Monday, January 30, 2012

Commenting...

I hear every so often that some folks are having problems leaving comments on other blogs ... apparently this might help. Found it through another blogger....

http://downourcountryroad.blogspot.com/2012/01/cant-leave-comment-not-getting-comments.html

it is as simple as changing some settings... for those NOT using Safari or Firefox...

just popped on to say......  and I'm afraid that's it for today.... off to physio now....

catch ya later...

Friday, January 27, 2012

Huh ???

Yes, I guess I obsessed.  More than just a bit.  I had to figure out where I had put poor little Rumpel.  It totally freaked me out that I had absolutely no recollection of having put him anywhere at all... am I losing those last three marbles?... is it happening already? ...

So... back in there again I went.  He had to be there...somewhere... in that room!! No place else he could be.

I looked in every drawer and cabinet..once again...after already having looking several times.  This time I even climbed onto a chair to make sure I hadn't missed him ... perhaps on a higher shelf.
It was kind dim up there with no lights..but.... hey.. just a minute!















What's that? ?















Are those two trying to conceal something?
Is that a tiny foot ? ... a spindly leg?....















What the ????















Oh, sure ..just pretend nothing happened.  Nothing at all.  Weirdoes ! ...

.... oh, alright .... it wasn't all their fault.  I have to 'fess up.  Suddenly, I did remember.  During the week, I did a reeeellly good tidy in my craft room because we were having neighbours over.  I placed him in an inconspicuous spot... safe til I wanted to work on him again.  Yeh...safe... til about 2020 if I hadn't spied the poor little guy....

You know how we like to make sure there is not a lot of 'stuff'  hanging around making things look messy if somebody other than us peeks into a room... ...even if it IS my craft room.  Well, I do anyway.  And..I guess I figured I would make him disappear for the night.  Just like poor Harry Potter ...pretending he didn't exist.. and then... after a week of excitement and busy-ness....totally forgot what I did with him.

Whew!  I did actually have the awful thought ..for just a moment... that I had perhaps done away with him for some reason.... ...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Missing.

Last seen in my untidy craft room.
Then,....I cleaned and tidied.

Uh, oh.....

Now...I can't for the life of me find him.

Rumpelstiltskin.



















Gone.

Remember him?  He still needs proper booties....and I was sort of thinking maybe I could do something with those to get me going on crafty stuff once again.  But, I can't find the little guy.

I've opened and shut every darn drawer in the room... looked under and in every single box, package and basket.

Where the heck did I put him?

Oh, man...I bet I won't find him for a decade or two........... and he'll still need boots.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WOYWW

Hahahha...if you haven't heard it or seen it before it could throw you for a loop, eh?  What's on Your Workdesk.  Wednesday...   


I see it on Twig's blog every Wednesday...and she, and her sister, are always sooooo busy... it boggles my poor little mind.


This is my workdesk today and has been for months now.....my kitchen counter.  Yep. That's about it.  

















 Seems to me all I've been doing is baking and cooking.  Which I do enjoy...but.... I must try to get back to some sort of crafting and fun stuff.... and soon.  When one bakes...and eats; one must spend an inordinate amount of time working out to get rid of excess calories!


After golf season (which was waaaay back in early October!) and my extremely painful elbow...I could not do any small things with finger and thumb at all!  And... now... just seem to have grown away from it all.... no motivation or inclination to do much of anything...and my elbow still is pretty painful if I try to use my hand.  Last time at physio they froze my elbow and my neck and upper scapular muscles...supposedly to try to break the pain loop, damage the muscles a bit and try to initiate more of a healing response.  So far...all it did is produce a huge lump on my upper back...and a painful lump on the lateral epicondyle of my elbow area... fingers crossed.  Oh, yeh...hahhah.... and the young sports medicine doctor jabbed her own finger, had to retire to her office for a brief time out and to get a new needle ... I had a laugh at her expense.   


This is my workdesk today.... all tidy and waiting for somebody to play in there.  Can you tell an ex dental assistant lives here?  hahahhah.... All the tools of the bear and doll making trade...neatly aligned, organized and just waiting to be used.  Look...I even splurged and bought a pair of Ginghers, (yikes! the $$$$$ )  Those pretty patterned ones.... blue and yellows, see 'em?  Can hardly wait to try using them.  But...on what?  

















Today ...it will be Banana Chocolate chip muffins.  Check out my other blog for more recipes some time.  Mr. BV likes to take a muffin in his lunches and I try to make sure he has a few choices in the freezer.  Who wants to take the same muffin 8 days in a row?  Right now the only ones in there are strawberry ... so today's will be a nice addition.


There are lots of interesting blogs to see on WOYWW.  Check them out here.  All of a sudden...you are hopping here there and everywhere from those as well...ooohhhhhh it boggles ..... but, I have found two neat tutorials already, what fun!  I definitely want to try the pincushion/box I hopped to from one other blog ... maybe that could be my jump starter....     

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

another little cutie..

Not that long ago, I had him on my Etsy page as one of my favs.... because he was so sweet looking... and then...he went on sale ...and then... well...it's just one of those little faces who have to come live at my house because by then.... erm..., who could refuse him a home?  Not me!

Same as the saying about "beauty being in the eye"..blah, blah...I'm sure cute is also probably only in the eye of the beholder and how each beholder perceives cute...... and my perception of cute is Ogi...



















He came all the way from Poland... and his little toque and scarf are hand knit...  worth the price just for those.  I must ask her if she would knit a few more little things for some of my tiny bears.  I don't know how to knit.  She obviously has it down pat.
Agnieska (check out her Flickr site to see her felting) is a needle felter I met via my Flickr site.... she stopped by to see my needle felted bears one day and we struck up some conversation.  Check out her Etsy site to see her little bears, dogs and other critters.. her prices are very affordable if you would like to get a little fellow of your own...

It doesn't have to be Christmas for me to appreciate a snowman...this is Canada after all.  Lots of us have "after Christmas" wreaths for our doors...or huge pots of twigs, greenery, pinecones, berries etc... usually no glitter or ribbons .... just lovely-to-look-at winter decor.  And, why not?  Winter is going to be hanging around these parts for many months yet.  We like to put some colour and fun out there to complement the snowy or dull surroundings.  Right now... we do have some snow and it is pretty...but, some weeks... it is just dull, brown, and dead really.... except for some doorway and porch decor.

My little snowman will be an indoor guy.  Sitting on my dining room table... with plants.  He won't melt.  And he has an occasional bear to keep him company...

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I love brown paper packages!


Especially from 'Royal Mail'  .... ooooh   ....  always sounds so posh doesn't it? ......Tied with string or taped...I don't even care about that.  And, why can't I get my print over to the left side now that I have changed out a photo?   arrghhhhn....... 

I'm going to show you each month and its photo as we go through the year... January is Oscar, the blue elephant.  Last year I missed out on a calendar from Gretel.... not this year!  I was at the ready the second I knew there were some in her shop.

                                                                       








Each month has a lovely photo of one of her amazing creations...my photo is not amazing in this case... I'm a blur myself today.  Trying to get some clearing out and sorting done.  And... taking every single teeeeeensy bear out of my curio and washing all the glass, inside and out.. plus the shelves and mirrored backing..... a very loooong procedure if you are me.  Plus...the glass shelves are a bit tricky to get out with this wrecked wing.  I may have to wait for help if they defy me....















Have you seen her Mrs. Mouse's Cupcakes?  They look yummy enough to eat.  I'll have one with berries on top please!















Mmmmmmm... yes !....thanks.........

Friday, January 6, 2012

Contrary to popular belief...

I am still alive and kicking.  Haven't been kicking very forcefully though, because my Christmas gift was .... a cold.  Yup.  That's what I got.  And other than two sort of sniffly days last year the first real honest to goodness cold I've had since 1995.  It was a doozy.  I hope my body has now renewed its vows with some wicked cold antibodies and that together we are good for another wonderful 15 years of cold free bliss...

After a full 13 days of varying stages of feeling crappy....I declare this...the 13th....to be the end of it.... although, I still don't think I sound like me when I speak. Maybe one more day.  The usual 10 to 14 days plus lingering symptoms for 3 weeks is definitely at work here.

Yesterday... when I was still at the giantpuffballforahead stage, I tried to get some appointments organized...ohhhhhh....I wish I had waited one more day.  I had to actually drive to two separate doctor's offices because I couldn't get past hanging on this end of the phone waiting to speak to a real person.  Nobody seemed to be answering phones when I walked in either...hmmmm.... and then the confusion that ensued between me not asking the right questions or the receptionists not getting my drift or them not being very helpful.  I felt totally confused, small and very weary by the time I pulled the van into the driveway.

I do now have an appointment with a specialist for my ongoing elbow problem and am organized with more physio.  I can't believe how quick the doctors are to assume a person just wants more or stronger painkillers.  Without even looking at you really.  Just walk into the room and ask what you are taking and if it is covering the pain.  I don't want painkillers doc....I want this darn arm fixed.  Shocked silence. Not my regular doctor, but still....    I have been suffering ...without pain killers .. just taking an occasional Ibuprofen more for the anti inflammatory part of it... since August ...with October being the very worst and when I could hardly move the arm.....  which I told her.  More silence.  We finally got on the same page, as they say.... and she referred me to a guy I have seen before.. for other injuries, but, he is backed up 4 months... and, I'm definitely not waiting that long as it has already been far too long.  So... his 'second'... and in the same office ... good enough.

Nobody knew where she worked at the onset though,  so it was a confusing thing to take my referral note to the first guy's office only to have the receptionist say she would put it on the desk after saying he couldn't see me for months.  Huh?  Whose desk?...why the second doctor of course.  Oh, silly me...of course...sheeesh.... I had no idea she worked in the same office. ..and nobody actually said... oh, well...loong story shorter...I'm organized.  I wrote it all down.  They can't fool me forever.  But, needless to say I felt like an idiot after the conversation went around in circles long enough for the actual doctor to come out of her office to try to clear up the conversation...only to be sucked into it totally and from there ... it got even worse..hahahhahahha.... oh, brother.

Enough of that.

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I had some cranberries left ...fresh ones.  So, I found some relish/chutney recipes and made some.  I have no idea what the difference is really, although some references point to chutney being more about fruit than vegetables..as is relish.  Jury still out I think.















As usual, it's my own concoction anyway...and does have some onion in it... along with some orange peel and other goodies.  Mmmmm... it is yummy.  And, seeing as the days after Christmas are pretty much a blue blur...I will be using it soon.  Because now I have some energy, and am planning to make Tortiere...which is usually a French Canadian Christmas Eve tradition.  I didn't get around to making one, and now...I want one.  With a big dollop of my new chutney beside it.  Which I managed to do just fine even with my puffball head.  Maybe making it up as I went along was better than trying to actually read directions ..hahha.... but,  honest...I did read some of it.... really I did.  I just improvised a bit...... to make my life easier.  And..it would seem.... pretty tasty at the same time.