Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Something for Jeina......

Picked up the May issue of Pretty Patches on the weekend, so decided to make something for Jeina.

 It is my interpretation of the elephant pattern.
 I am sorry about the quality of the photos there is something wrong with the camera on my phone, and it probably has something to do with the person using it!!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Say hello to Jeina......

Jeina (pronounced Janea) was born May 30th at 11:24 am.  Weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long.  So Our Little Princess and Our Little Man now have a younger sister.

Mother and Baby doing well.  Can't wait to meet her.

Strange song from an advert.......

This is the song that played during the Hyundai Tuscon advertisement:

 Prefer this advert's song, very catchy:

Do you have a favourite song from a commercial?

Sunday, May 29, 2016

27 years today........

We came to Canada to live.

No regret's.  We feel we have done well for ourselves and our children.  The move was as much for them as for us.  Every parent wants more for their children then they have and we have achieved that.  We have two great children that are productive members of society.

There are things we do miss about Britain.  Spring is one of them........there is no Spring to speak of in Canada, despite them saying otherwise.  Family of course, but it is much easier to communicate and travel nowadays, than it was 27 years ago.  Dh misses going to the football matches and certain foods of course.

I am sure we would have done okay in Britain if we had stayed, but as I said before no regrets.  Here's to many more happy years living in Canada.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Babies, weather, grass and drywall...........

Babies:

No babies yet.  One should have been here yesterday but is hanging in there.  The other will be here in less than two weeks.  If first baby is reluctant to pop out itself, then it will be helped out the same day as number two baby.............

Weather:

Stinking hot and humid............no I am not happy!

Grass:

Got the hole filled up and new grass laid last week or the week before.  Anyhow, I was helping dh at the time so I couldn't "supervise" the "boys" when they were laying the new turf.  Suffice to say it looks like a dogs dinner.  So we dh sprinkled  soil and grass seed over where they had missed.  Along comes a big water truck with what looks like a fireman's hose on it that's operated from inside the truck and dumps hundreds of gallons of water on the grass in a matter of seconds.  I last saw the grass seed and soil sailing away down the street............

Oh by the way, the gardeners are here once a week.  I have no comment about how they are getting on, other than my neighbours weeds look very healthy!  We are taking care of our own for the most part, saves me getting too stressed out at the dimwits!

Drywall:

Well that is coming along.  It will be all done by Tuesday and for what little I have seen looks okay, I refuse to go down there and have a nervous breakdown at the mess.  I think their aim in life is to make the biggest mess possible for me to tidy up..........I am neurotic when it comes to drywall dust and really, really hate it, so in a state about it all...........

Did pick up a big pail of primer/undercoat so will make a start on that next weekend.  The guys did say that I could paint the day after they leave?  It will take me the rest of the week to tidy up the mess down there and try and get rid of the dust in the rest of the house.

Monday, May 23, 2016

A first for me that's for sure..........

Came out of WalMart yesterday and there was a youngish guy sitting on the ground in the parking lot with handcuffs on..........not something I have ever seen before.

Meanwhile, two other guys casually dressed were taking everything out of his car, including a little baggie..........

I can only assume the two guys taking the things out of his car were police officers and in the baggie was something illegal............dh "escorted" me away before I could get a better look............spoil sport!!

Never seen anything like that before.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Laundry and more laundry.........

that's my job for today.

Going to strip the bed right down to the mattress and wash everything in a hot wash.  Shame I can't hang it all out as the weather is going to be good.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

"The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back,"

Back when we lived in the farmhouse I took allergy pills on a regular basis as it was cutting the grass and dust from the renovations that bothered me.  When we first moved in here and it was still a construction zone around us and there was a lot of dust, I had to take allergy pills.  However last year I found I could get away without taking them.

Today the drywall was installed in the basement today.  And there is dust from one end of the house to the other.  As the day progressed the worse I felt and my poor nose feels terrible.  So I gave in and took an allergy pill and I guess I will carry on taking them until I have got the basement painted, which won't be until the beginning of June, as despite having the drywall installed, the guy isn't coming to do the taping and mudding until the end of the month {{{SIGH}}}

I look like the female version of this:

Do you get/have allergies?

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Love getting boxes of goodies from Book Outlet.....

Picked up another box of goodies today and for me I got these:
I'll post each book and a link to Amazon for you.  I did miss one book as I put it aside and forgot to photograph it.

It is "Never Too Late; Take Control of Your Retirement and Your Future," by Gail Vaz-Oxlade,  she is a really good Canadian author who specializes in money issues.

The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt

"Vegan on the Cheap," by Robin Robertson, not going vegan but wanted more meat free ideas

"The Gnome Project," by Jessica Peill-Meininghaus, saw this a while back in the States and decided I would like to own it at some point.

"The Final Frontiersman," by James Campbell

"Canning and Preserving," by Kim Pezza

"Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl," by Susan McCorkindale

"High Tea," by Sandra Harper, the only fiction book I ordered for me this time.

"The Hatfields and The McCoys," by Bruce Wexler, so the tv mini-series a while back and loved it.  Already looked through at the photos in the book, looks really good.

For the kids I got the following:


Book Outlet is an online and physical store for Canadians and Americans.  Great service and great prices.  I have ordered from them a few times.  This is not a sponsored post.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A very important word..........

Our Little Munchkin has learned this word and uses it very, very regularly.......WHY???

Here she is at school busy as always.  Her mum's hair was up in a bun, and she wanted hers up in a bun..........

We are on baby watch now, as one is due in 10 days and the other on June 9th (c-section).

Monday, May 16, 2016

Pretty Excited..........don't expect anyone else to be though!

Just placed my first order with Marks and Spencer on their new Canadian Site, here is a link to the site.  It is in Canadian dollars and duties and customs are all included.  They even offer free shipping for orders over $50.  I even got a 20% off coupon for signing up.  

Picked up these for a certain someone for her birthday in November.  She has a pair of gold ones, that are getting a tad tight!!  They too were bought at Marks.
Now for those of you in the know re: Marks and Spencer, their underwear is top quality, so ordered some for dh and I, and some new tea towels.  I paid $76 for a pair of wellies, five pairs of undies for me, three pairs for dh and three tea towels.  I thought that was pretty good value for money.  

I should receive them all next week............I will let you know what I think then.



Sunday, May 15, 2016

Bit of everything weather wise..........

Snow, sleet, rain, a tiny bit of sun, we had it all today.  Bitter cold, thankfully dh was working otherwise I would have heard a bit of whining about how cold it was and would have had to turn the heating on.  I decided to have a cooking session.

In the slow cooker were some chicken thighs and barbecue sauce to make pulled chicken rolls.  

Homemade sausage rolls, added the green tops from salad/spring onions and apple to the sausage meat for added flavour.

Had a couple of boiled eggs in the fridge, so covered them in sausage meat and breadcrumbs for Scotch Eggs.  

You can't see them but made salmon fishcakes as well.  Had some crusts from a loaf of bread so used them for the breadcrumbs.

I made enough potatoes to have a meal of leftover mashed potatoes.  I added some garlic powder and feta cheese and will have that as a side with one of our meals this week.

The muffin's look a little "dark" but it's just the way they photographed.  I made a batch of banana pineapple bread, but made them into muffins.  The recipe for them is here.

So double duty today, warmed the house without putting the heating on and meals planned for the next few days.


Saturday, May 14, 2016

Lack of a veggie garden...........

Don't have room for a veggie garden at this house.  Did do a couple of pots last year with very little success.  Picked up a copy of "Mother Earth News, Guide to Living on Less and Loving It, today and there was an article on how to have a "veggie garden" using bags of regular garden soil.

That peaked my interest, and I found this article about it on the Mother Earth News website.  Has anyone done this; and what sort of results did you have?  We have had a rabbit situation so was hoping to do a couple of bags on the deck, but do not want to ruin the deck, any ideas of how to protect the deck?  Dh made a small table a few years back, so may use that to put one bag on.  Should see if he has any other wood to make me another one?



I was thinking of growing a couple of tomato plants and maybe a sweet pepper plant.  I am going to buy some herbs and plant them in the front garden where I have room.  There are some neat ways to grow herbs here.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Earworm............

An earworm, sometimes known as a brainworm,[1] is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. As per Wikipedia

At the moment this song is going through my head like a crazy person:



Last week this song I could't get rid of this song from my head:





Then I heard this song on the radio and thought what a great song, didn't click what it was about then I googled the video and was a little shaken by it.



What song gets into  your head and you can't get rid of it?

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Been a bit sidetracked for a couple of days,

not sure doing what but enough to have "forgotten" to do blog post's.

Anyway here are a couple of things I have been thinking about/doing.

Actually got a little bit of gardening done, but for the past three days we have had frost on the rooftops in a morning, so need to wait a little longer before putting out any tender plants/annuals.

Been thinking about those poor folk in Fort McMurray, Alberta.  I can't begin to imagine what they have gone through and are going through.



Click here to read a recent article on the situation.

I am making progress on my Necessary Clutch that I mentioned here.  This one is going to be far from perfect, as I am figuring out things as I go along.  Suffice to say I know what I am NOT going to do the next time I make one.

Mother's Day has been and gone for another year.  Got to see the kids so that is good.

"R" is down to less than three weeks now and dd is around a month.  Glad when they have both had the babies, as both are looking weary now.

Got the drywall guy sorted out and he should be here before the end of the month.  Had the hydro inspector in to inspect dh's electrical work as we took out a permit because we had visions of one of our neighbours reporting us........yes I am being serious.

Funny thing the inspector was coming on a Thursday and the inspector was a woman.  A guy knocked on the door on a Wednesday and said he was the inspector and he knew he was a day early.  First thing out of my mouth is "you're supposed to be a woman?"

The lady inspector was on maternity leave and he was just filling in.  Luckily dh picked up his phone so he could tell the inspector what's what, as I am clueless.  We got the all important sticker so that's good.

Picked up some of the drywall/plaster board, to save us some money, and did indeed save $69 + 13% tax and doing that.  The other things we need we will have to get delivered ($50 charge) as dh's truck is not big enough.  Did you know the 8 ' x 4 ' sheets of Lite drywall are still flipping heavy???  Dh has a fancy handle thing he can use to lift them one at a time down the basement.  Plus we have the boys coming over on the long weekend, to move the bigger sheets down the basement for us.

We are buying the supplies and the guy is providing the labour.

Well that's it for today, need to get on.  Will be back tomorrow, have a good one!

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Friday, May 6, 2016

So here we go a long term project.........

I made a start on The Beekeeper's Quilt, on Thursday at our Sit and Knit session.  Both Angie and I are going to make one each and I am pleased to say she walked me through the pattern.  I would not have been able to decipher the pattern on my own, so was grateful for her help.  Although I can knit I only really do pretty basic stuff.

I am using the 3.5 mm dpn's (double pointed needles) as suggested in the pattern, along with Paton's Canadiana Yarn.  Angie is using 5 mm dpn's and a similar thickness yarn; slightly thicker than mine.

This is what our first hexie turned out like.  I stuffed mine and it's around 3 inches high, and Angie did not stuff hers.
They come together quite quickly once you get the hang of it.
I also learned some new skills in knitting, so all in all a good thing.  I figure I may need around 400 - 600 of these hexie's so as I said in the title, this is a long term project!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Stinking cute or what?

I really enjoy a magazine called Pretty Patches and in the March edition there was a pattern for Archie The Alien.

I decided to make one for our new granddaughter who is due in June, in some of the fabric scraps from her room.  I will share with you in another post everything from the nursery.
 She is so stinking cute isn't she?

Now we don't know the sex of the other baby due later this month, but in case it's a boy (mother thinks it will be, I don't) I made another Alien from the scraps of fabric from one of the two quilts I made for that grandchild.
Now if the baby is a girl, I will give this one to Our Little Man, as it is very boyish.
Don't they make a cute couple......

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

I'm sorry............

I washed the car and even cleaned it out inside........so I am guessing there will be snow now..........to be honest I was quite surprised the car itself didn't keel over in surprise?
Do you like to wash your car?  I don't!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Let me introduce Aira..........

Aira (pronounced Ira) was born on March 30th in New Zealand.  You can't really see much of her there, but she is snuggled under the quilt I made her, wearing the hat I knit her.
The fabric I used for all her things is Fox Playground for Free Spirit.  It's an older fabric and is harder to find now.  Below is a burp pad, change purse and a pixie basket.
 I also made her a wet bag.

So imagine my surprise when there was a knock on the door on Monday and the mail lady was delivering me a box.  Imagine my delight when I opened it and found all these goodies inside!!

I LOVE, LOVE chocolate, so am delighted with all these goodies.  I may or may not share some of them...LOL  However if I am not about for the rest of the week, you know I ate them all in one shot and now have a horrible migraine!!

Monday, May 2, 2016

Now for "R's" things I have made for her.......

"R" finishes work on Wednesday, as she had to use up some vacation time.  Her due date isn't until the end of the month, however she went early with the other two, so who knows.  I have made her a selection of things, just because.

I made her a "wet bag," for her diaper bag.  The inside material is waterproof, so it's ideal to put in wet or dirty baby items.

Ran up a quick burp pad, as we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, it's made in pretty neutral flannel.
I then made her this little clutch, it's big enough to put her cell phone, keys and some money in.  I love the material it's aptly named Bollywood.  I have had it ages and had "R" in mind when I saw it.
I don't remember what the inside fabric is and this "pattern" is one I made up.
I then did some cross stitch.  The bunny and birdie are for dd's new baby, but the elephant was sewn for "R" as she loves elephants.  The patterns are from Red Gate Stitchery, well worth checking out their things.
I have been doing cross stitch the longest, over 30 + years now.  Followed by quilting/sewing then knitting.  I think quilting/sewing is my favourite, followed by cross stitch, then knitting.

What is your favourite craft?

Sunday, May 1, 2016

What I want to make next........

Someone asked me if I was still knitting?  I am in between sewing.  I made this dishcloth this week using this pattern  Love how it turned out.
I am going to start on knitting a Beekeeper's Quilt next week.  It's going to be a project that is done over a long while.  Here is an image of one that's being put together:
and another image:
I purchased the pattern from Tiny Owl Knits and I think it will be a fun project and very portable, something to take with you where ever you go.  Has anyone ever made one of these?  Myself and Angie from The Knitting Basket are going to be doing one each and maybe some other women?  I am in no rush to finish it, and will be doing it on a Thursday when I go to the Knit and Sit.

Then I am jumping on the Necessary Clutch Wallet bandwagon.  I purchased the pattern on the weekend and the hardware.  Not sure which fabric I will be using yet, but again looking forward to making this.  

You can buy both patterns online, let me know if you have made either of these projects?

Hotel Stay

First of all thank you for all your birthday wishes.  Each and every one of them was greatly appreciated.  The kids bought me/us an overnigh...