family, which is always a wonderful thing. I can't remember the last time my sister and I had a picture taken with our mom and dad but I know I will be insisting on one at Christmas.  I think my sister is still short enough that we can even mimic this pose. 

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted  Bouquet Of Books  and  Entertaining Interests .  This week's topic is: Do you know your MBTI personality?  If so, please share.  If not, go take the test. Please.  http://humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp I had never taken this test before but I was not surprised at all by the results.  As you can see below I am a slightly judgemental introvert.  I totally could have called that. ;) ISFJ I ntrovert(89%)   S ensing(38%)   F eeling(50%)   J udging(11%) You have  strong  preference of Introversion over Extraversion (89%) You have  moderate  preference of Sensing over Intuition (38%) You have  moderate  preference of Feeling over Thinking (50%) You have  slight  preference of Judging over Perceiving (11%) This is a blog hop, check out what everyone else had to say and feel free to join in.

It's time again for the Celebrate the Small Things blog hop hosted by  Scribblings of an Aspiring Author .  It's a chance to look back over the week and remember the things big and small that made it a little brighter. This brightest spot in my week this week was game night with my kids on Wednesday, it was awesome to get to spend that time with them even though I wasn't feeling well. I am also celebrating Ace getting a better than anticipated report card this week.  He had a rough start to the school year with trying to find his balance between fitting in and doing his best work but he still pulled off decent grades.  He gets a big high five from Mommy. Really looking forward to the weekend and a chance to relax and work on some projects that I have lined up. Check out what everyone else is celebrating this week and let us know what you are celebrating too:

Blog Tour hosted by I Am A Reader November 4th to 21st Tour Schedule The Match Maker by Karey White (The Husband Maker #2) (Summary contains spoilers if you have not yet read book #1 The Husband Maker ) It’s been six months since Charlotte and Kyle broke up, and the Husband Maker strikes again. Kyle is officially engaged, while Charlotte is still nursing a broken heart. In an effort to get Charlotte out of her rut, she and her best friend decide it’s time for some good old-fashioned matchmaking. While Aleena arranges for Charlotte to meet up with a handsome Scottish tourist, Charlotte gets her two best friends together. But when sparks start to fly between Aleena and Angus, Charlotte is left feeling more alone that ever--at least until the charming Scotsman becomes more than just a safe, rebound guy and teaches her that maybe, just maybe, she can dare to open her heart again. Order your copy Now! Amazon * Barnes & Noble Enjoy an snippet from the book:

I can't even begin to remember all  the stupid nicknames me and my sister had for each other over than last twenty some years.  At some point though she started calling me sister mouse. I have no idea why.  It possibly would have made sense when we were children but we were long into adulthood at this time. As a loving tribute to my sister I decided to post a picture of us when we were much younger, because I am past the point of being embarrassed of the days of horrible hair and worse glasses. How much though do my kids look like us?  Cat is almost a dead ringer for my sister and if you were to give Ace a wig and a tan he could be me no?

A few months ago I went to a company meet and greet for one of my favourite cosmetic companies, coffee in hand as always...even though it was seven in the evening.  During the course of the evening and talking to people it was discussed how coffee has become a bit of a crutch for me at this point in my life trying to keep up with work, kids, housework, friends etc.  I won't tell you how many coffees I was knocking back in an average day but let's just say it wasn't a healthy number. One of the woman there suggested I try substituting some of my coffee for Matcha, she said it would give me more energy and be much healthier for me.  At the time I didn't know a whole late about it other than it was an option at the smoothie place.  Oh how I have learned. I got the opportunity to try out this Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder  from Kiss Me Organics and I was excited to give it a go and try to kick my excessive coffee habit. My original plan was to replace the coff

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Rumble for IZEA . All opinions are 100% mine. When you are having a really bad day there is nothing quite like watching something adorable be silly brighten it up.  I have had a real string of unpleasent days lately where it seemed like everything that could go wrong did. What a pleasure it is to be able to go and watch videos like this one of a kitten chasing her tail to bring a smile back to my face. Adorable Kitten Unsuccessfully Catches Tail Or this super cute puppy in the snow. Puppy Experiences Snow For First Time Who can resist a puppy in the snow? Check out more cute videos .

There's nothing quite like a good parody song and it's hard to say if I like them more if I like the original song or if I dislike it.  In this case though I am very fond of the song in question, Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Bass'. I love how fun and positive this song is, it's also extremely catchy which leads to tons of parodies.  Some of which are extremely entertaining and fun.  My personal favorite is: Had to see that one coming right?  Fun catchy song mixed up with Star Wars and great costumes, how could I not love it?  Seriously did you see those costumes? My second favorite parody of this song is: How awesome was that? Do you love or hate parody songs?

Every now and then I run across something on the internet that is truly awesome, or at least amuses the heck out of me.  My most recent finding was the Time Lord Name Generator  which as you can imagine I very excited to see what my Time Lord name would be. Your time lord name is: The Poet Your original Gallifreyan name is Vangothdanboradruchardath, or Vangoth for short. Back on Gallifrey, you led a dull and uninteresting life, working as a Weapons Keeper for the Chancellery Guard – but now, you travel Time and Space in search of adventure! Your Type 101 TARDIS is currently stuck in disguise as a monster truck called 'The Destroyer', and your latest travelling companion is a Sontaran Lieutenant, who is attempting to learn more about the difficult art of Not Killing People. Get your own time lord name from the time lord name generator! I am very excited that my TARDIS is a monster truck, I think it's fitting.  What did you think of the test?  Are you a Doctor Wh

It's time again for the Celebrate the Small Things blog hop hosted by  Scribblings of an Aspiring Author .  It's a chance to look back over the week and remember the things big and small that made it a little brighter. This week started off pretty rough for me and I was feeling rather lousy leading into Wednesday afternoon when it picked up a great deal.  I got some really good news at work that made things a lot more positive looking for the next few weeks.  Yay! Then Thursday morning dawned bright and clear and made my week.  I didn't mention it here yet because we were still in the process of telling people but a few weeks ago Mike and I got engaged. Yesterday though I made my first steps in planning my wedding which made me very excited.  Pretty much through the moon actually.  Yay! What are you celebrating this week?

It's grainy and hard to see but here is the first ever picture taken of me, wasn't I adorable?  Tee hee! Going through the old photo albums that my mom had was a great way to find pictures and topics for future blog posts.  There were some wonderful how could my parents let me out in public dressed like that moments in there too. It really inspires me to get going through the cache of digital photos I have and make some albums for the kids to go through when they are older.

Once upon a time, way back when I first started blogging I used to post all the time about current projects I was working on and then I veered away from doing it because sometimes it takes me forever to finish something.  I'm sure a few of you who have been with me since the beginning may remember the  Doctor Who scarf  and how long that took me.  (and how frustrated I was with it) The truth is though, I miss sharing my projects with the world and I do so many.  Especially since I started Cosplaying.  Plus if I blog about them, it forces me to take pictures of them which is something I tend not to do as much as I should. As well, I will be posting stuff on my brand new  Blog Fan Page  over on Facebook.  Random pictures and stuff that don't make it on to the blog.  Nothing that you don't already see if you follow me on  Twitter  or  Instagram  but a sneak peak of stuff you will see here.  Tons more Cosplay stuff though because we all know how often that actually makes

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted  Bouquet Of Books  and  Entertaining Interests .  This week's topic is: If you came with a warning label what would yours say about you? I am not saying I am a difficult person to get along with, just that I don't do that fake nice stuff very well and therefore people tend to not like me.  I would say it's a flaw but if they can't handle a little honesty I probably don't want to deal with them anyway. A second warning label would say "keep well feed" as I get brutally cranky when I am hungry. What would your warning label say? This is a blog hop, add your info and join in here:

Don't forget to stop by on November 11 to read my review of The Match Maker. The Match Maker by Karey White (The Husband Maker #2) (Summary contains spoilers if you have not yet read book #1 The Husband Maker ) It’s been six months since Charlotte and Kyle broke up, and the Husband Maker strikes again. Kyle is officially engaged, while Charlotte is still nursing a broken heart. In an effort to get Charlotte out of her rut, she and her best friend decide it’s time for some good old-fashioned matchmaking. While Aleena arranges for Charlotte to meet up with a handsome Scottish tourist, Charlotte gets her two best friends together. But when sparks start to fly between Aleena and Angus, Charlotte is left feeling more alone that ever--at least until the charming Scotsman becomes more than just a safe, rebound guy and teaches her that maybe, just maybe, she can dare to open her heart again. The Match Maker releases on November 1st Order your copy Now! Amazon Don't miss the B

Reading is a popular activity in our house so I was excited for the chance to try out the FarFaria app which puts a library of over 800 children's books into the palm of your hand, so to speak.  The only question was what to install it on, I opted to put it on Ace's IPad so that it was accessible to both kids and it had the larger screen for my mom reading stories to Cat. So far, I have only gotten to play with FarFaria when I first installed it and read one story to Cat.  The kids have taken it over.  Cat loves that she can wonder off with it and use the Read-To-Me feature to read books that are above her level when everyone in the house is too busy to read to her. Ace's favourite thing about is that there are so many stories that they haven't read yet, and it was easy for him to steer Cat towards them.  No matter now many books you have repetition is apparently a huge problem when you have a little sister. My favourite things about it are that you can ma