Scrub Pads and Shopping Bags.

It’s the time of year now where we are really starting to enjoy the gardens, especially the flower gardens. Everything is starting to blossom and I can hardly wait to harvest some to bring the beauty inside. I try to arrange a new bouquet in my ikebana every few days. This one is a little different though, can you see why?





Growing amongst my flowers are a pair of scrubbies and a shopping bag! They are there in the middle, just above the bright orange lily. The shopping bag is in the big purple rose and the white flower to its left and the purple flower to its right are the scrub pads. The scrubbies were handmade and so beautiful that it is such a shame to use them but I can’t wait to try. The friend who sent them made them herself and it doesn’t sound like it was much fun. This is the way she described it in an email she sent;

“Two years ago when we were in Mexico and I had that horrible fall, I was really stuck spending a lot of time in my room. An older Canadian tourist from Vancouver had given me a couple of the scubbies and I thought they were really cute. She knew how bored I was and told me she'd show me how to make them. I've done a bit of crocheting during the years and figured it would not only be fun but a great idea for our church bazaar. FUN???????????? It was NOT!!! I had no clue how involved this was going to be. They sure looked simple enough. I figured she used some special kind of yarn. I couldn't believe what you had to do. First you had to buy material that looks like the crinolines I used to wear when I was a teenager. It comes in all different colours and is fairly stiff. You have to get about 3 metres of it and then cut it all up in narrow strips. Well it AIN'T that easy because if you visualize it, the edges are all jagged when you cut it so when you try to fold up the strips they are all sharp and when you take a strip and try to crochet with it, it's such a treat. The edges stick to your clothes or the chesterfield or whatever it can. Forget trying to keep nail polish on your nails. Then periodically you have to tie another strip on. Not only does it prickle you wherever it touches but the strength it takes in your hands and fingers to try to make it loop means you're lucky to make one of those things a day and if on top of that you happen to have arthritic fingers, boy in the morning you can sure feel it. Once you get the circles made you then have to crochet them together but try to stuff them as you go along.”

I don’t think that I’m going to be making any of these myself any time soon!



The purple rose shopping bag is so cool, too. While it is not homemade it is very light and it has a clip on the side so that it can be attached to a purse strap or a belt loop. I’ll never have to worry about having a shopping bag with me again.






These little gifts came as a complete surprise and they brightened my day more than words can say. Sometimes the simplest act of kindness will stand out and you will remember the moment for a lifetime. I guess I’m having one of these moments and wanted you all to experience it with me. Hope you have enjoyed the ride.

Games Night Was A Great Success

Saturday night was Games Night here at the Witch's Island and, by all apppearances, it was a roaring success. Our guests arrived around 4:30 which gave us all a chance to chat a bit and have a drink (okay, maybe more than one) before sitting down for dinner. We had some Dr. Dimento's chili over rotini pasta, a nice fresh garden salad and some hot biscuits right out of the oven. Mmmm... very tasty! For dessert we had the butter tarts that you can see in the picture below. Then it was on to the games!





Hubby and I spent some time this week trying out some of the older games just so that we would know how to play them. When was the last time you played "Clue"? I don't remember it being so complicated. Maybe it would have been better when everyone was playing but during our trial run we were playing two hands each and we never did solve the mystery. "Clue" and "Rook" were the only games that we didn't actually play last night. "Uno" was the big hit but the guys had a lot of fun playing crokinole and cribbage. The girls and I had a laugh answering a questionaire I found on Carolee's blog "Musings from Behind the Easel". I'll add my answers at the end of this post.



I think we all had a fun night. The last people left somewhere close to two a.m. so today we're having a very quiet afternoon. Thankfully, house-cleaning was all done yesterday so now we can just sit back with the blinds down and a cool, damp cloth over our eyes!

What Would You Be?

(originally from Lori Anderson's "Pretty Things" blog)

If I were a month I’d be October
If I were a day I’d be Friday
If I were a time of day I’d be midnight
If I were a planet I’d be Saturn

If I were a sea animal I’d be a squid
If I were a direction I’d be forward
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be covered in soft leather
If I were a liquid I’d be French wine

If I were a gem stone I’d be sapphire
If I were a tree I’d be as sugar bush maple

If I were a tool I’d be a hammer
If I were a flower I’d be a lily of the valley

If I were an element of weather I’d be the wind
If I were a musical instrument I’d be a harp
If I were a color I'd be orange

If I were an emotion I’d be joyful

If I were a fruit I’d be a honey crisp apple
If I were a sound I’d be thunder
If I were an element I'd be fire

If I were a car I’d be a Ferrari

If I were a food I’d be cheeseburger
If I were a place I’d be Sable Island
If I were a material I'd be the softest chamois

If I were a taste I’d be sweet

If I were a scent I’d be fruity

If I were a body part I’d be eyes
If I were a facial expression I'd be a smile
If I were a song I’d be uplifting.

If I were a bird I'd be an owl

If I were a gift I'd be a book
If I were a street I'd be a dead end

If I were a city I'd be Quebec
If I were a door I'd be open

If I were a pair of shoes I’d be Prada (just cause I’ll never be able to afford them!)

And what would you be?

Our Christmas Party

We had a little get together with close friends last night for some finger food, drinks and lots of laughs. We also played a few games, crokinole and chess (the latter is so much fun after a few rummy eggnogs). We always have a great time with this group and I'm planning a games night of some sort for the New Year. I can hardly wait.

I've finished my Christmas shopping and it's all wrapped up. I'm just waiting for Santa to hopefully drop by (I think I've been a good girl). We'll just have to wait and see!

Vacation is over, RATS!!!!!

We had a great time on vacation and I really don't know where to start to describe all the wonderful things we did in two weeks. The new pictures will show you all just how busy we were.

As I wrote in the last post, we started off the first week with making a couple of different kinds of pickles and then we turned those grapes I showed you into jelly. The results came out the best we have every done. Tart, sweet, and they set up just perfectly. We've already finished off two jars, mmm. We used all the grapes but I don't think it will last very long.

We went to visit my Grandmother and brought her a jar of Mustard Pickles. It was a real joy to see her face light up when she tasted it. Thanks Granny, for showing me how to make the best Mustard Pickles in the world.

Ribfest was a great success. We had lots and lots of food and a delicious dessert (Devil's food cupcakes), all shared with the best company and friends anyone could hope to have.

Then we spent a couple of days just hanging out around the house before going away for four days to a rented cottage by the beach. It was perfect, exactly what I was looking for. It was a beautiful property and a pretty little building with vaulted ceilings, wood paneling and a fireplace. Very cosy!

We did a lot in those four days, lots of sightseeing, canoeing (with the seals) and just plain relaxing. I was a little scared about being out on the water with the seals. I was sure that they would come too close and tip over the canoe. Hubby had a great laugh at my expense, yelling "Look out here comes FLIPPER!!!" every time one would pop up it's head. Happily they kept their distance and we made it safely back to shore after a nice paddle around the bay.

It was just a great get-away, and it was made even better when Hubby announced that he had been skimming the household budget every week for the past 4 months. He had managed to squirrrel away enough to pay for the entire trip, including food, drink and lodging! Even the wine we bought at the winery we visited was included, yah! Thankfully, we are not in the Mafia. I'm sure a person could get whacked for doing something like this. Anyway, I'm sure that my mentor for all things finacial, Gail Vaz-Oxlade, would have a laugh over this one. She might have even been proud of us. So yes everything was paid for in full and we also had lots of money left over. So very HAPPY!!!!!!!!! THANKS HUBBY. Love ya, but you already know that.

Well, it's back to work on Monday, but I know I'll be daydreaming of canoeing with the seals and other things to keep the vacation alive as long as possible.

Vacations are great but way too short.

Vacation time

Well it may be vacation time but we're sure not lazying around. It's pickling season and we have been going like crazy because friends of my sister may be able to take a few cases back to T.O. for us. We've made two batches of my Grandmother's Dutch Salad Pickles (we call them mustard pickles and they are a family favourite) and now we have made a second batch of the Hot Curry Relish that I wrote about before.We're still going to make some more of the relish later on when our tomatoes have gotten really ripe. It seems to make a difference, at least in the colour, as the second batch which was made with tomatoes that were very ripe, is a much nicer darker red. Later, we're also going make some jelly from the grapes we have growing on the potting shed and who knows, maybe some pickled beets, too.

I've enclosed some pictures of our handy work. I'm really glad that Hubby loves to help out because it really is a lot of work chopping all the veggies.

I'm also planning my annual dinner party. Rib Fest, yeah! Always seems to be a big hit. I'm planning on decorating the table up with a Fall theme and maybe a few Halloween items thrown in for added fun. I'm just not quite sure about what kind of dessert to make, yet. I'm leaning towards Pumpkin Cheesecake, but chocolate cupcakes with a orange cream cheese icing is calling out to me. I love cupcakes. Hubby just loves icing no matter what it's attached to.

We also have to split up some of the flower beds and rearrange some of the perriennials. The veggie garden needs weeding. I want to also give my leather couch and chair a treatment, I think it may be a little dry looking. The list can go on and on but I really don't what to pile too much on our plates, after all it is supposed to be a VACATION!!!!!

The New Furniture

Well, I'm going to keep this short because well I'm just too tired to post a full page. I've been really tired lately and I don't know why but I'm just feeling that way.

The new furniture arrived this week and it looks great. I really do like the RED. Hubby, I think ,is enjoying the new colour, too. The smell of new leather is wonderful.

This weekend we visited friends in the old neighbourhood including the couple who bought our first house. They're moving back to Ontario for health reasons, he is really not well. The reasons have made me think about alot of stuff, meaning of life stuff. It has been a hard week and I think that I'm just going to wait for another time to post. Hope you all understand.

New Years Goals for 2009

Happy New Year to you all!!!!!

We have been stormed in for two days and just finally got our main road plowed out at around Noon.
Hubby has been out twice using the snowblower to clear the driveway just to stay ahead of the blowing snow. The drifts were 6' in some areas and out on the road they must be 10' or more.
Welcome to another New Year of storms. The same day in 2008 was also a storm. Weird.

We had a few friends over on New Years eve before we all went to the Community complex for the dinner and dance. Fun times were had by all and the New Year was officially rang in. YA HOOO!!! I'm hoping for 2009 to be the best year ever. Now that's positive thinking.

Goals for the New Year are as follows:(no particular order)

Continue paying down that mortgage as fast as possible.
Buy skates and use them.
Buy a Kayak and try and get over my fear of the water with a life jacket of course.
Learn to play poker and get a good poker face.
Smile more often (maybe that will be my poker face).
Drink more water at work and home.
Try new recipes.
Exercise more often, and use my hand weights.
Lose 10 pounds (I have to weight myself first, so I may need to buy a scale).
Open a TFSA acount and try to max it out if the rates are worthwhile without those darling bank fees attached.
Take a real vacation somewhere in the Maritimes.
Try to let go off the past and learn to live in the moment.
Make more time for myself.
Read more books.
Have more dinner parties and play some game boards.
Get a complete physical.
Learn more about my computer and what it can do for me besides surfing the internet.
Continue to declutter.
Continue to work on our basement renovations.
Paint our t.v room and maybe buy some new furniture for it.
Tweak the budget throughout the year.

Yes this list is long but surely I can accomplish some of these goals and even if it is just a few , I think I would still be pleased.

How about you? Any goals or dreams you want to share.

Take care and all the best to everyone in 2009.

Halloween Rocks!!!!!!!

I have been off work since Wednesday afternoon and I spent the time planning away for Halloween (did I mention that it's my very favorite of all days?). Hubby had Thursday and Friday off so he started gutting the pumpkins early, and then Friday our creative sides took over. Don't worry, we will post lots of our pumpkin pictures for all the world to see. We have been doing this for over 30 years so I guess you can say we are well experienced in this field. Any potential job openings out there for me, as I might need it soon. Work is trying very hard to push me out the door. I would say its pay back time for being off the 4 months on sick leave. But for now lets not even think of that piece of s--- place cause it's Halloween and Halloween weekend. Yes, Halloween lasts a few days at this house. I dressed up as a WITCH, of course, and had a blast even though we only had 8 kiddies come begging. Saturday, we had friends over for drinks and snacks, which allowed me to use all my Halloween bowls and decorations to the max for a great looking table setting. Everyone really liked our carved pumpkins and lots of pictures were taken. Hubby does some amazing pumpkin carving which I'm sure you will all agree. It was a great weekend and my pumpkins right now are still on the front steps in the snow!!! We had snow this morning and then some hail and then more snow. I'm not impressed with the change in the weather. Hubby is watching the last formula 1 race of the season and I'm just hoping the damn satellite doesn't crap out on him.

Visiting old friends.

Yesterday was a very busy day. The couple who purchased our old house called to see if we wanted some Damson plums from the tree which we planted about 20 years ago. My better half and I jumped at the chance to gather these plums because they make the best jam ever. The jam is very tart and again, it's one of my grandmother's old recipes. We made a double batch which took us more than 3 hours in total to do but it was really worth the time and effort. Yum!!, that was the end result and they make great X-mas gifts.

We also received a call last night from another of one of our old neighbours who now lives in Nova Scotia. She wanted us to visit her at the cottage she still has in Mill River. So, today, away we went went with goodies in hand (jam and veggies from the garden). We had a great visit with her and her son and she made us a delicious corn chowder for lunch. We are both greatly blessed to have great long time friends.

This week has just been flying by. Vacation will be over soon. Don't you just hate the thoughts of that!!!!!! We have been making crafts for a benefit auction this week and I'm really hoping they bring in a whopping amount of dough when they go under the hammer. We'll post the pictures of our handy work sometime soon.

Better Half is cutting the lawn right now and I'm going to go and make the salad for supper. It's going to be made with mesculin lettuce, feta cheese and watermelon served with a basalmic vinegar and oil dressing. The rest of the meal will be baked P.E.I. potatoes and BBQ chicken wings. Not really a dieter's supper I guess but, what the heck, we are on vacation and it doesn't look like we will be traveling this time around. Maybe in October, which is my favorite month anyway. I'm a real Halloween person who goes all out carving Pumpkins and decorating. I just wish Martha Stewart would find me.