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.

ta da....

Right before your eyes you will see my first painting. Yes, it is upside down. If I could figure out how top rotate it, I will...but for now, it doesn't look too bad the way it is.  I was with some friends admiring a picture in a store. The one friend agreed with me that it look really nice. The other friend said to us "you could paint that your self." To which we replied, after pausing a bit, with a "get out of here!".  No, she said, just take a photo of it and copy it yourself. Better yet, buy the original one, copy it by painting it, then return it. Since the picture I was looking at was a mountain scene with trees and snow..I thought I wouldn't be so keen on trying to copy that. She decided she will be our painting instructor and start us up small with this simple leaf design.
  I have to admit I am NO artist. Can't draw to save my life!  But, this was so fun to do. I was covered in paint, cause that's how I roll. Whether baking or whatever..I seem to wear whatever project I am working on. That's the fun bit. It took us one Sunday afternoon to paint this and I am so impressed. She said it helps to have some music in the background to set the mood. We had African tribal music going. I have chosen some opera music...ahh chosen it..have yet to actually have it playing in the background
  Since this leaf painting, that I have named The Fall Leaf,  I have tempted to paint a winter scene with trees.  Notice that picture isn't on display here??!!  There is a good reason for that. Good grief!!! But, I am not giving up on this. I have such a good time doing this and have some ideas of what to paint next..besides my arms, easel, clothes and whatever is handy to my brush.

just wondering...

Here I sit at the dining table playing a game on Facebook. Yes, I like to play games on Facebook. Mindless, time killing games. In my defense, I do play scrabble with several people and would love to challenge my over seas friends, but scrabble won't share.. They have a separate game for North Americans and another one for Europe.  Haven't a clue why?!! Do you Europeans have strange words that it won't accept on our board game?  We have the word "Zen" that it rejects all the time and, for future reference, no matter how many time you yell at your computer saying "it's a word..hello..anyone there?", it still won't accept it.  Anyway, I am playing a mindless, highly addicting, game (candy crush) and I am running out of moves. Suddenly a notice will come on informing me that for my real $, it will give me 5 extra moves.  My question is, just how desperate do you have to be to pay real money for face money or turns or points. What would drive you to actually pull out your credit card and say "hey, what a great deal I have going here."  If you have a spouse that goes over the bills, what would be your reasoning as to why you just had to purchase 5 more moves for 99Cents.  I can just imagine the blank stare I would get from my husband. Hmm almost tempting to give it a try. Almost..not quite.  Hey time has passed, maybe I have earned more lives while doing other computer things. Yipee!!  Game on people!

I am in love...

I walked into my magazine store with anticipation of bringing home my usual wad of British magazines. They seem to be the only ones I buy. I am not even from the UK, but I got addicted to them while living in Switzerland.  Addicted might seem like a harsh word, but anyone that knows me will say I have always been crazy about magazines. Only once in a blue moon do I actually throw some old ones out. Anyway, while I was there, I noticed a new style of e-reader.  Hmmm do I dare look at it. I knew it would cost the earth to buy cause it had just come out. Doesn't cost anything to look! Funny how I say that so often, and yet can't seem to follow that when in certain store. lol (Ikea being one of those stores!). I was with my son and the two of us began playing with the new e-reader. He was pressing all kinds of things and swiping his fingers along the screen. I stood there like some old nervous Nellie and kept saying "don't do that, you don't know what it might do". "It's ok mom. It won't hurt it.". I kept expecting the lights of the city to dim from all the things he was doing. Technology these day, you never know.  It would be cool to own one of these tablets, I thought. BUT I was not prepared to pay that amount. I have my e-reader that still works fine. I went on my merry way to fetch my magazines. Yes, they cost a bit here.  But, I think they are worth it.
  Skip a few months ahead and it's mother's day. My son got me that e-reader. Holy crap!! I told him that was very generous of him and way over the top. He said I deserved it and he now had a job and could pay for it and he really wanted to!  Awwww.  Frankly, I got spoiled by everyone this mother's day!! Gush gush!  anyway, back to the new fancy e-reader..now knows as my tablet! This thing is amazing!  I got free games to play, I can check emails and the most important discovery is that I can download my British magazines for half the price of what I pay. No way!!!  I text a good friend of mine that is well advanced in this technology thing, and I knew she downloaded magazines on her ipad. I asked if it was just like having the magazine in your hand. Does it really include everything from the magazine. She confirmed it was indeed the real thing. Whoopee!! So, now I have 3 magazines that I buy for my tablet. Think of how clean and de-cluttered my house will be without magazines hanging around for months on end. This will leave me with some empty shelves that I think can easily be filled with "stuff" from some of my favourite stores.
  Not only can I read my magazines, but I can join the kids in games. We are hooked on a great golfing game right now.  So, yes, I am in love. I am looking forward to having a dr.s appointment and bringing this tablet with me to keep me entertained. I realize most of everyone had one of these tablets..I always seem to be slightly behind the times. All I can say is Thanks, Child for buying me this new "toy"!!  Anyone want to challenge me to golf??!!

morning after a long weekend..

We had a nice long weekend and had great weather! Everyone in the family had their own plans. Some were home for a night, some were not!  It is always a surprise who is at the dinner table at night. Quite rare to have everyone here for dinner. This weekend was just like that. My husband was away and the kids were coming and going all weekend. All the fun ends when last night we had to try and get back into the groove of things. I set my alarm to get up at 7 am. This was in part for me to get ready for getting up tomorrow at 5 am. Ease myself into this early morning rising. Since I managed to stay up late, I reset my alarm for 8 am. My kids are good at getting up for the school bus. My alarm went off at 8 am and I eventually got out of bed. Worked my way out of the room, stood in the hallway and saw my youngest also standing in the hallway. Whoa!!  What day is this? What time is this? 20 questions raced in my head thinking I clearly missed something and maybe I didn't have to set my alarm.  I am always first to question myself over and over before I realize it isn't quite as it seems. I looked at him then said, "You missed your bus?"  Now, this kid hates mornings. Not the hate that lasts for a minute or two. It is a full on miserable, not talking to anyone for a long time, kind of hate. So, he looked at me and nodded his head. Ok,  My morning started with feet hitting the ground running! I grabbed a protein bar and got in the van and took him to school.  Decided while I was out, I may as well go work out. Starting the day that fast, usually leaves me with a foggy head all day long. I sound like a princess don't I.  Gee, unless I have my hour of morning leisure, then I just can't cope. lol
Hope you have a great day!!

A comedy of errors!

    Sometimes when my husband is talking away, I tend not to listen, I zone out and think of other things. I have learned that, when he was talking about the hoses for connecting to the water tank, I should have listened. He is away this weekend and it was up to me to make sure the garden got watered. We have a large garden so it takes a lot of water. We are lucky enough to live near a canal, so he hooks up the huge water tank to the tractor and goes helps himself with some water. They did say there would be lots of rain this weekend, so I really didn't think I would be needed to deal with the garden. Well, we all know how accurate the weather people are. We got maybe a sprinkling of rain..so..ugh..I had to water the garden tonight.  A simple task for the person that listened to what their husband was saying about the hoses...not so much for me!  There are 2 rows, along our spruce trees, that have green hoses. The one does have a nozzle, so I knew that would be my end hose. Surely it would be long enough to reach the water tank. Ya right...I can dream!  So, I rambled away moving those heavy hoses trying to figure out how one connects them. The dog was amused and watched me with great interest. I think, I heard her snicker..but couldn't be sure! My rambling was getting louder and louder. How hard is it to connect these stupid hoses and why do they weigh so bloody much!! I decided to hook up the one with the nozzle to the water tank and see what that would do. Well what it did was nothing. It wasn't long enough!  Sigh. Ok, I am a grown women, how hard is this?  I got the extra hose and brought it to the hose I was using and unhooked the nozzle end and got sprayed with a lot of water cause I didn't turn off the water! Arggg.
    Finally, I got everything all sorted. For future reference, turn water pressure off when changing hoses, wear rubber boots (cause water added to dirt turns into heavy mud that stick happily to sneakers), and above all...listen to my husband when he describes the newest things he buys for objects around the house. You never know what you will need to use them.

you get what you paid for..

Never has this saying been true!  A few months ago, I went to Las Vegas with my husband. Now, what says Vegas better then a t-shirt with glitter on it. Not tacky..just sparkly. The step for a hint, that I purchased a cheapie shirt, should have been when I unpacked it and saw my clothes covered in glitter.  Oh what the heck..it's vegas baby! So what if a few more items of clothes have a bit of sparkle on them. Who cares.  Who cares? Well, I do now.  I washed it recently and you guessed it, everyone's clothes are now covered in glitter. We are not in vegas and my son has recently complained to me that his military t-shirts are covered in Glitter.  It's hard to look tough and intimidating when you sparkle in the sunshine. Oops. My husband's uniform for work has pretty, gold glitter on it as well. I know in time it will eventually work it's way out of our house..that is, until I wash the t-shirt again!
   Just thought I would share that bit of laundry fun!

Introducing....

 Here is my dog, Emma!  She is a silver labrador!  Not sure why her left eye (her left, not ours) is so wonky..probably she is squinting in the sunshine.  She is 8 years old and spoiled rotten..nothing wrong with that!  When we got her, she was 10 months old and scared of anything or everything that moved. Poor girl.  We had to train her to walk on a leash, play and even go do her outside business.  Many cold winter days, we stood at the doorway saying, over and over.."go pee!" in fact, we can still be heard saying that. But, she has come a long way.  She loves going for rides in the van, loves walks and mostly, loves playing tug of war with a tennis ball.
Just thought I would share her with you. Now that I have figured out how to put photos on this blog, I just might add some more.

keeping fit...

Been ages since I have written in this blog. I believe I said that last time. Can I use the excuse that I am busy trying to keep busy?  Works for me. I don't have a job outside the home, so I try to think of various things to keep me out of trouble...ok, off the computer playing games!  I have joined a gym that keeps me going 5 - 6 days a week.
  Did I tell you about the first time I went to this gym years ago?  I was being shown all the equipment and how to use them. One machine works the inner thighs. You have to sit and put your legs in these leg holder things...oooh such terminology there. Anyway, you spread your legs apart and have to use your muscles to bring them together again. Quite the workout. While on the way home from this work out, a thought came to me. Not, how proud of myself I was for actually getting off my ever expanding butt and going there...nope, the thought that came to me was "oh my god, am I wearing the yoga pants that have a hole in the crotch?"  There is no better way to check other then, well checking. Yup!! These were the ones. So everyone saw my granny panties while I worked out. Thankfully, it is a women only gym!! THAT was years ago, and I am happy to report I have rejoined this gym complete with new yoga pants.  I do enjoy going especially now that they have a "smart" card. You plunk this chip into the machine and it will measure the effort you put in. Complete with calories burned and it also shows you if your are improving your efforts day to day.
  So far, I have lost 15lbs and about 12 inches over all. Some areas could use some more shrinking for sure, but baby steps. Another activity that keeps me from playing computer games all day (seriously, my house is clean..I don't just play computer games..honest), is take my dog for a walk along the canal we live near. (ugh..bad grammar there). This is her favourite past time besides chasing plastic bags and eating used tissue! I take my ipod to sing along with as well. I live out in the country..who is going to hear me as I sing along?   Oh that reminds me of a story that happened to me this weekend.  I was walking along a country road on Sunday. Quiet area.  I had my ipod in and suddenly it felt like my yoga pants were slipping down. I walked a few more steps and sure enough, they were heading south!  I unzipped my jacket, ipod fell to the ground, bent down to pick that up and then hiked up my pants. There right behind me was a jeep driving past quite slowly. Oh come one...there was no one for at least 1/2 hour and suddenly when I am losing my pants some jeep full of farmer men drives past. That is my life for sure. As I headed back from my walk, the same jeep drove past me again. I seriously need to rethink my wardrobe when walking or going to work out. OR..and here's a wacky idea, why not wear pants that fit!!  Tomorrow I will be going shopping!!

The non diet..diet..

Well we are already half way through January and I decided that I would NOT be one of those people that make the usual resoultions come Jan 1st.  Cause (as my mother would say) as sure as god made little green apples, I would be binging by the 3rd.  Diets just don't work for me. The second I put the word diet into my head, I am already starving and just dying for a piece of warmed up brownie with oozing icing...yum. Instead, I decided to get off the couch, which is so comfy, and join Curves gym. The Curves I belong to is on the second floor, so I had to walk up loads of steps just to get there. Truth be told, the elevator is rather old and looks very complicated to work. Maybe they just put that sign with all those instructions there, just so the curves members would use the stairs.  Hey...it worked. I got up to the top of the stairs and pretended I wasn't out of breath by stopping to look at my phone. I had a tiny hallway to walk down and tried to catch my breath. Ugh!!  Was I ever someone that needed to join this gym!  I entered the gym and the fun began. I have been ther since the beginning of November and have gone 5 days a week. Mind you, it was closed for a week during Christmas. I get measured and weighed once a month.
     My first month was hard. There were times when I really didn't want to go. I came up with all kinds of excuses as to why I just had to stay at home. But the more I talked myself out of going..the more my other half of the brain was kicking my ass out the door.  I am at the point where now I feel terrible if I miss a workout. Anyway, I dreaded my first weigh in and measuring. I stepped on the scale and lost...2lbs. Oh good grief! (my inside voice said a lot worse..). BUT I had lost 4 inches in total. Under this roll, there is a six pack waiting to come out!  A friend of mine goes to another Curves and has lost 10lbs. But, as she said, she has been starving herself. It is so hard to not focus on the weight numbers. It was weighing and measuring time last week. Gulp, this was after the Christmas holidays and let me tell you, I did not hold back on eating baking.  I lost 1lb, but another 4 inches. Yes!!!  I was told not to focus on the numbers...cause she could read my mind yet again. She said my body is kind of in shock that I am not starving myself and from all the years of yo-yo dieting, it isn't sure what to do with me right now.  I was told, the weight will fall off soon.
     I am proud to say I have donated all my size 18 pants and have even recently bought a size 14 jeans. I still deal with the muffin top, but I now it is going down. Truth be told, I am a size 16, for now. My aim is maybe a size 12. I would be happy with that for sure. I won't even be a stick insect, but I can deal with that , no problem.
    I am into my 3rd month of goint to curves and they are offering a new diet program that says I could shed 20lbs in 3 months. Wow!  I will sign up for that, just not right now cause, let's face it, who wants to be on a diet while on a holiday! I am off for a trip with my husband and I will watch what I eat, but I won't diet.

It's Christmas Eve...oh boy oh boy!!

Deep down inside, I am a little kid at Christmas. I love the music and play the "all Christmas music" radio station from the beginning. At one time, my husband said "they play the same things over and over again." I think that was his hint for me to change the channel. I didn't. I for sure need to listen to it when decorating the tree and doing some baking. And now, it is Christmas tomorrow. The gifts are all wrapped, the champagne is bought and chilling! I even get tempted to head to a mall just to soak up all the hustle and bustle of the season...Tempted..not crazy!
  Right now, we are having major subzero temperatures. -25C..brrr. This is the one time of year when I wish we had a fireplace to cozy up to. But, we chucked that out when doing up the renos of the house. The smart people in Television land, made a channel that shows a fireplace. Complete with the odd scene of a hand coming in to stir up the logs.  They say the temps are going to remain this cold for a few day ahead. Ugh! Lots of Coffee and Baileys and/or hot chocolate and baileys. Seeing a theme here?
    I have kept the presents from under the tree because I have a certain, nosey lab that would love nothing more then to open each and everyone one.  I guess her argument would be she was inspecting them making sure everything was OK. This is driving the kids crazy. We need to put them under the tree. The tree looks bare! So, after I make the gingerbread cookies, I will put them under the tree and then stand back as the kids go through them. No matter how old you are, it is always exciting to see a package with your name on it. The temptation to just have a peek is overwhelming. Maybe the gifts aren't under the tree to keep ME from being nosey! haha.. As per tradition, we open one small gift tonight then do the rest tomorrow. I shall have some champagne and orange juice  and prepare to watch the Queen's message!

 I would like to wish you all A wonderful Christmas season. Or Happy Holidays or whatever you call it. Seems to be quite the discussion around here as to what is socially acceptable.
 Enjoy your family time!!

how nice

  Here I sit on my laptop beside the tree. That's nice, you think to yourself. Across from me are my three kids. 18, 16 and 15. Again...that's good.  What is good about that is they are sitting together on the couch watching a scooby-doo movie on my daughter's laptop!  Hard to believe only a few short years ago, I thought they wouldn't get along..I mean EVER!!  Since there are 3 of them, there was always two that got along and the 3rd sort of left out in!  Secretly (guess not a secret any longer) I thought maybe we should have had 4 kids. More of an even playing (or fighting) field then. But, who is to say that maybe 3 wouldn't gang up on the 4th. I remember when they were a lot younger sitting in the livingroom listening to them fight over a piece of Lego. I listened to this for awhile and finally I just had to ask "How can you possibly tell this tiny, grey piece of lego is yours?" "We can just tell and I know it is mine..!"  at which time the fight began again. When they became teenagers, well just looking at one another "a certain" way would set them off.  Holy crap they would yell and fight.  But, today, I see them getting along and dare I say, they are finally friends!  It is very nice to see and I thought I would share it!!

No topic..just rambling as I do from time to time...

I have my tree up rather early this year. It could be because last year we were in the thick of things with renovating our kitchen.  I had a double mattress behind my couch  and a large tv in front of the window. Oh wait, that sounds like I have a bed usually in my kitchen. That takes breakfast in bed to a whole new meaning.  While we were doing our kitchen, why not knock a few walls down and work on a bedroom as well. THAT is how all this furniture got into my livingroom.  Anyway, there was barely enough room for anyone to walk around. Now, for me this was horrible, cause I love decorating with my Christmas things.  I decided to make the most of it by hanging stockings on the large TV and putting a quilt up to cover the mattress. Worked great until my husband decided to move the TV to the bedroom we were making. Oh, but  where will my stocking hang?  They made it to the mattress. The Quilt was used to cover a table that didn't belong.  In other words, my livingroom looks like a tornado went through it. It was not the "homes and garden" type decorated room. I made the best of it. BUT this year, nothing is out of place. OK, I do have some stuff that doesn't belong here, but that is pure laziness on my part. With the giddiness I get this time of year, I decorated like a mad women!!  Tree is up, everything has a proper home and no mattress needs hiding! Yipee!!  Tomorrow my daughter comes home from University!  So looking forward to carrying on with traditions  like baking our favourite Danish Pastries.  I have done some baking and have tortured the boys by putting half of it in the freezer.  My mother used to do this and I always told her I wanted to be a freezer when I grew up so I could get all the baked goodies.
    I have one decoration outside. We do not put up lights or buy big blow-up Santas to put on our front lawn. We live in the prairies and there is always a wind blowing. I have a small flag that goes on a metal pole in the garden. It is small and I have been lucky it hasn't been taken off it's pole and blown across the prairies!      I am even ready to wrap gifts and put them under the tree. I think I might hold that off for a bit. I don't want the dog to get bored and start eating the paper, as she does!

Visions of........running around my mind

Here I sit on my couch, feet up looking out the window at the snow lightly falling.  I am also lucky enough to have a view of the mountains, OK not right this moment..cause, its snowing. BUT when I can see them, they are beautiful. I have various "winter" decoration put up around the house. I don't call them Christmas decorations, because those won't be put up until officially December. That's my rule. I have gone shopping for gifts, hidden somewhere (just in case one or all of the kids read this).  I am well into the spirit of things, complete with music playing in the background. What thoughts are running around in my mind now? Bet you can't guess!  No, it isn't thoughts of sugar plums or anything like that. Sigh, what is going around in my mind that I desperately want to do is.....Go to Zurich and attend the Robbie Williams concert!!  I am such a fan! One summer, while in Scotland, I found out he was doing a concert in Glasgow..3 days after we left! Argg. 3 days!!!  I wanted to change my flight. Could I write to him and ask if he would mind doing it 3 days earlier then scheduled? That wouldn't be too pushy.  So, I now see he is doing a concert in Europe. I figure since I know people in Switzerland, why not kill two birds with one stone. Go visit my friends, and take part in his concert. I have even gone ahead and "clicked" the attend button on his facebook page. Like pressing that will result in tickets to Switzerland and his concert.  I do torment myself sometimes with stuff like that.  My other argument is he will never do a North American concert. They just don't really know who he is here. I mean his new CD came out and right off the bat is cost $12.-! A great deal for me, but not so much for his ego??  So, Robbie, if you happen to read this, how would you like a pure, crazy (not jail kind of crazy lol), will sing along to every song Canadian fan at your concert??
  In the meantime, I shall continue to listen to his music while sitting on the couch watch the snow fall.  Life is good!!