Sunday after nattering!

  I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. The snow was falling and they were huge flakes. So pretty! So postcard looking. Then as I sat down and watched, it turned to tiny snow flakes and the wind picked up. That could only mean one thing, it was here for awhile and with gusto! Nuts. It also meant, me and my son (who would be volunteered for the task), would have to head out and shovel our long ass driveway.  The driveway takes us almost 2 hours to do. That really has nothing to do with my being a tad anal when doing it. I like the edges to be almost even and not one "line" of snow left in the middle. We do happen to own a large tractor that has a snowblower attached to it. Why not use that, you think? Well, it's frankly a pain in the butt to get going. It hasn't been run for awhile and we would have to wait to let the battery charge. By that time, we may as well clear the driveway the old fashioned way.
    I sound like I am whining about the whole thing, when in fact, I love doing it. As long as it isn't bone chilling temps outside, I don't mind putting on my ipod and sing while shoveling. By the way, I do sing along with my music and it isn't with my inside voice. I give a solo concert like no other! Might explain why I never see my neighbours clearing their driveway the same time I do. Hmmm. Food for thought there. Anyway,  the snow today, was the perfect snowman kind. The perfect consistency for making a snowball, throwing it into a bank and asking the dog to "go find it".
     Today, I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I actually slipped on ice and fell down. I saw the ice, made a mental note to be careful when walking on it and Boom, fell anyway! Ouch. What is the first thought that comes to mind the second your brain realizes you have fallen????  "shit I hope no one saw that!"  Right?  That was mine. Of course, my son saw and asked if I was ok. I answered that I was. Just wacked my elbow and now had to "gracefully" get off this patch of ice. The only way to do that was to get on my hands and knees and crawl backwards.  I stood up, told my son I was ok, and carried on with my singing and shoveling.
       All while singing and shoveling, I was thinking how wonderful it will be when I am done and can head back inside to have a nice cup of hot chocolate. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful reward for all that hard work?  But, that isn't what I had when I got back inside. First I got a comment on how sweaty my hair was (thanks kid) and then I was craving a fruit smoothie. Damn that personal trainer and her healthy eating ways!! She has officially entered my brain and taken over my chocolate cravings. Ugh! We have a new blender. It's called a "Ninja"! Sounds fierce doesn't it?  I haven't a clue how to make a smoothie. Alright, I do know how, but to me it is like the icing sugar syndrome. You know when you add icing sugar, then milk and find its too much milk, so you add more icing sugar, to find it's too thick, so you add more milk..get the picture? Well, I add fruit and a bit of milk to the blender. It blends and then it looks too thick, so I add more milk. Still not runny enough, so I add more milk, then more milk. Pretty soon, it is still too thick and now there is no more room in the blender. I have done this 3 times people! Three times!!!  Today, my son took pity on me and decided to show me how to make a fruit smoothie. He added the fruit and some mild and presto, it was a beautiful smoothie. I maintain that it is because I use frozen fruit when I make it and he used fresh. That is exactly why mine are always so thick. Sounds believable and I am going to stick to that reasoning.
    I shall now leave writing this and head on over to Pinterest to get some smoothie ideas. Later, eh.

Danish Pastries time!

It is that time of year, when between Christmas and New Years eve, we wonder what to do. Clearly, by looking at the state of my house, cleaning is out of the question! If anyone mentions dust that might be lingering, then I simply tell them to "have at 'er" with the vacuum. My feeling won't be hurt to see someone else cleaning this place. I shall do that later. But, today folks, is our annual Danish Pastry day. It is a whole day project. I am not sure what other name there is for them, but they have been a tradition in our house for years. The recipe is from 1969!  Here is the finished product from last year.  Despite it being an all day project, we do have fun while doing them.  The first year we made them, we cut the rolled out pastry lengthwise, not width wise. They turned out huge and didn't quite make as many as I remembered as a child.  I phoned my mother and we talked about making them and she asked how many we made. I told her about 36. She said..and I quote  "WHAT??" . oh. Then I told her how we cut them. She said no wonder, we had cut them the wrong way. So, last year we cut them the correct way and got over 114!
    While we were making them last year, we decided to kill time by watching Sherlock series. It was fun. I am not saying that we smile the entire way through. Currently, out of three kids, one is hiding in his room mad at his sister. So, he vows never to come out again to help us twist and roll the pastries. Sigh.  My "Kids" are 21, 19 and 18!  Some things never change. ha ha

Even the dog gets into the act. She has a wonderful floured hand print on top of her head.
 I can just hear here say "every year they do the same thing...every, friggin, year". ha ha ha  This year, we are entertaining ourselves with a game on facebook called "trivia crack". Each time I get a history question wrong I think of two people. 1st being my old history teacher, of course and the 2nd would be my friend, Melanie. Man she loves her history and I wish I could channel her for these questions. Unfortunatley, it is a timed game, so there is no chance of me doing that.

 The final photo I am including..now that I have figured out how to add photos, is of the kiddies smiling while making them. This was also taken last year.
   I am glad we have carried on this tradition from my childhood. Hopefully, my kids will also carry on this when they marry  or can't make it home for Christmas. Another thing, is to freeze some right away because they don't last long. Our saying is "all day to make, 3 seconds to eat all! "  Later, eh.

Things are a changing...

The sewing machine has been put on hold for now. I have sewed so much over the past month. I still have yet to begin the Jammie bottoms I said I would make. Honestly, I must stop wasting time on Pinterest. Too many projects, so little time.  I did manage to make something really cool. I saw one can sew a card holder. It holds up to 38 cards and I decided that would be a neat idea. So, I made one for myself.  Here is what the real one looks like. Mine has a bit more crooked lines from my sewing, but you get the idea of how neat this is.  



While on Pinterest, I came across a photo of a chicken pin cushion I could make. Hang on a minute, I have one of those. Mine was made by a friend years ago. The funny thing about the chicken is that I didn't know it was a pin cushion!  I had it in my kitchen as  a country decoration for years. I am happy to report, it is now in my sewing room being used as ...you guessed it.. a pin cushion. Good grief!! 

After the Jammie bottoms, I plan to make myself a makeup bag. 
Looks simple enough to make. Who knows, maybe one day I will sew myself a purse. Hahahahahaha, I make myself laugh. This is one dedicated purse addict that will never make myself one. Or will I?? Leave that addiction to another one? Perhaps a whole closet of handmade purses? Leave Coach, Michael Kors, and Kate Spade behind and just have home made ones? Hmmmm, can't see that happening.

Today is my baking day. Making 3 different kinds today. I am baking some of my grandmother's shortbread cookies. They are so good and taste even better when sneaking them from the tin in the freezer. Also making some chocolate chip and then some greek yoghurt chip/dried cherry cookies. I feel using Greek yoghurt chips are almost healthy as well as adding cherries. Right? One can have maybe 2 or 3 of those! Shhhh don't tell my trainer.

  My latest thought (I know..my brain never shuts down)  is to, once and for all, stop colouring my hair. Eeeek. I have decided to go grey. Now, a thought like this would have been helpful when my hair was blonder, right?!  Hell no, I wait until I dye my hair a reddish brown. My poor stylist is going to shoot me when she hears what I want to do now. I can just see her rolling her eyes at me. I change my hair colour as much as I change my socks...wait a minute, I don't like to wear socks, so that saying doesn't really apply here. Been on official business on Pinterest looking for ideas about going from this colour to grey. I don't think I want to go the "growing out the roots" look. I will get highlights done to gradually have the grey look all over. Hang on..that didn't make sense. I will have a blending of light highlights to help with the transition. There, that's better.
  Alrighty, this is not getting any baking done what so ever. Merry Christmas!!!  Later, eh.

Christmas stress load

     So, about a month ago I decided I would be saving $$ by making some gifts myself. It really all started when I went to my first Christmas market. I would see some items and think "hey, I can easily make that!".  First project, a home made heating bag.

 Before I even began, I decided to check out what was suggested on Pinterest. Huge mistake. I should know once I get on that site, I am  on it for hours. Man, it is addictive. Took myself off it a few months ago. My friend wondered where I went, so I just wanted to go back on to see what she messaged to me. Again, huge mistake. Now I got on there daily. Back to the heating bag. Saw the words "easy to make"  and went for it. Yup, they were not kidding. This looked like I could whip this up in about 10 minutes. Perfect!!  Of course, by the time I got off Pinterest, it was far too late in the evening to start this project. Besides, I needed to buy some rice.
  The next day, after shopping for more material and grabbing my rice, I sat at my machine to begin. I had my measured out pieces and was ready to begin. First, I put on my music. Something has to drown out the odd swear word that will eventually come out. I got my bobbin full of the colour of thread I was using. Loaded the machine with it and proceeded to thread the needle. Holy crap, has the hole always been this small?  How the hell would I put this teeny tiny thread through that? Small swear word escaped. I got a magnifying glass and tried to use that. That ended up being a huge pain in the you know where, so I gave up.  Finally, got the needle threaded. THAT alone took up the whole 10 minutes I had planned to use to make the whole thing. Sigh.  I got it all done and then had to fill the channels with rice. Easy Peasy!  Except for one thing. I over filled it and when I went to try it out in the microwave oven, it wouldn't bend. It was too long for the plate and got stuck on the sides of the microwave. The plate under it went around and around. The bag itself, hung onto the sides of the microwave almost afraid of letting go. I took it out and tried to bend it. It bent a tiny bit and I figured that was better. At least some of it was on the plate and I thought the plate might force it to move around. Nope, it moved a bit, then stuck again on the wall. I knew in my heart of hearts, that it had way too much rice in it. I was just so determined not to go back to the machine and change it. The more I placed it different into the microwave, the more I started to laugh. This was getting dumb.
   I went back to the machine and opened up the end and took some rice out. Now it works perfectly. I have decided to make another one for a friend. Plus, while on Pinterest, I came across loads of more projects to do to make gifts for friends. My list now includes 4 small tissue holders, another heating bag, 3 totes, and just for kicks and giggles, 3 pair of jammie bottoms! What was I thinking? So, it is Dec. 9th and I am sitting on the computer when I could easily be sewing all these things. Must stay away from Pinterest...Must walk back upstairs, plug in the music and sew! Wish me luck. Later, eh.

new addiction

It has been a year since I have entered this kind of store. The colours, the ideas and the projects buzzing around in my mind, kept me away. Today, I just couldn't help myself and I entered the fabric store!!  I just wanted to grab a small amount of Christmas material to work on a project. Just a small amount. A few tiny cut-offs that one can find. Nothing too major. Almost $100. later, I came out. Oh dear! This actually started when I went to the first of many craft fairs that will be held around her from now until Christmas. I saw some nice quilting projects that people did and I thought to myself "I can do that!". And so it began. What was a minor trip to the fabric store, ended in me coming home with a bag of material and a membership card for discounts.  I walked in and what greeted me was row after row of bolts of material. Quilts that were done and patterns that were on hand so that I can make the exact same thing.

Who can resist?  Not me. I stood there with about 3 bolts in my hand. Gripping them with dear life because, let me tell you, this place was thee place to be on a Sunday afternoon!  I walked around and around the display of material trying to decided what went with what. I did grab the mandatory bird/snowman combo material and looked for something to go with it.  As I said, I came out with lots and lots of ideas. Came home and immediately went to the basement to see what books of inspiration I had on hand. I have decided on a few things that I am going to make for some friends. Can't wait to get started either. Now, I really, really do have to go back to the store because I need more stuff. Not material. I think I am good with that. Although, with my membership card, I do have a discount. I used to quilt and collected so much material. I can sense that is going to happen again. Does this replace my purse addiction?!  Ha Ha..no. This is going to be fun actually. I may post a real photo of what I am making. My first project is going to be a table runner. That is for me. Will keep you posted!  Later, eh

tests..tests and more tests!

Went for a bone scan today. For those that have never had one, here is how it works. They take you into the room and you lie down on table. They then inject dye into your vein. The imaging machine does it's thing. They tell you the screen will be close to your face, but won't touch it. Yup, they were not kidding. The urge to move my head to the side became overwhelming. I closed my eyes. The machine is pretty open, but the "plate" so close to my face made me feel a bit closed in. That test lasted about 15 minutes. Then they send you off on your merry way to return in about 2 hours. One had to let the dye settle into one's bones. I decided to go have some breakfast. I went into the restaurant and was seated down in a booth. The sun was just coming up over a building and it became a bit bright. The waitress asked if I would like the blinds closed. No, it's fine. The sun feels nice, She ignored that and walked over to a table of 8 men and told them she was going to reach behind them, so that she could close the blinds as the sun is beaming into my eyes. I kid you not when I say, all 8 of them turned to look at me. I do believe they were looking for a crown on top of my head. Let me tell you, this waitress had to lean right over them to close the blind. I quickly glanced down at the newspaper I was reading. Had my breakfast and went shopping. I treated myself to new PJs. Also, bought myself a new housecoat. The one I own is huge and about 22 years old. It was bought when I was pregnant with my first child. It is one of the oldest articles of clothing I own. Even now, I can't think of possibly throwing it out. Will put it aside for now.
  Shopping done, time to head back to the machine. Part 2 of my fun. I got there, went right into the room. She explained it would be pretty much what it did before, so lie still. They actually wrap your feet together to prevent them from moving  and wrap your arms to your sides as well. My mind began to wonder. I was thinking about how my breathing was. Was it too much? Did it seem like I was holding my breath? If I took a deep breath, would that mean I moved too much and would have to start over?? Man, this brain of mine, just refuses to shut up! Then a good song came on. How was I going to stop singing along? Clearly, with my feet wrapped, tapping my toes was out of the question.
I moved my lips, ever so slowly to the song. Couldn't let it pass without singing along. The technician came in and asked if I had any recent chest injury or was I experiencing pain.  Could they see me sing? Did my moving of my lip indicate I was in pain? I told her now. She left again. The machine was now taking "photos" of my feet. Afterwards, I told her I did have some chest issues about 3 weeks ago. Found it hard to catch my breath cause my ribs hurt so much, but I had let my Dr. know and he said it was probably just a muscle pull from the chest fly's I was doing at the gym. Guess that thought was blown out of the water, because when I was done with this machine, they sent me to get an x-ray of my chest. Of course, we all know technicians can't tell you anything other than they saw something. Sheesh.  I was sent home to wait for the Dr to phone me. He should get the results in 24 hours. tic toc..not that I am counting.... Later, eh!

Where have I been?!

Holy Crap.
 Has it really been that long since I have written anything for this blog. Sheesh, One would think I was off living the high life and was far too busy or didn't want to appear to brag about my life, to write.  Well, I am here, finally, to tell you the honest truth about my absence. Ready?!  Here it comes!!   I got lazy. There you have it. I  just got plain, sometimes really nice, lazy!! I over thought the whole blog process. Went through a stage where I figured I was the only one that liked hearing about my days and how crazy it could be. I was once told that maybe I over talk telling stories. They are too long and maybe people don't have the time to listen or read a long winded story. I took that to heart, and decided to give people the "Coles notes" version of stories. Then I thought again. ( I know..lots of thinking going on here) I have always been a story teller. No matter what I have done or seen, I have always turned it into a story with details and such. This is who I am and the hell with the naysayers. ( Is that even how you spell "naysayers"?)  If I want to spend a good 10 minutes telling a story about getting my hair cut, then I will! My grandmother was always a story teller and so was my Aunt. I come from a long line of story tellers.  It was a friend of mine that reminded me that I love to write and some of my stories are really funny. I was admiring her paintings and told her she had such talent for painting and drawing. She said "but, you are so good at writing and I wish I could do that!". Hmmmm. I do have a talent for writing. I do love to write and make people laugh. So, this entry in my blog after soooo  many years, will be the first of many to come.
   Side note here.. Coles notes, for those that may not know what that is, is a series of books that basically took classic novels and shortened them up for anyone that didn't want to read the whole book. They could just grab one of these and get the important points of a book. For instance..when you have to read Romeo and Juliet for school and find it hard to concentrate on the funky language, you could find a Coles notes book on it and learn the important parts of the book.  Personally, I loved Romeo and Juliet. Memorized the balcony scene and everything.
    That's it for now. Just wanted to do the virtual poke and say "I'm back". Hopefully I will write a story more that 1 time every few years!!   Later, eh.