Christmas has 'sploded at My House

Its Santa land and then some at the homestead. For whatever reason I am in a total Christmasy mood so I pulled out all the stops and hauled out 99% of the the Christmas decorations. I have not put up my main tree for a couple of years. Its lovely to see it up again. Lets have a little tour shall we. Lets start outside at the curb. We really need just a touch more snow to make it perfect.

Its hard to see in the picture but there is a string of icicle lights across the top of the veranda. The oversized Christmas balls are hung and the garland is draped. One of the bows was lost in the wind but I found it and since this picture was taken I have fixed and replaced it. So lets head to the front door.

This happy little fellow is waiting to welcome you in when you arrive at the door. Lets open it up and step inside.

This is the entryway, it smells delicately of cinnamon thanks to the pine cones in the big basket. That Santa parade on the side of the stairs goes all the way to the second floor. (see)

 The Santa on the chair was given to me by a cousin, I have had him so long I do not remember not having him. His body has been replaced because the old fabric rotted. I could not part with him.

In the entry way you find the first of the Christmas trees. Every year I inflict a homemade ornament on my family. I have been doing this for 12 years and this tree has all of those ornaments on it. Its the Family Tree.

Now lets step into the  living room where the main tree is currently on display. Its a tall skinny tree and I did not put the garland on it this year. I got too tired and I think it looks just fine without it. My garland looks like popcorn, I bought it at Eatons and chances are it will get put on the tree before the season is over.

The new entertainment center got in on the Christmas nonsense.

These guys are out, they are worse for wear but they are out. They keep loosing appendages and they are starting to look scruffy. I wonder what they get up to over the summer in their box. They go in in one piece and come out missing ears and feet, etc.  I need a wooden set one of these years or the Willow Tree set. (I have not made up my mind yet.) I forgot to take a picture of the couch with its Christmas cushions and afghans.So excuse me while I do

I am back and as you can see the snoopervisor is on duty making sure I am doing things right.

Ok moving on to the dining room 

Tree number 3, the infamous Pig Tree complete with piggy carolers ready to sing for their supper. 

My version of a Christmas village, I would love to have more but I don't have the room,so this is it

This is a very shiny example of my theory that if one is good, two is better and eleventy million is freakin' fantastic. 

This is my hand carved Santa collection. (The snowman is only there for balance.) I am not going to tell you which one I carved myself but I will bet you can guess.

At last the kitchen and the last of the trees. This one is the Gingerbread tree. The wreath hanging in the window has been put up in my house every year since my oldest niece gave it to me. She was five or six and she made it with garbage bags and a coat hanger. She is all grown now and her youngest boy is probably the age she was when she crafted it. 

These little snow folk candle sticks were a thrift store find  a couple of years ago. I love their happy little faces. So that's it. That is what it looks like for Christmas at my house. There is more but I missed taking pictures, so it will have to remain a mystery.

Tomorrow is baking, gift wrapping and cleaning. I am finally finished my shopping and the Christmas projects are all completed. Once tomorrow is over I should be able to sit back a seriously enjoy the season.

I love all this stuff. I really do, even when I feel overwhelmed and crazy, I love it. 

Good Night!!

Linda

Saturday Stuff and one big job done

My Saturday did not turn out at all like I had planned it to and I was thrilled. The plan was to get groceries, finish the Christmas shopping and then spend the rest of the day at home working on the last of the Christmas projects. Instead the Banker and I decided to spend the afternoon shopping together. We had this brilliant idea while we were coffeeing with the No Cook Friday Group. I decided I could get groceries, go to the bank, clean the kitchen before she got her to pick me up. Change of plans again, I slept in and did not manage to get the groceries. I did get to the bank, that was most important. The kitchen is still a mess but there is always tomorrow!! (Big fan of Scarlette O'Hara, me)

I managed to fly in the back door just as the Banker arrived at the front door to get me. We started out the afternoon but going to a local tea room for a scrumptious lunch and found some bargains in the attached gift shop. Then we shopped the little specialty stores on the the main drag. I drooled over the hand carved wooden nativity figures that I am one day gonna be able to get for myself, dang-it!! My set is getting a little worse for the wear, some of the participants are starting to miss certain appendages.

We managed to put in the afternoon. I got some gifts, I got a new pig ornament for the Piggy Christmas tree. It was all good. We ended with coffee at her house then I came home and promptly went to get those groceries that I missed this morning.

I splurged and bought myself some sushi for supper but I fear the label on the container lied. I read it carefully before I bought it and it did not mention fiery, hot, throat burning pain.  I bought crispy shrimp. It was neither crispy nor shrimpy and it was hot as hell!! I don't like spicy stuff, I am a baby about it but I ate the dang thing anyway because sushi is not cheap and I was not gonna pitch it out. I didn't care if my mouth burned from supper to tomorrow morning I was not going to waste it, I was going to eat it, starving children all over the world would suffer if I wasted it SO I ate it and I was not happy and really how silly is that???? I'm sure the starving children are sleeping better for it. I am an idiot sometimes but that is a blog post for another day.

Since I was already well on my way to turning into Little Miss Crankypants, I decided to tackle a big job that has been staring me in the face for a while now. I could not keep putting it off, It had to be done, it could not continue to be ignored, not if I am going to get the Christmas decorations up. The entertainment centers needed to be swapped. Crap. At least I moved the old sewing table awhile ago but the corner until was still parked in between the dining and living rooms. This had to change. I pulled up my boot straps and waded in.

I emptied, I packed, I moved, I huffed and I puffed. I got to the point where it was looking like this. Then it happens.

Right about at this point in any venture is where I decide that changing things is highly overrated and what was I thinking and why did I start this and it would not look so bad just being left this way. I could embrace the hoarder life style, bow to the inevitable and just give in. Time has taught me that when I start to think like that I need to take a break and try to talk myself down off the ledge.

It may not look like I have done much but I had. I started to chant, I will get it moved, it will get done, I can move all those wires and machines and still have tv when the dust settles. I am woman hear me roar, blah,blah, blah.

Fast foreward and see all done, all moved and there is cable!! It all works and its all operational. I AM WOMAN!! Ignore the blue and white cupboard, that is going other places eventually. I need it right now for the storage but in the big long term plan of things its gone!!

I cannot tell you the joy I feel seeing the DVR, the DVD and the VCR all tucked away in their own little spaces. No longer throwing the symmetry of the unit off balance and causing me headaches. I need balance and symmetry, it soothes me.

I have the old unit in the dining room now, (sigh) but it will be dismantled and disposed of tomorrow. I thought of donating it but no one wants those units anymore and the second hand stores are full of them. Mine is for the garbage. Everyone I have offered it to has one of their own to get rid of. I will demolish and dispose of it on the morrow. It's a shame but I have had it for a long, long time and it owes no one anything.

The blue and white cupboard will be moved upstairs and where it is sitting now will be another storage unit.................. in time. I have to have it made unless I can find something that will work. It will be a place to store DVD's, photo albums, crap and some shelves for display. Oh yes and in time the tv will change to a flat screen. I have plans!! I have lists!!! It will come to fruition. In the meantime I will have fun shuffling things around until I am pleased with how it all looks. I have already taken the two little doors off the bottom. I like it better this way.

Tomorrow I will bring the trees up from the basement. Then I can spend next week decorating the house. I am really in the mood to do it this year. I also plan to purge out some of the decorations that have seen better days, or that I no longer wish to keep. I did not put up the big tree last year so I need to get it up this year.

Its has been such a good day, in spite of the sushi fiasco. I hope your Saturday was equally as good and that your supper did not turn on you like mine did.

Toodles,

Linda

Adjusting Those Priorities Yet Again and Baby Quilt Pictures.

I like to get myself a Christmas present each year. Something special, something extra, something that I want but takes a little effort to afford. NOW please do not get me wronge, I do not lack for anything, I live comfortably and rather well. I've a roof over my head, a decent job and I have a car. I have cable TV and I do not do without. I am far from hard done by. That being said I had my eye on a smooth top stove. I want a grey topped one and apparently they are going out of that type, or at least that is what the dude at Home Depot told me. They have a floor model on sale right now, grey flat top, self cleaning, four legs, oven that is actually the right temperature and a big front burner that does not work on its own whims and wishes. I had almost got my head wrapped around the fact that I could afford it at that price. I had been saving and saving and making and selling. Lookin' promising until.....................

I decided to get me some car repairs instead. Lets go back the the week I was celebrating Craftastic Palooza. I went to go shopping one bitter cold day, the car had no heating, I came home frozen and decided to call my mechanic. I took said car to the garage today and the heating issue was not a clear cut and dried problem. So they tweeked this and fiddled that and then sent me home with it to monitor the heat for a week. The car goes back next Wednesday, by that time, they will have the oxygen sensor that is apparently not functioning and they will have time to fix a leak in the heating system. Simple problems, hmmmm ..yeah....no, not in my world. The sensor is no longer on warranty so I get to pay for this one, my car had 4 of the little critters. I have two more to look foreward to breaking down. I also happen to own the sort of car that has a motor that thinks its an upside down Chinese puzzle box. Wonderful car, I love it to bits but its a bitch to fix. Apparently it requires a massive amounts of dismantling to get at what needs to be fixed. Sort of like my house where you have to move 9 zillion things to get at what you need same can be said for my car motor. To support this statement, I will provide an example. The first time I tried to find the battery, to help boost a neighbour's car, neither of us could find the battery. Its conveniently hidden under the motor, close to the wheel-well. My brother had to point it out to me.

So thanks to the puzzle box, I am going to have to pay a substantial, new stove equivalent, labour and parts bill next Wednesday. Can you really mourn something that you never had? I am in mourning for my stove. A moment of silence it you please. I have known better, I was the one that tempted fate and said I think I will get a new stove. I should never ever let my cars know what I am doing. They get jealous and then force me to rearrange my priorities. Ack!!

Enough about that, I will get a stove, its just not going to happen as soon as I would like it. Sigh. Moving on to baby quilts. This little cowboy finally made his debut and I can at last reveal the baby quilt that I made for him. Every little cowboy needs a quilt like this don't you think?

And matching bumper pads

I was rather pleased with how well this set turned out. So were the people that I made it for which is fabulous.
Its always nice to hear things like "oh that's perfect" and "awesome, I love the colours" when you have made something for someone else.

I will be sharing more of the Christmas crafting after the event is over and the items are no longer a surprize.
Right now I have puppets to be a makin '

Toodles

Linda

Embracing the Christmas........Oh Yeah!!

Currently I am in full Christmas mode. I am working to get my Christmas projects made and my shopping done. I am trying to think of what homemade ornaments I can make this year to torture my family with. I am planning how to decorate the house and put up all the trees. Yes there is more than one.........shut up. I have baking to do, cards to make, cleaning to be done and I love all of it.

In spite of the fact that I totally love this holiday, in the past and for a good part of this year it has caused  me a fair amount of angst. Each year I worry myself silly thinking we should be practical, we should be sensible, We need to keep the cost down. Dither, dither, fret, fret, fuss, fuss and more fuss. Well this year I have given my head a shake and made up my mind about a few things. What I can and should control (me) and what I should just let be ( what everyone else is doing).

One does have to be realistic here about gifts. Lets face it, your siblings, their off spring and your friends  may love you to bits, but they are not going to spring for the flat surface self cleaning stove, the 350 watt kitchen aid mixer, the 32" flat screen tv or the diamond tennis bracelet you have been jonesing for. Those gifts are spouse/significant other gifts, not be expected from anyone else. If you are single, you get that sort of thing for yourself or not at all. I know as much as I wish I could be Mother Bountiful  and buy everyone the big fancy things, its not gonna happen. When I win the lottery, then watch out Baby, the sky is the limit bit for now I have limits.

I know that I am at the stage in my life where the things I NEED are ether way too expensive for a family given gift or they are little things, consumable things. For example right now I what I need in life is a new scraper for the windows of my car, body wash, shampoo, a new sandwich maker, a couple of specific cd's , or a desk lamp for the sewing table, stuff like that. Gift cards are great for me. I can shop and I get stuff I need or would not buy normally. I can splurge without a second thought. Honestly I am tickled silly with most anything I am given. I don't give gifts with the expectation that I get something in return. I am not a terribly fussy picky person. REALLY I AM NOT :-)

I really, really, really  like to give gifts. I always think, that's it, I am cutting down, but I don't. You really can't in some ways, things cost no matter what. I know what I can and cannot afford so why do I keep thinking I have to clamp down on myself? I have come to the conclusion that at Christmas I don't want to be stressing. I enjoy giving gifts and I love to hunt for things I think that my nearest and dearest will like.  I love to make things and give them as gifts. Sometimes I am bang on and sometimes I am not but its ok, I have tried. I like doing it. It makes me happy and because it makes me happy I am no longer going to fret about it.

So my grand conclusion is that I am not going to fuss about it any more, I cannot and will not. I am just going to enjoy. I embrace the shopping and gift giving, I don't want to be concerned about being limited to a certain dollar amount or that's not enough, that's too much. That is not working for me and it was my idea. I was the one who thought this is how it should be. You would think I would know myself by now but I keep learning new things everyday. Mostly I am learning to go with what makes me feel good about me.

It Christmas time and its my chance to let the people I care about know that I am thinking of them. Life is to short to not be happy. I enjoy giving gifts, I am going to focus on that. Not to mention that I am not going to worry about what other people are thinking or doing. They are free to do as they please, I can only make rules for myself. This conclusion makes me feel so peaceful. I will give what I can, I will make the best choice I can for the recipient, it makes me happy to do this, end of story.

Oh yeah its all good!! Bring on Christmas, I am loving it !!!

Toodles, Linda

There are not enough hours or money :-)

Well its been a busy week here at the old homestead and its only half over. I need about 6 more hours in each day and then I could maybe get all the things done that I want to. Oh well, its all good, I love to be busy and have projects to do, I like to spend time with my friends so I am not complaining,............... really I'm not. It may sound like it but I'm not and I will change the subject now because I am repeating myself.

Monday night was the usual frantic flight of the bumble bees trying to get my house presentable because I had a guy coming today to do an energy audit. So I spent my evening, jamming things in nooks and crannies and cleaning like a white tornado ( does anyone but me remember that one?). Its not perfect but at least it did not look like an episode of Hoarders. ( do reference that show a lot don't I? because I can see it in my future and I fear it!!)

Tuesday night was sushi with the girls and then Breaking Dawn part 1, the latest Twilight movie. It was lovely. Good company, good food, good movie. I like those evenings. And yes I like the vampire movies, I LOVED the books. I secretly think I am a teenage girl at heart. A fact that was confirmed to day when I was all bummed out that my Outlander graphic novel is on back order. I may age but I am not gonna be a grown up, no way dude!! I want my adult comic book graphic novel, dang it.

Tonight I spend working on puppets ( Yahoo, Yippy, drunken monkey dance of joy ) I have two of the seven the university needs and this week I have managed to make two others for work folk. I want to have those little critters finished by early next week. Booyah!! I am a puppet making maniac.

My Christmas shopping and crafting is coming along, I managed to purchase three things tonight for a really reasonable price. This makes me smile. I want to have the Christmas gifts finished by next week as well. The rest of my week is going to go like this: tomorrow I am going to a local production of Annie and out for supper of course. Friday is No Cook Friday as always. Its special because we are going for appies and desserts. Yum. Sunday is Christmas Card making with my scrappy card making group. Saturday I may be shopping with E but we have not firmed up those plans yet. Busy busy busy.:-)

Oh yeah the Energy audit. Have I mentioned this house is 111 years old? I think you can imagine how this little exercise went. When he did that thing where they suck all the air out of the house, the back door popped open. That's really not good. Upside is he really didn't tell me anything I did not already know. Basically I need to insulate up and down and all around, replace windows, replace  furnace, fix the doors, I need exhaust fans for the kitchen and bathrooms and get that low flow toilet for the upstairs. Well I will just trot out to the big ole money tree in the back yard and get right on that. :-) Erk!!!


Toodles!!

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

Don't even think about bugging me, I am napping

Craftastic Palooza Week is FINI!!!

My craftastic week is over, its back to work on Monday. Where did the time go? I got a fair bit done, and I am happy with what was accomplished but I would love to have another week. Oh heck, I'm not going to go into the whole "-I'd rather stay home than work" thing. That is a tired old horse just begging not to be beat again.

Where was I? Oh yes, the week. I did mending for friends, made some dishcloths, finished a queen sized quilt, started some Christmas runners, and made felt animals. See:

Knitting, crochet, quilting and sewing have been indulged in this week, non stop. One day I managed to quilt for 11 hours with only lunch and supper breaks. I loved every minute and stitch of it. I still have one large dish cloth to finish tonight but its nearly finished. The two sweaters on the end of the couch were just mending projects for clarification. I managed to get out of my house on occasion and do some shopping. I did wandered among the real people once in awhile.

This is a better picture of the quilt. Its for our yearly raffle at the office. Half the proceeds raised will go to our local Christmas charity. I did not get much time to get it made so its a plain old fashioned nine patch but at least its done and ready to be raffled off.

I also managed to get the old sewing table out of the dining room. Its dismantled and tucked away upstairs for now. I just cannot part with it and I am not sure what I am going to do with it so for now it is stored away. I am just glad I figured out a place to keep it. The middle of the dining room was not working for me for some reason.

So I have supper to make, the last large dishcloth to finish and then I need to wrap my head around hearing that dang alarm go off in the morning BEFORE the dog starts barking next door. Sigh. I also need to find my plug in for the car and plug it in as apparently winter kicked in while I was on vacation. I know that because I have had to shovel snow already.

This coming week is going to be great fun, Vampire movie on Tuesday night preceded by sushi, then on Thursday a local production of Annie, hopefully with supper out somewhere nice as well. That should take the sting out of having to be back at work.


I hope your weekend went well.

Toodles, Linda