The Story of Me & Mrs. Ex

With Mother's Day rapidly approaching I thought I'd share with you the story of me and Mrs. Ex. This post is in a way, a gift, a thank you to her. Mrs. Ex (or Miss J) is Miss E's mom, Mr. CC's ex and my friend. We haven't always been friends, that took some time. Years and years of time!

I shared the story of me and Mr. CC {here}. It you haven't read it, you should.  ; )  Brief recap, when we met is was horrible timing, we were both in failing marriages. I ended up moving from Las Vegas to Canada after knowing him for only 3 1/2 months. We've been together for 12 years now. 

So you're probably thinking, if I was the ex I'd hate me. I know I would! In some sense I was kind of  the other woman. Now whether or not Miss J hated me at the beginning I don't know. I do know she didn't blame me for their marriage ending. She's told me a couple times over the past years. You can bet that was a HUGE relief to hear!! (Thank you for that J!!) She did however have nothing to do with me. Over the first few years she wouldn't really speak to me. At first it wasn't at all. Eventually she'd talk to me only about things that concerned Miss E. It was never very friendly or personal. That's how our relationship was for the first 5 years or so.

You can imagine that when we found out I was pregnant I was kind of dreading telling her. We didn't know how she'd react. She hadn't wanted Miss E to be an only child, but she was in a relationship with an man who already had two daughter's that were older than Miss E. He didn't want to have more kids. So this is why I was nervous to tell her. Would she be angry or jealous that it was me making Miss E a big sister and not her? Was she going to stop talking to me? These are some of the thoughts that went through my head. I was only six weeks pregnant when we told her. And to my surprise she started talking to me more then ever. She'd actually talk to me about things other than Miss E.

After Miss A was born our relationship blossomed more and more. We would go to the mall together or over to her house to hang out. And in 2010 we went on a Spring Break trip together. Just me, her and the girls. 10 days together, and it was nice! We made a great team. I love to cook, so I'd do the cooking. She doesn't like cooking all that much, so she'd do the clean up. We joked how two moms in a house would be pretty cool. Sharing a guy, not soo much. haha ; )

I still don't know why having Miss A changed soo much between us. Honestly, I've never asked. My only guess is,  having Miss E's sister meant I would be a permanent person in her life. (Is that close J?) Whatever the reason, I'm soo happy with how things are now. We are friends. We get together for Sunday dinner a couple times a month at her place. We occasionally to go a movie together and she's in my Dinner Club. This summer we're planning on doing some camping in her RV with the girls. I've also sort of been a moderator between her and Mr. CC. I think I've made their relationship easier. We don't really all hang out, but communication is good. And the best part, Miss E knows we're all on the same page and all here for her.

I wanted to share our story to give encouragement to those of you out there going through something similar. Maybe you're the ex or maybe you're the new woman. Whatever the case is, there is hope. Things can get better over time. I doubt Miss J knows how I felt all those years she wouldn't talk to me. It's hard being the new woman too. You don't really know where you fit into the child's life. You're not a biological parent, but you're expected to treat them like your own. That was something I really loved, being a part of Miss E's life. I always treated her like my own and loved her from day one. It seems you always run the risk of overstepping some imaginary line though. It's a hard balance of parenting but not over parenting. Does that even make sense? If it's this hard for me to explain, imagine how hard it is to live. Being a step-parent is a tough job, but it's one I love! It's been an honor to watch Miss E grow from a toddler to a teenager. She has become an incredible young lady. I'm looking forward to watching her grow into an amazing woman.

So with that we come to the end of this post. A huge thank you to Miss J for allowing me into your life! You mean more to me than you'll ever know. Thank you for sharing your precious daughter with me. I think we've done a fantastic job raising her, Happy Mother's Day!!

Whether you're a bio-mom,  stepmom,  grandma,  aunt or 

an extra special someone to a child -

 Happy Mother's Day!!

image via

  **If you have any questions for Miss J or myself, please don't hesitate to ask. We'd love to hear from you! Please make sure your email address is on your Google profile or leave your email address with your comment. That way we can get back to you.

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At The Picket Fence 
Serenity Now

 

The Story of Me & Mr. CC

Happy Saturday! This may be just another Saturday to you, but to me it's an anniversary of sorts. Today, April 28th, marks my 12th year living in Calgary. (I'm in Alberta, Canada for those of you that are unsure where Calgary is.) As I got to thinking more about this day, I realized I've never shared with you the story of how I met Mr. CC, and ended up moving from Las Vegas to Canada way back in 2000. I don't think I've ever told you much about me. So, with a dozen Canadian winters under my belt, I thought now would be a great time for an "about me" type of post. What do you think? Yes? Alright then. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and get comfortable, this may take a little while.  ; )

It all started back in January of 2000. I was living in Las Vegas with my, now ex, then husband. (I'm originally from Chico, Ca.) We were unhappily married and our marriage was definitely on the rocks. Shortly before the new year I had given him an ultimatum to change a few things or I was done. At the same time Mr. CC was living in Calgary and was in a very similar relationship, except he had a 18 month old daughter, Miss E. One night in mid-January I was chatting in an AOL chat room (remember AOL?) . I would like to make it very clear that I was in a regular chat room. It wasn't a room for singles or people looking to "hook up". It was just a normal chat room where men and women from all over the world could chat. Keep in mind this was back when the internet was still pretty new, and I thought it was soo cool that I could talk to people in England, Japan, where ever. Cool! Anyway, back to my story. So I was chatting with some people in a Montreal chat room. Someone asked me where I lived and I wrote, "Las Vegas". After I wrote that some guy responded, "I love Vegas!". Well that guy turned out to be Mr. CC!

We chatted with some other people for a while and then ended up PMing each other. (PM = private messaging) He seemed like a nice guy and we had a lot in common. We ended up chatting a few times that week. Every time we did, neither of us mentioned being married. We would talk about our spouses, but referred to them as our ex's. This went on for a couple weeks and I started to have real feelings for him and felt bad that I was lying about not being married. One night while we were chatting I told him I had something to tell him, and he said he had something he needed to tell me too. Well, I'm sure you can guess what we had to tell each other. We came clean and told one another that we were married. Mr. CC also told me that he had a daughter. Telling each other the truth actually brought us closer!

After that night we started talking on the phone every couple of days. It was kinda crazy how strong our feelings for each other were. Around this time we had only known each other for about two months and we were deeply in love. Since things between us were moving soo fast, we thought it would be best if we met in person. You know, to make sure we weren't romanticizing our relationship. - I should mention that by this point Mr. CC and his ex had filed for legal separation. And I had told my husband I wanted a divorce and was moving out. - So in mid-March Mr. CC flew down to Vegas for five days. It was like we'd always been together, we just clicked. Although I will admit that being around him the first hour was very weird. When you've only talked to someone on the phone and seen a couple pictures of them, it's a very strange feeling to actually be sitting next to them. There was a point when I told him to just talk and not look at me! hahaha The five days flew by and before we knew it he was on a plane back to Calgary.

That's when things went lightening fast. He found a place for us to live and moved out. I started packing, bought a one-way ticket and put in my notice at work. I also filed for divorce. I'm sure most of you know how quickly you can get a divorce in Las Vegas. The morning of April 28th, 2000 I boarded a plane and was on my way to Calgary. I had never even been to Canada. To be honest, I had never even thought about visiting Canada. And now here I was, on my way to live with a guy I'd only known in person for 5 days! What was I thinking?? hahaha Well obviously this story has a happy ending. We've been together ever since and added a daughter to our little family. We finally made our love "legal" on August 8, 2009.

 Yep, I'm a crier. I was crying all through the ceremony. I still have the ugly red cry face in this pic. But hey, my hair looks great.  ; )

Our little family! I can't believe how little the girls were.  : (  They grow up soo fast! Miss E will be 14 this summer and Miss A is 6.

Life over the past 12 years has been pretty good. We're still crazy about each other. I'm a stay at home mom. Our girls are awesome! I love his family. And things with Miss J, his ex, have turned out great. We're actually friends. She even attended my bridal shower. Yes ladies, it is possible! There is hope. =)

So there it is. It's all out there now. I know it's not the best love story. I know the timing on our meeting couldn't have been worse. But it's our story, for better or worse. Please be kind with your comments! I wasn't sure if I should post this or not. It's a little scary to put soo much of me out there. I just felt like it was time to share more of myself with you. Reading personal stories about other bloggers is always something I enjoy. It makes me feel like - hey, they're just like me! My hope is that some of you can relate to my story. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading!  : )

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At The Picket Fence

Ten Years

For the anniversary of September 11th I was going to write a long heartfelt post about that day , I just can't manage it. I didn't personally know anyone who lost their life that day , but it still brings me to tears to relive it. So instead of a lengthy post, here's what I wrote earlier this morning.

I can't believe it's been ten years already . Ten years since the world was changed forever. Ten years since millions around the world sat in front of a TV, watching in horror. Ten years since hundreds of men and women in uniform went rushing into a building to save others lives, only to lose their own. Ten years since thousands of families lost a loved one. Ten years, and the emotion is still so raw. Today my heart goes out to those families. Today marks a day no one will ever forget.

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The Pentagon
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Flight 93 Memorial
Shanksville, Pennsylvania
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I hope you and yours enjoy a beautiful Sunday together. Give those around you a little extra squeeze today, just because you can.

First Day Jitters!

This has been a big week in the CC house. Yesterday we celebrated Miss E's 13th birthday. And today was Miss A's first day of kindergarten. Needless to say she was a little scared to go. She'd never even been to preschool, so she had absolutely no idea of what to expect. We had to meet her teacher outside the school, thank goodness because I kept getting teary but my sunglasses hid my eyes. After we got into her classroom I was much better. And her, no tears. She was a little clingy, but no tears!!

Miss E is starting 8th grade and had late entry this morning so she came along. That was great for me, anytime I would start to talk I could feel my voice starting to crack and my eyes welling with tears, she would take over and say something to Miss A. When we left she was fine and already chatting to her new friend. At pick up she informed me that is was fun and said she was excited to go tomorrow. Yay for me! I could not handle having a kid that cried every single morning. I would be an emotional wreck! For reals!

The Girls First Day of School 

Sept. 1, 2011

She was very patient waiting to take a goofy picture. 

So how many of you moms out there have had to take your baby to school for the first time? Did you cry? Please tell me I'm not the only one!! 

2 Years Ago Today...

Mr. CC and I have been together for over 11 years.  : )  But it was only two years ago that we finally made our love legal , in a sense. We'd lived together all those years. Even had Miss A in that time, and things were just fine that way, but my being American living in Canada, it was in our best interest to make it legal.  For me marriage isn't a piece of paper, it's the mutual respect, understanding, and love you have for another person. Sure we've had a few bad days. Who hasn't?

From day to day our love continues to grow - strengthen. I am more in love today than I was back in those "new love" days. You know what I'm talking about. Those days when you hardly eat and never feel hungry. When just hearing his voice makes you all bubbly inside. Now it's a deeper love. And we continue to grow together. He is my best friend and I can talk to him about anything. We laugh everyday, which to me is a very important thing in a relationship.

The best gift he has ever given me was two beautiful daughters. I love them more than anything. They are soo precious and bring soo much joy to our lives! I look forward to seeing them grow and become strong , self-assured women.

So with that I say, Happy Anniversary Baby!! I love you with all my heart! Here's to many, many more years together.  : )

The Calgary Stampede

Howdy y'all!! Ah, just joking. There's been a bit of that country feel in the air the past 10 days, the Calgary Stampede has been going on. And let me tell you, this city goes cowboy for it! Everyday there are free pancake breakfasts all across the city and a lot of businesses host Stampede bbq's for their employees and clients. The Stampede bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth". Maybe this year it was. Remember my post about the Royals, Will and Kate, coming to town to kick off of the Stampede? They pushed the button that opened the 99th Calgary Stampede and began the parade. And they did cowboy fashion in royal style, while donning their white hats! The white hat is the traditional gift from the city of Calgary to important visitors. Not just anyone is presented a white hat.   

photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Not to shabby looking are they? 

This year I hadn't really planned to go to the grounds, but last week my mother in law called and said she was taking my two nephews and would buy our all day rides passes if we wanted to go too. So I changed my mind and Ms. A and I went with them on Friday, for the entire day, 11 am to 10:30 pm!! Before we went I didn't know what to expect. The weather here hadn't been very good and Ms. A had never been on a ride before. This was the first time she'd gone. I always vowed I would NEVER have a stroller down there! Way too many people to try and push through. Anyhoo, I packed up our lunch, snacks, lots of water and sunblock and we were off to the Stampede. I'm happy to report we had a blast!! It was soo much fun and the weather was perfect!! To my surprise my sweet baby girl turned out to be a ride junkie. She loved them and when we weren't at the rides she kept asking when we could go back. 

While we were there we took in a couple shows. One being Terry Stokes a well know hypnotist. He was hilarious! I suspect his adults only show would be even better.  ; )  We also saw the Superdogs. They're always good family entertainment. I think I liked them better than Ms. A did. Twenty minutes into the show she started asking if we could go back to the rides. We also saw David "The Bullet" Smith jr. shoot himself 150 feet at 80 mph out of a cannon. Yikes!! 

Yeah, my camera was too slow to get a shot of him flying out of the cannon at 80 mph. 

Shows aside there's lots to see, cows, horses, baby chicks, baby pigs, sheep, and llamas. The baby chicks and pigs were our favorite. They're just soo cute!! 

She was soo excited to got the feed the horse.  

Check out the horns on this Texas longhorn cow! 

This one's for you Janet.  ; ) 

We wanted to hold them soo bad! 

This poor mama!! The piglets were only 8 days old. Soo sweet.  

There's also lots and lots of booths for shopping. Pretty much anything you can think of you'll find down there. I bought the cutest little silver ring with two sparkly cz flowers. I'm tellin' ya, if a guy gave a girl one of these rings when he proposed she wouldn't know the difference. Gorgeous ladies!

Oh, and I can't forget the food! It being a fair and all, I had to have a $5 corn dog. Yep, $5 for one little corn dog!! We had the mini donuts too. A must when you go to the Stampede. And my trip there wouldn't be complete without a bag of sweet and salty kettle corn. LOVE that stuff!! : ) 

We had a great day! Ms. A actually declared, "it was the best day of my life!" Being 5, that's a pretty good day.  : ) We're already looking forward to going again next year. I can't wait until she's big enough to go on the good rides. I did go on two with my oldest nephew, but I'd rather be going on those rides all day than the little kid ones. Oh, and Ms. A's favorite ride, the ferris wheel. She loved being up soo high and being able to see the city. 

Sorry about the crappy nighttime pic! 

So what about you? What were you up to this weekend? 

Outdoor Livin'

Hi There, Last night I gave you a little peek into our sunroom. Today you're gonna get the full-meal deal! First I'll tell you a bit about our outdoor living space. We rent our house and when we moved in we were very pleased to see that one side of the double detached garage had been converted into a sunroom.   It had paneled walls that were hideous faux wood brown. Obviously not our first pic in color, so a few years back Mr. CC painted them white. And the one that has all the windows and no paneling he painted a beautiful, almost periwinkle, blue. We LOVE the color!! Unfortunately I can't tell you the name of it. It was a mis-tint can from the Depot. This room has slowly evolved over the past six years to what it is today. So, pull up a chair and grab a drink, the tour is about to begin. Now hang in there with me. There's quite a few pics! Sorry I don't have a before pic, but I'm sure you can imagine the yucky paneling.  : )

Welcome!!!

These are the old couches from our living room. The dresser used to be in the basement housing all my gift bags, tissue paper and bows. 

The mirror was given to us years ago by some friends. I still need to paint the black corners. Eww!

Here's the lovely blue wall I was telling you about. 

That lamp shade is a a little project I did recently. Guess I should've done a post about it. It's a $5 Wal-Mart shade wrapped with jute. I did a braid for the top and bottom. I like how it turned out.

This little sail boat was $7 from Winners years ago. It used to sit in one of the windows and over the years the sun gave it the beautiful weathered look. 

A couple peonies from one of our 12+ bushes. 

More peonies and a chick n' hen from our yard. Love the texture of the bag hanging on the wall. 
This is the other side of the room. Sometimes we take the table and umbrella out into the sun for drinks. 

The play area. The doll house Mr. CC and I made for Ms. E on her 4th birthday. Can't believe she'll  be 13 in less that two months! 

So that's it, our favorite room in the summer. We listen to music and watch movies out here. And there's one thing I didn't show you, our pool! It's not very pretty so I didn't included it, but it's right outside the garage door. I just love our sunroom!! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed your visit. : )

Now I'm off to lounge outside. Have a great day! 

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 Funky Junk Interiors 

French Country Cottage

Sneak Peek : )

Hope all my American readers had a happy and safe 4th! I thought I'd leave you tonight with a little sneak peek of our outdoor living space, aka the sunroom. We love it this time of year. Living in Canada you have to get outside as much as you can when it's nice and warm! This room lets us do just that.

Pay no attention to that yucky cord hanging down.  : )

So that's all you get tonight! tee hee  : )  Can you tell we have a bit of a beachy cottage vibe goin' on?
Love it!! I'll have the full post about our sunroom tomorrow some time. Until then...I'm off to bed.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hey All, Today's quick post is to wish my family, friends and readers in the States a  

Happy 4th of July!!!

Although I am American I won't be partaking in any celebrations today.  : (  That means no BBQ, apple pie or fireworks for me. In Canada July 1st, Canada Day, is their country's "Independence Day". I'm wishing you all a fabulous day spent with loved ones, great food and fantastic fireworks!

Happy 4th my fellow Yankees!! hee hee Be safe!   : )

** Be sure to check out my Smores on a Stick. Perfect for today! Mmm!