Pro-craftinating!

Another weekend pouring with rain. Perfect time to cuddle under the covers and pick up some knitting. Or maybe I'll do some needle felting. As soon as I get off this dang computer, ya know? Some weekends, it seems to eat up all my crafting time!!

This morning I woke up at 6:45 by a headache.I got up, took some Extra Strength Advil, had a cup of tea and muddled around on the computer. Took the dog for a walk  - did I mention it is pouring rain? - and here I am.

Okay, time to get crafting! Just as soon as I check a few more things... LOL, that's always the way isn't it

Rainy Sunday

Today is one of those days. Stormy/Windy/Rainy. The kind of day you want to stay inside and watch a movie - which I did.

I got up this morning and the rain was coming down pretty hard so I didn't want to take Eco out just yet because is seems that if very rarely rains steadily all day here. So we watched The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway  and sure enough, by the time it was over, the rain had stopped so out we went. But I knew it wouldn't stop for long so I still put on my rain pants and jacket and hat. But it was 18 degrees and soon I was overheated. Eco was pretty hot in her polar fleece rain coat and so I decided it would be better to dry her off at home than to have her overheat in her coat. Plus Labradors don't give two barks about the weather!

And like the old Aesop's fable where the sun and the wind messed with the guy and his cloak, off and on went my rain jacket and I even contemplated taking off my rain pants. But I didn't. Let me just says I was more than happy to come home and strip off all that hot rain gear!!

And now I go from hiking boots and rain gear (not very feminine) to doing my nails in a gold glitter nail polish and putting on a sparkly bra and belt and full length flouncy skirt for dance rehearsal. Yup, not all girly-girl princess but not a tomboy either.

Hope your sunday is a good one too, 

D

Showgirl Embroidery/Molly Crabapple

What else do you do on a rainy long weekend? Well I do laundry and finish projects - after getting soaked to the skin in less than 5 minutes during today's dog walk.

Finished showgirl embroidery:

Embroidery stitching by me. Pattern by http://sublimestitching.com/. Artwork by Molly Crabapple. I encourage you to check out her page, her artwork is quite fascinating.

May TwoFour Weekend

This was our May long weekend -traditionally called "Victoria Day Weekend" although lately I kept hearing and seeing "May TwoFour" - even a newscaster labelled it as such. So I went looking and found this definition on the Urban Dictionary site:

Queen Victoria's birth day, May 24th, is a statutory holiday in Canada and the first long weekend since Easter. It is the traditional weekend during which one opens 'the camp' (cottage), and signifies the start of summer (and Blackfly season) in Canada. The reference to 'two-four' rather than 'twenty-fourth' is a Canadian inside joke refering to the obligatory case(s) of 24 bottles of beer, or 'two-fours' required to celebrate the opening of the camp and to steel one's courage against the blackflies and the mice that will have settled into the camp since it was closed in the fall.

Sadly for me this wasn't such a great weekend -I ended up losing almost my whole Saturday to a severe migraine that had bed ridden for several hours. Oh the pain was intense, and I just couldn't get comfortable.

Sunday was a shopping day and yesterday was a full laundry day. It felt more like a two day weekend after losing my Saturday but still I am grateful for the break. I did end up getting some gardening done and I have a fresh and clean linen closet  - I washed and folded all the towels, tea towels, face cloths, dishcloths and sheets too. As they used to say "any day off is a good day off".

Well, now it's back to work for me.

Time to relax.

The show went well - all things considered. I saw that because it was raining and there wasn't really anyone in the park and we made some mistakes  but hey, you know what? We did it. Chalk one up for experience. And we had fun.

Here's our little group:

Two ladies came to watch us and told us we should dance down the street in front of a cafe - so we did. Sadly the patrons seemed put off by it and turned their faces away from the window. It's not like we're a bunch of kids or we were half naked. Three of the people in the group are grandmothers for goodness sake (very young grandmothers, but grandmothers none the less).

Photos are being posted from around the world - it's fun to see Chile and Singapore and Australia all showing photos and videos of the same song and same t-shirts.

Now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming. Regular dance classes and preparation for a student show at the end of June. I'm feeling much better about my performance abilities and my dance skills so I'm hoping this one will be better than my other ones!

The weekend's over, time for work again. (Good thing it's a long weekend next week!)

Catch - Up

I really hate being away from my blog for so long, and at first it was just going to be a couple of days while I was visiting my mom, but then I was home for 1 day and had to go away for two more and then, well, next thing you know more time has passed that I intended. Do you like that answer better than saying "I've been busy?"

My visit with my mom didn't end so well for her. Sadly she started experiencing extreme leg pain and so I took her to the emergency last Saturday night. I stayed with her until around 5:30am when they said they would soon admit her to the hospital. I have to say her experience in emergency wasn't a pleasant one. Besides overly defensive nurses and doctors, excessive delays (they didn't check in on her or talk to her between 1am and 5am) and the horrid sounds of other patients puking and groaning etc. But there wasn't much we could do, she was in extreme pain and couldn't walk and I was afraid things had the potential to get much worse for her so we had to stay.

Once she was admitted things and moved to another ward, things were much better. The nursing staff was much nicer and she was getting checked on regularly by one doctor/specialist or another. Unfortunately for her it was her birthday - not fun to spend your birthday in the hospital - but she seemed in pretty good spirits anyway. Multiple tests have been done for multiple issues and she's still in the hospital one week later. I hope she'll be able to go home soon and resume her independent living. It's unfortunate that she lives so far away (it's an hour flight plus a three hour drive -so at least 4-5 hours of travel after all is done).

Summer's finally over for us, we're back to the rain, and today I think we made up for all the rain we didn't have this summer in one afternoon - can you say "monsoon"? I knew you could (Mr. Rogers reference).

Once again I will have to catch up on many of your blogs as well. I'm feeling a bit of a panic as Halloween is only 33 days away and Christmas is now less than 90. I need to hustle to make things and buy gifts and I'm feeling a wee bit nervous. Hope you're well, more to follow shortly.

Gorgeous Long Weekend Ahead

When I checked the weather at the beginning of this rainy week, the forecast indicated we'd be stuck with wetness for several days. We endured days of weird weather - bits of sun, light rain, heavy rain, thunder, sun, mugginess  - sometimes all within the same hour. But late Thursday night I found out that glorious weather has been forecast for this long weekend (Happy Canada Day) - sun with top temperatures between 25-30 celsius. That's a good temperature to be in, not like the 36+ degree weather in places like Phoenix or San Antonio and so I am over the moon to hear about this wonderful forecast.

I thought I'd be spending the weekend in the house, maybe cleaning up my office/work room - but now I plan to be outside - clean up the garden, do some painting and maybe just kick back and relax as it is a long weekend after all.

This morning's 5:30 dog walk was heavenly - the weather was perfect - 18 degrees, a warm wind so early in the day?  I didn't want to come home. In fact I almost didn't, instead of being out for 30 minutes, it ended up being 45. So very grateful for this lovely, lovely weather.

Now off to work -for a productive day with minimal interruptions since so many people take the Friday of a long weekend off as well - and then time to enjoy the weather. I don't even care if there are mosquitoes, I'll put up with them so I can enjoy the warmth and sunshine! Happy Weekend to you too!

Some finished projects

The weather's been a bit iffy these days and so in between some light gardening, I've been doing some knitting. I couldn't resist these owl wristers which are actually not as complicated as they might look.

I think I might just keep them for myself. 

*****

And then I made these little baby pants: 

They are cuter than I thought they would be. Little pants! I might have to make some more of them. I think some striped ones will be really cute. Maybe I'll make some to match some booties or hats that I already have. I like the idea of a set so currently I'm working on a matching hat - I think that will look adorable.

I should be in the garden weeding but it's kinda cool and gray out there, so it's easier to stay in side. I'm home alone today and that also makes it easier to sit in bed with a hot cup of coffee and my laptop and just play on the computer. Laundry and housekeeping was done yesterday so I don't feel too guilty. In a little while I'll have to play with Eco, and then I'll probably bake some cookies. That's not a bad way to spend a Sunday is it?

 I hope you're having a good Sunday too.

"June is bustin' out all over...

 ...June better get a new dress."

 - that's a little joke my dad used to have. He'd sing the beginning line of the song and then end with the second line. For years I didn't even know it was a real song:

June 1st today. Wowza! How did that happen? It seemed like it was the beginning of spring just a short time ago. I feel like I've been in a fog the last week or so. In fact the other day I went from 7am to 9:30 and I don't know how.

Since I work from home, usually around 7:30 I make Jp a cup of coffee and bring it to him before he starts his work day. But the other day I suddenly realized he was in the kitchen at 9:30 making his own coffee. I didn't hear him get up, or shower or anything. I mean I kinda did, but I kinda didn't. That's a wee bit scary don't you think?

Anyway, work 'year end' is over. It's Saturday and it's the first of June. I'm ready to get started on getting things done. First up was some marketing and business for my little shop which I've basically neglected the past 2 months - and it shows. Sheesh. It's true you need 50% in making things and 50% marketing.

And I'm kinda glad that it's a cloudy day with some 'spitting' rain  so I can get some desk work/office work done. Does anyone else use that term  - spitting rain - besides us Vancouverites? Just like they say the Inuit have 50 words for snow, I'd say we could probably come up with just as  many to describe our rain - like "Scottish Mist" or "movie rain", that kind of thing.

How I spent my long weekend

This past weekend was a long weekend for us Canadians  - it's called Victoria Day. Jp and I don't tend to go away on long weekends because of the crazy traffic  and other problems (last night's news said 1700 car accidents usually happen each year on this weekend in this province). Instead we feel it's better to stay home and let everyone else leave the neighbourhood. We didn't have great weather on Saturday or Sunday so I basically stayed in. Saturday was pretty much my normal routine of housework and laundry. Sunday was filled with the making of Marie and some phone calls. But yesterday turned out to be not so bad - weather-wise.

First up was our dog walk - this time we went in another direction to the Sports Park. I don't tend to like this area because there are more bear sightings there than in my neighbourhood but I took along the bear spray and the bear bells and hoped we wouldn't encounter anything and we didn't. We did discover a new neighbourhood being built with 22 'executive' homes being built. They've put a Japanese theme to the street and even named properties with Japanese characters and words like "wealth" and "happiness" and "eternity". Each lot had a little Japanese style garden out front which I'm sure would be torn down the moment they start building the house. The one house that was there looked to be about 3,000 square feet on the ground floor with a 3 car garage and a very long and sweeping driveway. With the cost of living in the Vancouver area and all sorts of flat markets, I wonder who would be buying these home - I'm always curious what paths people take to their wealth.

After the walk I spent the rest of the day in the garden, mainly weeding although I did cut the lawn. I must say all my efforts to reseed the grass following the acquisition of one Labrador  is starting to pay off. I've just got a couple of spots left to work on and then we'll have a full lawn again. And since she's taken to jumping to catch a frisbee she's much gentler on the lawn too. By evening it started to rain and now here we are  - back to work and back to the rain. Garden pictures will have to follow in a day or two.

Garden of Lies

This is a long weekend in Canada, and a quick check of the major cities shows that almost all of us will have 2 dry days and 1 rainy one. That's not so bad - it's May and we are above the 49th parallel after all.

For me, this weekend is usually about some big gardening - a long self written "honey do" list. Or sometimes I have no plans at all, I just put on my overalls and garden gloves and get out there - moving from place to place starting and finishing projects in no particular order. It all needs to get done.

From a distance or to the untrained eye, my flower beds look full and possibly even cheerful with little yellow flowers in bloom, but it's a trick. You see in some of the gardens the little yellow flowers are intentionally placed ranunculus or maybe even little poppies (see previous posts), but in other spots they are most likely buttercup, and possibly even a dandelion or two. Oh the horror. I'm cheating in my garden. And I fooled you. How dare I?

And there are other indications that a long weekend is approaching  - more and more trailers and fifth wheels start showing up in the neighbourhood as people retrieve them from winter storage, and get them packed ready for a quick get away. These RVs don't make me envious or even jealous. They make me happy. You see, the more neighbours that leave town for the long weekend, the quieter it is around here for me - and that can be a vacation in itself. And I am perfectly fine with that!

Nothing to show for it

How is it that the work days seem so long and the weekends are so short? I guess that's the plight of many workers, isn't it?

This weekend I made some yummy turkey soup stock from our Easter turkey bones and then turned it into soup with onions, carrots, peas and noodles. It was very good - although JP likes to spice it up.

I am working with a self-patterning yarn which was love at first sight. I had other plans for it but the pattern on the label was for some baby legwarmers and so I decided I'd make them. The first one turned out great - but the love affair ended when I tried to make a matching set. Even though I'm an even knitter and tried to start the yarn in the same place of the pattern the second leg warmer came out quite differently. I then spent much of Saturday starting the piece trying to get a matching pair - 5 attempts and still nothing matched. I decided the yarn is best for a single piece and so now I'm working on a hat. In the mean time I have nothing to show for all that work - it's all been frogged. (Frogged is the knitting term for unraveling your piece because you pull on the yarn and "rip it, rip it")

I really prefer to having something to show for my time and wish I had something to share - but I don't. Well not yet. I do have some photos but I need to do them properly so I guess you'll just have to come back later and see what I can share with you then!

Returning home

Today I will be flying home from  a week long visit with family in Alberta. It's been an animal filled week with several dogs, two skunks and lots of deer. Although it's been colder than what I am used to and even snowed a couple of times, it's been sunnier and brighter than a week of Vancouver rain and so I am grateful for that.

I hope my flights aren't delayed as I would like to be home tonight. Jp didn't walk Eco at all this week but tells me they played frisbee with her, so that would give her some exercise and outdoor time.

My mom provide a nice place to stay and I appreciate the many yummy meals planned just for me. It wasn't without drama but I'm not going to dwell on the events and just look forward to one last morning and afternoon before I return to my little house and family. Hope you had a good week, I hope to catch up on your blogs this week as well.

Weekend Warrior - part 2

I did it. I painted the bathroom and caulked the tub. You know, painting is the fast part - it's the preparation that takes the longest. Removing everything from the room, removing everything from the walls, washing the walls and ceiling, filling holes, sanding, washing, taping, and cover with drop cloths - that all took about 2 hours before I could start painting. But the first coat is on, and in a little while I'll put on the second coat. I'm hoping it doesn't need a third coat.

I can't believe I finally got started. Now I have to go through all those old shampoo bottles, and other toiletries and clean things up so I don't put all my bathroom crap back in. I'm just glad I'm on the way to nice tidy white room!

Thanks for your support!

Weekend Warrior - home decoration

Okay my friends - here goes - today I am re-painting my bathroom - I'm taking down the cabinet and the wall mounted mirror and painting the towel racks and walls and the ceiling. I'm also taking off the old caulking on the tub and upgrading it as well. It's a small space. I should be able to get it all done in one day.

I'm a little scared to get started, but I'm trying to just take one step at a time. I've painted it before in an evening but that was so long ago and I move slower now  - LOL!

Wish me luck!!!

Happy for the weekend

Yay! 

It's friday! 

It's payday! 

And the new issue of Mollie Makes came out! 

I can't wait to get everything done* so I can sit down and pore over all the lovely goodies and let inspiration take over!!! What are you doing this weekend? 

PS - Gutter company # 2 was supposed to come by today for a quotation - but they  didn't show up, supposedly it's been rescheduled for Monday. I would be nice if I could just do this work myself....

*a flawed wish  because it's impossible to get done everything, but you know what I mean....

Say "cheese"

For all you foodies out there, you've heard time and again about how important good ingredients are so let me tell you about a very special place called the Golden Ears CheeseWorks in Maple Ridge  - oh my goodness!!!

So very delicious. Beautiful and scrumptious cultured butter, smooth flavour Quark, mild Gouda. We picked up a baguette (if we had time, I would have made the bread) and had butter and cheese and bread for dinner. Yum-my!!!

Besides the beautiful store and property and the terrific products on their shelves is the staff - family members helping to run the business. Sadly it's been a long time since I've met a passionate business person but boy does it make a difference. It's enjoyable (and lucrative for them) to be in the presence of people passionate about what they do and it shows in the quality of their products.

Another delicious destination to add to our regular shopping circuit!

Rainy rainy weekend

My goodness it rained so hard yesterday I thought I should start building an ARK!!! Almost all of the snow is gone from the ground in my area and it's warmed up a bit which is nice. We had The Kid here for the last couple of days as he was off school for a semester break - the new one starts today. School years always go by so fast. Heck, everything goes by so fast! I can't believe that on Wednesday I'll have been employed at this company for 12 years! 12 YEARS!!!!!  Every year I'm sure I say the same thing (with a different number of course! LOL)

This weekend also went by so fast, I wish I could have 3-day weekends. On Saturday I made a loaf of French Bread which started out in my mini machine but then I took the loaf out and put it in a baguette pan. Everything was good except that I should have shaped it better and probably should have cooked it about 5 minutes more. But I was pretty happy with it since I had winged it and had never baked bread outside of the machine before. The Kid has never had homemade bread - or bread that was no more than 15 minutes old - he was pretty impressed with how good it tasted.

The "submarine"

On Saturday I had a dull headache and pain in my shoulder muscles but I felt I had been taking way too many Advil and Tylenol lately and so I decided to go without drugs and just take it easy on myself (listen to my body and all that) - I don't recommend this for others or for all headaches, but for this situation it seemed to work. My headache did go away by late afternoon and I think because I could feel my shoulder pain, I was more gentle on my upper back and arms and I feel better today.

Other than that I did the domestic-y stuff like laundry and vacuuming, cooking and tidying etc. I did do some knitting and some embroidery but  haven't finished anything yet - see why I'd like another day off?

How was your weekend?  

Construction Zone

At the end of our hallway was several small shelves that held a collection of JP's; he decided he'd take a break from seeing the collection daily, plus we wanted to put of full-length mirror in it's place. So I wrapped and boxed everything up and put it all in storage, while in the attic I took several old boxes out and sorted them out for donation or recycling or garbage. Then I took the full length mirror that we had and put it against the wall so he could help me hang it. That's when he informed me that we were to get a different mirror for the end of the hall and the 5' tall mirror we had was staying where it was.

So I put that mirror back but  now it looks  like a construction area at the end of the hall as I will have to remove  all the anchors from the shelves and repaint the wall (which I was hoping would be all behind the mirror and I could skip it for now) If I had known we didn't have something to replace the blank area, I wouldn't have taken everything down... (sigh) oh well I guess it had to be done eventually.

That was my Saturday (along with doing laundry). Today I'll be at my desk tidying up all the bills and papers from when I was away plus some computer work. And, hopefully some crafting time. No wait - I will definitely take some time for some crafting today! I must not always postpone it since I enjoy it so much - don't you think?


What are you doing today? 

Today is "Are You Somebody Day"

According to the Hallmark website "May 20th - Are You Somebody Day Honors everybody for who they are -- whether they're "somebody" or not. " I can't find any more details about this special day, so I suspect the card companies had something to do with it's creation, however, it's still a good day to give ourselves a hug and remind ourselves how special we are and how much we are loved by family and friends. In Canada this is a long weekend, with Monday being the Victoria Day holiday so I am pretty sure that many of us will be kicking it back because for many of us, this is our first long weekend without specific plans (like Easter) and in many areas it's sunny and warm and it's the perfect time to kick back and relax with family, friends or both. 


And, for many of us we'll be busy working hard doing renovations and/or sweating in the garden or yard. Whatever you choose to do this long weekend, I hope you have a safe and happy one! Cheers!