Dumpsters and alleyways

I'm the kinda girl who LOVES these two things.....I am pretty sure I know how and when this "problem" started....I will explain the "problem" part later.
It started really waaaaaaaaaaay back when my Dad and I would spend a Sunday together collecting cans...you know...the ones that people just throw out their windows and then we collect them and take them in for cash......now some people frown upon this....I do not....I will never frown upon FREE MONEY! I have an Uncle that is so embarrassed by this he would often just want to give me cash and then say "oh that's so dirty, no niece of mine picks up garbage".....however.....I was taught by my Dad that MONEY....especially FREE money is NOT garbage. So I learned early that people will judge and the only thing that really stops a person from picking up cans or picking something from an alleyway or dumpster is your EGO!! That's right...the ego tells you things like "but what if someone I know sees me" and "oh that's gross and dirty"....and any other negative or ugly thing it can think of.
I lost that "ego" thing a long time ago......because when I collected pop cans or beer cans many a time when I was a single parent it bought many loaves of bread, many cartons of milk and many packages of eggs...so I say go ahead and judge....my "ego" can take it....to bad yours can't!
I am very lucky to have found a fantastic husband who also thinks the same way I do....his life experiences have brought him to the same thought pattern I have....FREE IS GOOD, NOT SHAMEFUL.
So today when we headed into town we had a great time garage sale searching, alleyway searching and dumpster searching. A good friend of mine recently experience my dumpster diving shenanigans when I found an awesome antique office chair that's AMAZING!!! Then upon further discovery that this chair and dumpster were behind a high end art supply store I REALLY had to get a closer look..and to my discovery...there were a TON of amazing different matting's, and prints and other treasures....all stuff I would have paid a SHIT load for. Now since I have a daughter and son who do INSANELY WICKED AWESOME art for me....I really did score big with all the matting I found!
I took some pics of our back alley touring and discovery's today!

Some of the stuff people leave out is CRAZY lol

I like how this guy put out a nice lil display table of all his free crap lol

The view from my alley ride :-)

This property is right on the alley way and this home owner takes pride in how it looks...beautiful flowers EVERYWHERE...so jealous of how great it looked!

One of my great garage sale find today.....3 for .50 cents! A girl can never have enough planters!!!

These two HEAVY stone bases used to be side tables with glass on them..someone broke the glass and had these in the alley.....we like them for plant stands now....but then again.....we have some other ideas too lol....again...FREE

 

My $1 cute lil night stand light.....again...since none of our main belongings have been moved to our new place in AB, this is a much needed addition next to my bed!!!

So now for the story about the BAD part of my insane desires of alleyways, and dumpsters.....your friends and family think your a hoarder LMAO!!!!!!!!!! I AM NOT GOING TO GO THERE RIGHT NOW lol!

The prep work

Well I have been told by my son that I need to prepare of few things for this up coming festival. He did say that I didn't "really" need to...but in his words "it helps Mom if you can come up with a little something to give to others while there". Ummmmm not sure if he remembers that I am NOT the creative one in the family. My two kids are the ones that are creative and that particular gene skipped me and went straight to them. It still blows my mind with how insanely creative they both are....on levels that really just boggle my mind actually, and I have to say I am pretty darn proud of them both!
So he tells me that lots of people make costumes for this festival as well. OH GREAT....me in a costume...that won't be traumatizing for the "kids" there at all LOL. So I have been thinking of what "my" theme will be....and I think I have come up with one that is "ME" so to speak. My latest small obsession has been owls lately...why...well....I have no idea...I just like them lol.
So my "theme" is going to be OWLS....and this is how I see it...now bare with me...don't laugh too hard.....
I WILL BE HAVING A "HOOT" OF A TIME AT MY FIRST SHAMBHALA FESTIVAL
So....I am some how going to come up with some type of owly costume of some sorts, be it a shirt or just a mask of some sorts.....but dammit...it will get done. I am also going to create some sort of lil owl giveaway that I can share with other festival goers....and when I give them away...I will say to them....."I am having a hoot here at the festival" LMAO.....but then....I got to thinking.....shit.....to these kids....this may mean something else LOL....hoot.....to me that reminds me of when people were partaking in a little other recreational "smoke" and they would have a "hoot" LOL....oh geez....well.....what to do now.....lol....
I have decided to just go with it anyways...the irony of it all makes me freakin laugh.
So you will have to stay tuned for my up and coming owl designs that I create....I will post them here so you can see them before I go in a few weeks.
Now the next part of planning....the precision packing that is going to have to take place. I have to make a list of things I will need in case I forgot something imperative. Being in my 40's I tend to over think and plan....unlike my son on his first fest where he just "went" lol. And from his stories I am learning what I "don't" want to forget or be with out.
But because I am not taking my own vehicle and traveling with some "new found friends whom I have never met" I have to pack small but efficiently. THAT will be my biggest challenge! This is where my husband thinks that is impossible lol.
So....my journey of planning begins..and I will take pics along the way over the next few weeks to show you how it is progressing.
To others out there who are going to the fest....HAPPY PLANNING!!! To those who don't plan and just show up....come to my tent...I'm sure I'll have what you forgot LOL. 

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

Because I am feeling my first tingle of Shambhalove I have decided that this would be the PERFECT time for a giveaway contest!!! Here is what you have the chance to win!

FIRST PART OF THE PRIZE!!! Call it what you want...whether it's called a shall, waist wrap, decorative scarf...the great thing about it is that YOU decide what you want to do with it :-)

SECOND AWESOME PART OF THE PRIZE!!! Is this vintage looking ring eccentric ring....who wouldn't want to rock this ring at a festival or just out and about cause it's FUN!!!!
There is a THIRD part to this prize package but it will be a mystery!!! I will be sending the winner another piece of jewelry from my little goodie bag of things....I just love getting surprises so I thought why not do the same for someone else.

NOW THE DETAILS OF HOW TO WIN!

First: You must become a follower of my blog! ( if you don't then you are not entered!) YOU MUST COMMENT THAT YOU BECAME A FOLLOWER OR ARE ALREADY ONE!
Sec:  Your second entry ballot can be by way of making a nice comment on my blog :-)

I will be going to my local post office and having my local post mistress do the draw out of a paper bag for me LOL...why you ask....WHY NOT....she'll think I'm crazy and I'm okay with that lol.

Contest closes ONE WEEK FROM TODAY...so that makes it Thursday July 18th, 2013!
CONTEST ONLY OPEN TO CANADIAN RESIDENTS...why you ask....cause we rarely get the good shit to enter in on lol
Once the winner has been picked I will be sending your surprise package out good ol Canadian snail mail.....cause really.....if I have enlisted the poor post mistress to do the draw at least I can continue to use her services LOL.

GOOD LUCK AND I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU ALL :-)

My first music festival

I will be attending my very first ever ever in my whole life music festival thanks to my son who bought his mother a ticket for a whole 4 day festival! I will be gone I think for a total of 6 days if you include the traveling time....what should be included in that time is "recover" time lol....especially at my tender age of 40 ish lol.
This festival I am going to is called Shambhala..here is a bit about it:

Shambhala Music Festival began in the summer of 1998 when approximately 500 people gathered at the Salmo River Ranch. Over the years, the festival grew organically by word of mouth – friends bringing friends to create a community built upon Shambhalove. In 2010, for the first time, we reached our 10,000 guest capacity. In 2011, the festival saw it’s first sell-out in advance of our gates opening. Online tickets for Shambhala 2012 sold out in just 17 days, in November 2011.
Shambhala is a family-owned business. Farm owners Rick and Sue Bundschuh’s three children produce the festival. The siblings, Corrine, Anna and Jimmy, are our Executive Producers.
Shambhala does not accept any corporate sponsorship and thus retains a true reflection of our people and their own vision. Our attendees are our sponsors.

Now how GREAT is that!!!! How GREAT is it that I have a 22 yr old son who is not embarrassed by his mom and wants her to experience something like this! I have been reassured that I will not be the only "oldie" there, that in fact there is a wide range of age that attend. Either way, it really doesn't matter to me, I can just hardly wait for this amazing experience, cause really, how can it NOT be...all these amazing, unique, eclectic people all in one spot!!!
I am having to learn some new music terms, terms they use describe what genres of stuff I will be listening too....some of them include the following:
Otherwordly music blend
Interactive blend of light & sound
Funk, soul & all this is good
Bass/Trap/BDM
Funky breaks
This is a TINY TINY TINY look into SOME of the different stuff there, I have not even begun to describe the amazing eclectic stuff that I will hear. The music plays ALL NIGHT, on 7 different stages, the only time there isn't music is for two hrs in the afternoon when it's the hottest outside lol...so it doesn't matter if it's 5pm or 5am...there is music somewhere!!
I am looking forward to hearing the Bearded House Mafia on Friday morning at 6am...not sure if I will be conscious lol....but dammit I'm gonna try lol.
There is also some wicked amazing food vendors there too...so I can be rest assured that my vegetarian lifestyle will not be hindered in any sense at all...in fact, I think I will be eating like a queen there with all the wonderful types of food, they make sure they cater to us veg heads.
Sleeping....well...when it is done will be done in a tent....NO PROBLEM!! I love tenting so another awesome bonus...and they have showers on site so again....NO PROBLEM.
The best part of this amazing get up, is that I will be experiencing this with my SON!!!!! I will probably never get this opportunity again in my life to have this amazing time with him and his friends, and I know I will cherish it for the rest of my life!!! Thank you Josh for this amazing gift of your love and time and this experience! I can't wait for it to begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Juicing....does a body good

I am now a firm believer of juicing. I managed to last 9 days on my last juicing reboot. On the 9th day I had a major blood sugar spike that occurred only because I was not adding enough veggies to my morning juice and my body being empty all night and then adding a lot of natural sugar was not good on the blood sugar levels....we were out and about and I was pretty close to fainting, so I had to race to get somewhere to ingest some peanut butter, which gets protein into your blood right away. Within in minutes I felt better, but I was feeling off all day.
So I decided to stop juicing for a bit to see how I felt. So being off juice made me feel alright, but I was still juicing once a day...but once I came off the juice fully....I honestly felt like crap.....I have felt lethargic and just ugggggg, not that nice crisp feeling that I had before.
Then yesterday I came down with a cold, my daughter had one and so I am now getting the remnants of it. So...I have started juicing to help with the immune system and to feel over all better.
While I was gone for 10 days a bit a ago, I found some fun glass jar mugs with a fun lid and fun straws...well how could I resist buying them...I just knew they would be perfect for my juices. So this morning I took a pic of some of the books I have in my arsenal and my freshly juiced loveliness.
So as I sit here and write this and sip my juice, I know my body is thanking me already :-) 

Saturaday morning fun

Today we got up early and went 10 minutes down the road to a town called Barons. They were having Barons Day's and hosted a free pancake breakfast.
After that we took in the Lethbridge farmers market once again, and from there it was a short stroll to some Dragon boat races. All in all....a really great Saturday morning spent with my hunny bunch :-)

By the way, these Kohlrabi were the size of cabbages....CRAZY!!!

I'd like to know the captain of the "Screamin Seamen" LMAO

Back at the farm...

Things are OUT OF CONTROL lol....I was unsure if I drove up to the right spot in fact....and then the second thought was....should we start amazon tours here?
Being a province away is hard, it's hard to come back and know that it has not been kept up and looks like a derelict spot, that no one cares about it...but I do care, I am still in love with my shit shack and all that comes with it....I just can't be in two spots at once 12 hrs away. I know once we are more settled and life gets more of a routine, I will be able to spend time there AND here and take care of both spots and tend to them the way I do in fact like, but for now.....I will start amazon tours....I am pretty sure I can convince some foreigners that it's some kind of enchanted forest lol 

I am pretty sure this is where the back garden is...and I didn't know that garlic could grow 4 feet tall LOL

If you look very very closely you can see a garbage can in the tall grass lol

This is what I drove up too...the beginning of the amazon tour

Again, if you look closely, you can see our utility trailer in the deep deep grass

I once had a large lush garden here.....I think I see one tiny tiny patch of dirt lol

I think the greenhouse is the only place that DOESN'T have things growing in it lol