Christmas shopping for me...

That seems as good a place as any to begin. I know I get what I want then. Not that I want a lot... I am pretty cheap to keep. Little things amuse me. Like these...

It seems I collected bears of one type or another long before I ever began to make them. This was one of the collections I began back in the 90's. Polarkins; made by Enesco. They sit in storage all year and only come out at Christmas. I set up a little winter wonderland with them ..some tall skinny trees and some icebergs that also came with them. I found these two on e-bay for a couple of bucks! They arrived in perfect condition; one still in the original box ... from Rhode Island and the other from Texas. Prices used to range from about $10 to $35.00 .. All of a sudden they quit making them and I didn't think I would ever find any more to add to my little group. E-bay is great for that sort of thing. People change their collections...get rid of things..or whatever. As usual.. one man's trash is another's treasure! My neighbour also found one in a little out of the way shop one year and picked it up for me. She was not exactly sure it was the same thing as I collected.... but when she got it home... yes, she had remembered the look of them enough to pick it out in a "line-up". Good eye.














I like the colourful Lapland type outfits... and especially the expressions on the little faces












Here is my other bargain... on sale at Canadian tire for only $20. How can you lose? I have never had a crock pot...and likely won't use one a lot...but at that price I decided to get one for the odd time I might. I am so used to using my large dome electric skillet for slow simmering; I know amounts etc.... sometimes you just get used to something and somehow, it suits you better.










.... and then this! A cute little mat for the kitchen floor... with all the colours of my chairs... hahahah ... how lucky was that? For.... a whopping $5.95 !! I love a bargain. Guess you can tell.












Wonder what next week will bring?

something winter this way comes...

Of course, here in the foothills, it does come and go. We do have warmer and cooler weeks...and occasional Chinooks where a 20 degree temperature climb in the space of several hours is not unusual. But..overnight, the temperature dropped to -20C ... we got 3 or 4 inches of snow...and today the wind is whipping the fine snow off the rooftops... at about 30kph. When I stand near the house it covers my chocolate coloured toque like icing sugar from a sifter; I feel like dessert!











This little pile of leaves seemed to be huddling close to the foundation.













This little guy either got blown away from the group or was making a break for it...trying for under the shed I think. If he makes it that far...he will find some more buddies there. .

It is always so quiet after a new snow.... the sounds of car tires and even engines are muffled and you hardly know they are there till you see movement out of the corner of an eye. Jet planes, on the other hand... scream like you would not believe as they go by... it is so loud, you just have to look up. Some geese were honking around... and around...and around... seemed like they couldn't decide whether to stay or go... then off they flew to the south. They could be back at the end of the week if it warms up. They don't seem to go far..and more and more of them don't bother going anywhere at all. People feed them and they have some open water in the parks and golf courses...so they can survive, although I am sure a lot do not. I just love hearing them ... honking and calling... it gives me goose bumps... aahahahhah..I just realized what I said... goose bumps... that was funny. I was going to change it and then thought... why would I? ...it was funny! I crack me up.

The sun broke through the clouds while I spent almost an hour out there shoveling... (we live on a corner lot; there is city sidewalk all around, plus a big driveway)... and it did warm a bit.. plus, I was plenty warm shoveling, believe me. When I go out in the cold..I dress for it. Not like when I lived in small town B.C. and we tried to look Gucci even at -30C. Ridiculous. We were trying to emulate big city folk...thinking they still looked fashionable in severely cold weather I guess. My first ride on a city bus when I came here was a hoot. I laughed right out loud when I boarded. People bundled up so much you could not tell male from female. Huge scarves, toques, ear muffs, proper northern weather parkas with hoods that come so far forward you can't see skin..with real fur ... huge mukluks or a pair of Sorels ... clever people!! My kind of town!! It's great. Each to his own and nobody gives a rip what you wear; as it should be. Of course, not everybody dresses for the weather.. but, lets face it... some people are just out of touch with reality and their surroundings anyway.

When it gets reeeelly cold I look like a miniature lilac Michelin Man or Sta Puffed Marshmallow.. waddling down the street in my various layers of clothes, full length down parka, my knee high shearling lined boots, fur lined mitts, a light coat of vaseline on my face as protection against freezing wind. Today is nothing like that...but if it comes..I am ready.

I am working on a little something for my 100th post...which is ...soon. Obviously I am a wind bag....

Stranger in the night....

.....and, no, it was definitely not Santa.












Well, that was a sleepless one.

At 3:15 a.m. Greg and I woke up hearing noises ... we both said at the same time ...front door! Then we heard it again... like someone was trying to break down the door. We practically sprinted to the door in the dark, but probably still only half awake ... some guy was pounding on the door... almost seemed as though he was lunging for it instead of knocking. Heart beating like a trip hammer... hyper adrenalin rush; try t o stay calm and think what to do. Okay...yell at him. Good as any. Greg yelled at him... "what the hell do you want" ... and I quickly turned on about 5 lights at the same time to let whoever it was know that we were alerting any neighbours who may be up and also so we could see who the heck it was. We have a glass door window and could see one guy standing there. We were standing pretty close to the door by now and he said something back, but neither of us could make it out...we just looked at each other... ..sort of dumbfounded, shook our heads and shrugged. Then we yelled at him again...to get out of here... and he still stood there. By this time I figured if he was trying to break in... he would have either run away or broken down the door. But he just stood there. I opened the little window beside the door and said "who are you", what do you want." He said ....."sorry".... ..more talking but didn't make much sense except by this time I knew he was young (20 s), definitely lost, and had obviously been drinking. Still not ready to let him in, nor were we ready to call police... ....we gave him our own version of the 3rd degree through the window. It was cold out there...he could hardly speak properly because his teeth were chattering like crazy. We looked at each other again...and said in whispers... what the hell should we do? We can't let him freeze to death in our yard. It was about -8C.... Greg decided we should bring him in the house. So, we opened the door and told him he better come inside. By this time he was apologizing more and saying he better go and he was sorry for bothering us, but just stood there chattering and shivering. He looked pretty pathetic and we figured even if he got rough the two of us could put him on his butt in a hurry...so again told him to come in. Finally we had to grab hold of an arm each and forcibly move him inside the house. He seemed unable to move forward. That worried me. He stood against the wall in the corner, head down, hands in pockets, shivering uncontrollably, almost unable to move so we decided to call an ambulance. I was wondering about concussion... but could have been just the cold. I grabbed a blanket from the closet, threw it on him and we tried to coax him further inside ...while Greg locked the door ...just in case. Could have been a major con or danger still...who knows... but didn't really seem likely at that point. He seemed to be in real trouble physically. We told them we suspected perhaps hypothermia...but his skin didn't feel cold... he was at least sort of coherent, answered some questions, but not enough so we could make head or tail of things. Maybe we were not asking the right questions, or maybe he had more alcohol in him than I first thought. It didn't matter at that point. He stood there a bit more ... handed me his wallet and then,tried to step out of his sneakers to leave them on the mat.... ... managed to get them off.... to walk further into the house... but still could hardly put one foot in front of the other for shivering.... awww, poor guy. That did it... no thief would be busy trying to be tidy. Not a thing in that wallet.. except some little blue card with a name on it.. I asked his name and he did say the same. No driver's license.. a few bucks...that was it. He said keep it ... like he felt obliged. By then I was feeling awful for making him stand outside for as long as he did. And, I still wanted to know where he had walked from or had somebody thrown him out of a car or what? We are in a subdivision that is horrible to find your way out of ... its like a labyrinth and you could definitely be in it forever. He said he had been walking around for hours... trying to figure out where he was. Said he had knocked on several doors and people told him to get off the property. He had been to a party.. somebody had hit him... maybe he had a slight concussion... who knows for sure. The address he was talking about (not sure if that is where he lives or the party or thought he was in)... was many miles away.... and we were not about to begin driving him around.

Long story a bit shorter.... ambulance showed up with 3 guys on board... he was in the kitchen by then...still shivering...but managed to stand and leave with them...and for the first time he managed to lift his head and look at me ... gave me a hug and said thank you...shook Greg's hand... we almost cried. The ambulance guys seemed to think we knew him or something strange.... they asked us several times. They did say it was the right thing to do calling them. Then, they sat outside with all the lights blazing for over half an hour...a police car with two other guys showed up and also an unmarked truck with two more officers. Geez.... how much wasted man power for a situation like that. Then after being in the back of the ambulance for all that time...the cops in the car managed to get him to their car and more sitting...another half hour...I listened through the window and they were still asking him if he knew which area of the city he was in. Not any further than we got... we knew his name, age and which city he had recently come from within 3 minutes. We know he is staying with an aunt.. we know he has a job, because he was at a company party... but he definitely doesn't know this city layout!! It was over an hour in all...and who could go back to sleep after that? Not me for sure. Greg got another hour's sleep and had to go to work. I am wondering how it all ended. We both decided we are glad we did what we could... we are not letting somebody freeze to death. I definitely would not want to read about it in tomorrow's newspaper and say I wish we had done something.

Oh, yes.... the EMS? didn't take their boots off, of course...so had to wipe up a lot of melted snow and dirt on the floor and carpet... ..... of course, they can't be expected to do that .....but, just saying.... lol .....

The Thanksgiving Cactus

Happy Thanksgiving Day to my blog buddies south of the border. Look what I "bloomed" for you in honour of the day. A Thanksgiving Cactus flower.

Uhm, okay...well, it is actually a Christmas Cactus.... but I have not a clue as to what to do with this plant to make it flower.









My sister has the green thumb....close to emerald it is so green. Two weeks ago, I looked at this little sprig of green (that I think I got last year about this time) and was going to ask her for explicit directions on what I should do to make it bloom for Christmas. She has several of them and it seems to me there are always dozens of blooms on them... all the time.... Well, whenever I go there...there are blooms.... so I imagine in my own head that she has blooms all the time....or at least, whenever she wants. She can make plants DO things....and with ease it seems...

But, then I promptly forgot that I was going to ask... that happens a lot these days.... so, a few days later when I noticed this...I was shocked.











Look...a tiny pink bud! ... then, another one... it happened so quickly. The first one bloomed and after 3 days of what I thought was probably full...it even looks more beautiful; with tiny fibre optic looking stamens... or whatever they are ...til... now it looks like this. It chose this day to do the full bloom. The second one has not made much progress... and the tiny little pale buds on the ends of three of the other stems? well, those little guys may not make it. But, I will give it a bit of fertilizer and see what happens. Maybe some new buds will form.... who knows? perhaps by Christmas? ...a few more will sprout?

a rat in the kitchen....

... but such a cute rat!

Some of you may visit my food blog and some don't... and vice versa... so today ... same post, different blog for each of them. Not that the recipe is "to-die-for" ...although it is very tasty... but I think the situation is a fun one.







Have you seen Ratatouille yet? I love it; have watched it several times already. The wine in the glass moves like the real thing....... ..the looks on little Remy's face are priceless, his brother Emile is hilarious, .... maybe it is because I like to cook and know a few things about ingredients, herbs and recipes that it really strikes a chord...who knows . All I know is...I love it. And the thing of it is.... it definitely seems to have spurred me on this past few weeks. I have not done any bear or doll making at all... just having some fun in the kitchen.

::: aside to Judi...... I, did, however, find some parka material and some "liquid silver" fabric to use for my mermaid's tail!! }}}

Ratatouille is a common dish ... very common actually; it is a French peasant dish. Almost every cook book sports at least one and sometimes two different versions. None of them looked like the exquisite version served to the food critic in the movie. They all looked like a soup or stew and not all that appetizing to my eye.... although the ingredients were lovely veggies. But, you know how most veggies look after cooking... nyeh.... ...... and some of the recipes wanted them cooked for hours. Kept looking..... and found the original recipe used as the basis for the look of the dish in the movie. Printed in The New York Times of all places. However, it was one of those that seems pretty confusing and more than a bit time consuming. I decided to wing it and invent my own version making it look a bit more appetizing. Then, the other day, while blog hopping, I landed on the Smitten Kitchen ... and ....this! Okay...this is more like it. Simple, yet probably tastes just as great...looks very nice and the veggies still look like veggies. Copy, print, and cook.

I don't own a mandoline as she does..so the cutting takes a bit of time...but the layering is the most time consuming it seems. And... because my zucchini and my eggplant were miles apart in size...I had to compensate a bit to make it look appealing. I used two little zucchini rounds for each layer.... and cut the whole eggplant in half to begin with and then in quarters for some of the layering especially around the curves. Yes, yes...a lot of fiddling..but for the first go round..I wanted to see if I could make it look similar to the original. I like my effort.... Greg loved my effort...and it disappeared in a single sitting.



Before baking





I served it over couscous with a few small chunks of Feta cheese sprinkled on top; a thick round of sourdough bread and lovely glass of Mouton Cadet.... who knows if it is recommended as a pairing for such a peasant dish .. lol ... but, after all, it is French as well... maybe the Baron wouldn't mind. All in all...a wonderful combination for us. I was happy about the couscous under our little layer of Ratatouille ... as the sauce is pretty flavourful and would have been almost too overpowering on its own. I still wouldn't mind trying some of the other ingredients called for in the original recipe and perhaps combining the two somehow.... ... hmmmm.......











The finished dish...over couscous...still maintaining some semblance of the original veggies even though they have been baked for 45 minutes. (sealed under parchment paper)

Check out this guy's recipe too if you are interested in other options...think I might like this one as well.

a toast.....

to our success ..... with the tub and tiles. Wheeeee !!

After not quite getting the grout right ... we spent a week of scrubbing .. even to the point of finally acid washing. Finally got the "bloom" or "efflorescence" or whatever it was off the surface of the grout. The colour is now uniform and almost the colour we expected ... we can live happily with it. I say "we", but, quite honestly it was not "I" that was upset with it. I just lump myself in with my favourite renovator (who is ultra picky) in order to try to keep us on an even keel. It was a whole week of struggling...but, today, we are happy but weary renovators.

Sink and toilet next....

Time for that drink.

a busy week..

Another one gone in a blur. Finally got the Doll Crafter mag and Judi's "northern" mermaid pattern in it... the next doll I really feel excited about making. I will be out and about this week looking for interesting parka material.

Gee, here I was, waiting for just the right time to begin showing things or talking about Christmas items, recipes etc... not wanting to be too early because of the girls from the U.S. that come to the blog. They still have to celebrate their Thanksgiving and I was sort of almost feeling sorry for them..having to do that so close to Christmas and thinking that they would not want to begin festive red and green til well after that day.. hahahahaha.. not them. they are doing it before me ! They seem to have jumped from Hallowe'en to Christmas... and somewhere in between it all ..they will toss in a huge Thanksgiving weekend meal and decorations as well... how do they do it? I am so glad we are done with our Thanksgiving early enough to have a breather between it and Christmas.

I found some pretty little ornaments, a gold plate, great little biscuit tin and two tiny sleighs ... perfect for a needle felted bear to sit in. Also the tiniest little gingerbread cookie cutters ... although Greg did mention that the little girl looked more like a tiny angel.
























Got the tiles finished in the bathroom finally..
there was a lot of scrubbing and even use of acid wash to get rid of a slight "bloom" or some darn thing on the grout... but I think we now have the colour and finish "we" wanted. Note the use of we.....

Installation of sink and toilet next....and I, of course, will not be lifting either. I am just barely back to walking almost normally this week after the bathtub incident. Still another chiro appointment this week ...then a bit of massage and I should almost be 'good as new' .... and hopefully a bit more clever.

is that onions I smell? perhaps a hint of Rosemary? ...

My sweetie came in smiling, asking what was for supper and looking almost ... guilty, or something. Then I noticed his hands.... well, it was more that I didn't notice them; because they were behind his back. I asked what he was hiding and of course, he said..."nothing". Yeh, right. As if. The usual.... bald faced.... to my face... but then... as usual, more grinning and an attempt to go downstairs almost backwards. Get back here! What do you have there? Did you, .. uhm, bring me something? Oh, alright.... yep, I did ...I stopped and got this! He whips out a DVD. Ratatouille came out today. Oh, goodie!! I have been waiting impatiently for this one! The trailers and pics of Remy the little rat had me totally interested.

I am worse than a kid. Love all the fun movies... most of which are made for kids. But, most of them are made for big kids too ... yes ... yes, they are. I won't even bother to defend how much fun I have watching them....over and over again.



Here is a mirror image of Remy .. in Linguini's hair ... that's it. Not giving any of it away.

Popcorn and Ratatouille..... it was great! Lots of fun stuff and I sniffled a bit in there too... I just get so caught up in the action.. let me see,,.... next it is Harry Potter, Pirates, the Bourne Ultimatum..oh, different league... lol.... lots of new movies coming out just in time for the festive season.

for a good cause and also for those who like pink

This beautiful bear is made by Jenny of Three O'clock Bears.

Please meet Hope.

Jenny is having a draw for this little girl in order to raise $2000 for Breast Cancer Care. If you would like a chance to own a bear made by a top notch bear artist and also to support a great cause .... email her to find out how to get your name in the draw ..... There will be only 200 tickets at $10.27 each and 100% of the money raised will go to this charity.

Her email

jenny@threeoclockbears.com

... .... har, har.....

Ohh, me poor hand!







Arrrrrrhhhh .. and me other's just as bad ...





shades o Davey Jones ... be that gold coins? har, har... stickin' to me bloody, bony hand they are ....


Well, see, this is me first time robbin' and plunderin' an' such ... an' I was goin' to give it all
back... honest, I was....





then ... all of sudden I started changin'...and now this....

I'm doomed an' what'd I do to deserve this, I arsk ye...

















ohhhhhhhh ..... me hurt .....


me hurt everywhere .....

where are the bears ....???

....or.... the dolls you may ask? Well, uhm ... honestly, I don't know. My blog seems to have become a weather beacon ... lol ....

However, I am enjoying trying to capture some beautiful shots of nature while waiting to feel clever enough to get back to the fuzzy guys and the faces....











It has been a very "off" year. First my broken foot ... now, almost to the week that I was able to quit limping on that ... I wrecked my back trying to heave a bathtub around. Stupid. But, we all have those moments of delusion, right? When we think we are able to still do things that most people half our age wouldn't dream of trying? Yep... So, that means for the past two weeks now, my days have disappeared in a blur of appointments (well, the time goes by in a blur..not the actual appointments, of course) Here it is already afternoon and all I have done so far is go for an x-ray. They all take far too much time; as a matter of fact they use up a whole day. Drive there ... wait ... quick appointment ... throw up in chiropractor's parking lot ... drive home... lie down... etc.... so, no desire nor time to make anything this week. No suppers being made either.... lucky for me I have "Plan-Overs" in the freezer. After yesterday's appointment, however, I think there may be a bit of movement today ... should be, it was painful enough to get to this point. Today I can walk up and down steps and almost bend over to tie shoes. Yaaaayyyy!! I feel almost human. If I feel miserable, irritable, slightly down or disillusioned, it is so tough to create fun or pretty things. Normally, I am quite an optimistic person who truly enjoys the simple things in life and am able to find joy and beauty in the smallest of them.

This morning was a perfect beauty opportunity photo wise. We had another small amount of snow after a great sunny day yesterday. The temperature must have dipped last night; just enough to make it snow instead of rain, but now, with the brilliant sunshine, it has disappeared once again. Just look how pretty against the blue, blue sky ..... almost looks like spring blossoms .....

........ wow........

Read that "wow" in a tiny, hushed, awe struck voice please...


Sunset at the North Pole ... with the moon at its closest point.

They are here !!

The shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I was just wondering aloud (to nobody in particular) the other day about them. Checking my calendar and thinking it was getting close to the time of year. Just about time to start my little production line. Anyone and everyone can participate in this venture. In the beginning it was a small undertaking, but now, millions of boxes are being sent every Christmas season. We have one of the main warehouse depots right here in Calgary.
I used to go to the warehouse in the old days .... when it was a tiny undertaking and everybody knew everybody else that went each year to open, check, and repack the boxes. It is so much more than most people realize at the warehouse. You would not believe the, uh, ... well, ... I'll just be my honest, blunt self.... the absolute crap and horrible things some sick people put into what are supposed to be little gift boxes for children who would otherwise have nothing at all and who are mostly going through the worst times of their little lives. It got to be too big though, and some of the egos got big along with .... so that soon it was impossible not to speak up about some of the shenanigans and the ordering around and such.... but, then when I did that I was physically slapped on the wrist by a supervisor and told to mind my own business! Luckily for her my left hand was stronger than my right that day and managed to control the reaching of my right hand for her throat.. but.. in the end ... hey, I got fired from my volunteer job. Yup, I did. Hahaha... relatives and friends still joke about me 'not playing nice with the others'. Doesn't matter to me.... I am still happy that I refused to sit still for photo op boxes and aggrandizement for the big wigs playing a larger part than the rest of the boxes and the items placed in them.
Now...I just do my own and love to do it.. only for the kids. I have friends and relatives that help me out ... by leaving bags of stuffed animals on my doorstep at this time of year. During the year I watch for sales on school supplies, soaps, colouring books, toy cars and other small articles that will fit into the boxes. Together we do dozens of boxes ourselves, have a great time ... and know exactly what goes into each one.

In the summer, my brother gave me three huge bags full of stuffed toys... so this year... I can make as many as I like. Definitely won't run out of the fun stuff this year. More than likely will run out steam before I can get them all in boxes... but, there is always next year ......

yesterday it was a balmy +23 C ......

When you don't need a perfect day for a golf game or a motorcycle ride ... the weather man can be annoyingly "spot-on". He absolutely called this by the minute. Yesterday was a beautiful warm summery type day of +23C .. a breeze picked up mid day and was chasing crispy poplar leaves all around the cul de sac. Little whirlwinds of huge yellowy cornflakes dancing in the sunlight. Still, it felt more like Santa Ana breezes ... but by suppertime .... dead calm and clouds rolled in. By 8:00 p.m. a strong north wind was blowing; gusting to about 60 kph ... the temperature began dropping like a stone, and the "norther" kept right on blowing ... by midnight when I looked out the window, it was a total "whiteout". Huge wet snowflakes blowing sideways!! I thought for sure there would be about 6 inches by morning ... but, the ground is still not frozen, of course, because it has been so lovely and warm, so it did not even accumulate on the roads and sidewalks ... it only stayed long enough for pics; on the plants, lawns and rooftops. The sun is brilliant this morning; the sky blue; soon it will all melt off and it seems another lovely day will ensue. At the moment, the temperature is only - 1 C ... but feels pretty nice standing out there in the sunshine ... and it will climb back to about +10C or so .... hahah ... what silly weather we have here , eh?

My next entry was actually not supposed to be snow covered spirea ... but this .... a little birdie nest that I found Sunday, when the last of the deep burgundy leaves disappeared from the Mayday tree. My new blog buddy, Susan, in Nova Scotia, was showing her last branch of red leaves and I thought it a beautiful shot ... so was going to show one as well ... we seem to be at about the same stage, even though we are at opposite ends of Canada, but, none remained by the end of that sunny breezy day. And then... snow. Ah, well ..... just lets you know what we can expect in the way of weather in my area of the country ... as with other places in the world .. we always say "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes" .... it can change so drastically it is almost unbelievable. A rise or drop of 20 degrees in a space of a few hours is not totally unusual for us. ABP ... that was my motto for years as a dental assistant.... still holds true just for everyday life. Always Be Prepared.











Thank goodness somebody was there to steady the ladder while I climbed up and balanced in the maze of branches to get this photo. I am not sure if it is a robin nest or what ... but it does have a lot of mud in it and I do know they seem to be the ones getting sooooo muddy and dirty in the spring when they are busy building. They come to splash it all off in my birdie bath ... we have to clean it out daily to keep it acceptable ! This nest hardly seems large enough to contain 3 or 4 baby robins for very long .... and even though I do pride myself on being quite observant, I can't say that I noticed more than average robin activity in the Mayday 'til the their usual wild and crazy berry picking time and that is waaaay late in the season. As a matter of fact, that just ended. They fly south on the 15 to 17th of October every year. Gone. Til March 15, 2008. I sure do miss robins in the winter ..... but... love to hear and see the tiny chickadees and also the little sparrows. Man, they must be tough little nuts to survive some of our wintery days. When it gets to -35C I just about cry thinking they are still out there ... and if it is a sunny day... they trill and sing for hours even at those temperatures. I know I would be moaning instead of singing if I had to live outside.

Wish I had a magic wand ....

Another 6 hours of sewing machine lessons ... another boggled brain.







Plus, my back is wrecked from lifting that tub in and out just one time too many. We had to make sure we angled it just right so as not to hit the spout on the wall ... but at the same time not get it too low to the floor til we got over the opening so we didn't crack off the drainage pipe which, as you can see, extends below the tub feet by a few inches. We had to enlarge the opening in the floor as we could not reach far enough under the tub nor could we angle a hand into the too small opening to attach the pea trap with the tub in position. Somewhere along the line we made a mistake in measurements way back when we did tiles. Vin Diesel would never be able to install this tub. His arms would never fit under the thing... but, hey ..... just a second ... maybe he could hold it up all by himself while I attached the piping. ... ahhhh for an easier way to do something. Where is Vin when I need him?




We filled the tub once in position and leak tested it. Dry as a bone. Woohoooo !

Today will be a day of rest and recuperation and I better not have to lift any more tubs in my lifetime. I can hardly lift a finger today. Greg built a scaffold type of unit to put over the tub so we can work on the tiles behind the tub without damaging things. Today he is laying out tiles all over the place to measure and "imagine -eer" the final result before we put them into place. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a tiled wall behind the tub.

But, look. I did an invisible zipper !! .... so invisible you can hardly notice it. hahahha ... Yay me! Not that I will be doing any of those in my doll making ... unless somebody makes mini zips ?.. for tiny tops or something .. ? Never say never I guess.

This time I bought a "wing" needle ... and two more feet for my machine ... so, another $100 day. I just borrowed all the other ones we needed to try all the various stitches ... and ruffling ... and tucks, and pleats ... etc .. but figure I definitely want to try some FME so bought that foot ... as well as one that allows for the wing needle (it can also be used for many other applications). The stitches with the little openwork looked kind of interesting to me. There is even a foot through which you can feed a strand of yarn for couching ... who lies awake at night dreaming up all of these gadgets? I didn't think I would be using that too much ... The ruffler foot was reminiscent of some retro space movie contraption. Totally bizarre. Here is my sample of stitches using the wing foot... haahaha I mean needle. It looks a bit messy as I was trying many decorative stitches at the same time...

Next class is not for a couple of weeks and she will be doing a lot with quilting. I am definitely not interested in traditional quilts, but am thinking I may like to try a small applique type wall hanging.

... best laid plans.....

A few drop dead gorgeous days in a row... (stole that phrase from John) .. no time to be inside. Okay ... well, on Saturday I WAS inside ... alllllll day and then today.... alllll day. But, in between.... what sunshine...what warmth... great days.

I took the first 6 hours of my, ... uhm ... "free" sewing classes that come with my machine. It was $65 for the kit: a binder and bits of fabric to stitch on. Then, because my machine is entry level ... it did not come with a table attached to the small arm ... so I pretty much had to buy one of those ... another $40. The woman admitted they usually try to have the classes within 3 months of you buying any machine .. so you get to see all the bells and whistles on the higher models the others bought ..... and they then happily trade you up; no charge and no questions asked ...from your 'almost new' to a 'brand new' one. It has been many more months than that since I bought mine even though I have hardly looked at it yet. For what I need to do ... this is more than enough machine for me. Every time they used a different foot...my machine did not come with it... although it did come with 5 that I am sure will do fine for me. So ... they passed around the one we should buy... ranging anywhere from $39 to $62. I just passed them right along ..... .

By the time I got out of there after the day I had a pounding headache .... and was totally boggled with information overload. Wouldn't you know it? ... The one thing I was sort of keen on learning... the invisible hem stitch .... was the one thing I absolutely could not get right. After about my fourth try and me saying to the teacher for the 4th time that I just did not "get it", she seemed a bit ticked and said ...just practice it at home. I think I may have even been trying to stitch it on the wrong side of the hem part but I haven't a clue. Hmmm... why couldn't she just tell me that then? I will be asking again this Saturday; bet on it. I have not even taken the machine out of the suitcase I hauled it there in.... And now...we are back to working on the bathroom. Won't be much practice happening before this Saturday and the second 6 hours of lessons.

Motorcycle lessons were so much easier .... and more fun.

6 hours in the yard on Sunday and my foot was feeling it (gee, no kidding!) In the a.m., it felt great. Must change my way of doing things. Saying "no" in a few more circumstances would be a good beginning but I am so used to just holding up my own end of things that I automatically just do it. I am learning that I can't do it anymore. We ended the busy day by finding about 2 more hours work. I thought it a job for another day altogether: sawing off about 10 overhanging branches of the neighbour's spruce tree that were drooping onto our shed and into the garden area by about 15 to 20 feet. Then we had to chop them smaller to fit into the van and clean up the mess it made. The trees are in horrible shape..so dead needles all over and infested with spider mites. What a mess.










Today was long and tedious. We hefted the very heavy tub up and over the opening in the newly tiled floor and lo and behold.... the pipe from the overflow just bumped on the tile...... oh, let me see....about 2 inches short of where it was supposesd to be!!! After tipping the tub on its side and away from the opening once more... we looked...fiddled and swore .... a lot. Like an idiot I plonked the tub down on my own finger too...so bruised a knuckle first thing in the day. We tried cutting off some of the pipe from the overflow to see if we could move the piping enough to get it to the opening....no luck...still over an inch away. Nothing for it but to ruin our great tile job. This stuff does not cut either.... it is like steel. We put the diamond blade from the tile cutting saw on the skill saw and Greg measured, remeasured, marked with tape and began to cut... hoping for the best. I squirted water on the wildly sparking blade and with all the towels stuffed in the opening, along with my 7 X 9 inch baking pan taped to the board under it...we managed to keep any water from dripping onto the drywall under the floor and into the electrical of the pot lights in it...(which is the basement ceiling).... it worked !! and so did the cutting job. Whew. Then, a lot of fiddling, cutting with a hand saw...chiseling etc...to get the 2 x 4 under that particular tile out and reshore things further in.... I hope it is enough. Neither of us could bear to lift an end of the tub to try it. He was exhausted and I didn't even want to chance my back and knees. I don't know if they will manage tomorrow either..... I sure hope it fits now.

I am taking another doll making class on line too, but have not done anything yet except play a bit with the tiny hands. Look how tiny they are.. even smaller than my Lotus Lady. Hmmm..... practising for your mermaid Judi ... soon as I see that magazine! lol.....

When a day begins with this ... you know it's gonna be a good one! My beautiful cat ACEO pastel arrived yesterday ... all the way from Russia in only 5 postal working days (we had a holiday here over the weekend) !! Whereas, I am still waiting for mail from Ontario...and it is now a full two weeks since it was mailed from there .... sigh ...


The day began with brilliant sunshine, but deteriorated to dim and cloudy.... actually, I wish it would rain. It is so dry and the trees and plants need some good moisture before it gets cold and the ground freezes.

I took a few pics ... wish I knew how to use Photoshop so I could "shop out" those wires...but alas.... I am pretty dense when it comes to that. Not that it's all I am dense with...but that for sure. I love alleyways with some interesting flowers or weeds outside fences....this fence is even interesting in that it may fall down by spring.... does this come under the heading Wabi Sabi?

The one I won...and the one that got away ...

This is the pastel I won on ebay the other day ... by one of my fav artists .. Anna Usacheva in Russia. (scroll to the bottom of my page for a collage of many of her pastels)


Unfortunately, I lost out on this one by a whisker... or two.... darn it. I wanted both of them to frame for a special someone. If she happens to read my blog today .. she will guess it is she.










The eyes on all of Anna's cats absolutely blow me away. If you know cats at all... then you know what I am talking about. The eyes are amazing.

Thanksgiving today...

Today was Thanksgiving here in Canada. Nothing like the U.S. Thanksgiving celebrations as far as I have ever seen. However, we usually have a special meal ... sometimes visit with relatives or friends ... sometimes not ... just depends on where everybody is at the time.
It just doesn't seem that big a deal somehow.

Yesterday I made a great little chicken for supper .... and today we had a wonderful lazy day and a great second chicken dinner. Yum ...

My new easy way with chicken:

Season the cavity with salt and pepper.
Stuff the cavity with chunks of onion, 4 or so garlic cloves and a lemon cut in chunks.
Tuck in the legs or tie them up.
Rub chicken with butter, and season with paprika, basil or Herbs De Provence (or your choice).
Cover roasting pan for most of cooking time ... basting with juices occasionally.
Take off lid for last 20 mins or half hour to crisp and brown skin.
Take out of juice, plate and tent with foil til ready to serve.

Meanwhile ... put pan on heat ...spoon off some of the fat, scrape up brown bits... add water, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Add a bit more water with flour dissolved in it to thicken and stir while boiling..then simmer for a bit til no taste of starch .... et voila ! wonderful gravy too.

This method of cooking gives the most succulent, moist, chicken I have ever tasted! Add a big bowl of creamy mashed potatoes, some steamed veggies and you have an amazing dinner.

The wrestling match

In this corner, wearing 'jammies covered with cutesy little penguins; standing 5 ft. 2 inches and weighing 122, Vee the "Bearmaker". And in this corner, ladies and gents, dressed in the ... uhm ... rather strange colour of tinned peas .... barely tipping the featherweight scale (literally; unless there is some steel shot in this guy's belly it would be impossible to feel him in the palm of your hand!) and standing at a diminutive 2 3/4 tall, "Baaaaby Face" Gerber! Sitting, he is only 2 1/4 .... and he seems to be sitting ... resting .... getting ready....




Two days in a row now they have faced off and still the title is undecided .... twice she has knocked the stuffing out of this little guy and twice he has rebounded. Today.... the final match. Who will be victorious? Who will walk away with the title? .... . Tune in for the stitch by stitch replay of ....what the heck am I talking about? sorry, got carried away for a second or two there......

He is done to the stage of picci'ing ... Vikki and Maggi know exactly what that means. It means there are still some unfinished and even,( gasp) open areas on the back side where you can't see them! Still need to make a little pouch for the steel shot... but want to show you a pic anyway! I can finish up later... 'course, I aways say that and then, off I go and begin another little guy, or doll, or some other project ... leaving openings .. (where is that "sheepish grin" emoticon?) ... I am such a procrastinator .. unless I am sending them to new homes, and then of course, I am right on it. Busy with invisible stitching immediately. Yes, indeed, I can and do finish when there is a need to do so.