I SEE SOMEONE PEEKING

I know who you are and you must be bored. What not enough turkey to put you in a lazy mood? Today, being Thanksgiving here in Canada, I did what everyone does on this last weekend of fall. That would be rush to get all the outside jobs done before the snow hits. Here in Manitoba, Halloween is the turning point. Every day past Halloween with out snow is a bonus. This is my list this weekend.
1. I made some raised beds. I borrowed the forms that were used for the services being put in under new houses. Don't worry, I asked. I also cleaned as much of the concrete off as possible. They are roughly three feet square. I put four of them in a square pattern then filled them with soil.
2. I then moved the rest of the soil to the area where I will be putting in a hedge and a pergola entrance. I am hoping to get the hedge plants this week and work on that when I get home from work.
Total soil moved was two yards. My wheelbarrow is not a construction one, so too sixteen loads for the garden beds and another twenty for the rest to be moved. I felt it Saturday night but am fine. Finally getting back into a bit of shape.
3. I washed all the windows on the outside. Had read somewhere that windshield washer fluid works well. It does, but you have to rinse the heck out of it. I need to do some more rinsing still - maybe it will rain and it will be a moot point.
4. I vacuumed the Santa Fe, wiped down all the grime inside and shampooed the seats and the floor mats. All dry, ready to go.
5. I shampooed two sofas.
6. I vacuumed and dusted and washed one floor. Handy Manny's are not neat workers in my neck of the woods.
7. I gave my kitchen a thorough cleaning, ran the dishes, made chicken breasts with roasted red pepper marinade and Paella.
8. I worked on Christmas stitching.
9. I picked up another storm door (did one last week), along with some vertical blinds for the patio door, some blinds for the studio, some plastic for the slider windows. Will pick up some batts of insulation this week for between the floor joists around the perimeter of the storage area and the utility room. In the builder's mind it was okay to only put foam insulation every third joist. Now I am ready for the Handy Manny's to come back. It is quite interesting listening to them work. Reminds me of Glenn and Alec working on the kids' places.

I did a bunch of other small crap, stuff which was neither here nor there. I did not eat turkey. We will celebrate Thanksgiving next Saturday. We have some farmers who need to finish their stuff, and some golfers who need to finish closing their courses before we can celebrate. We are fortunate it will be this early this year. Some years we only do it in November.

Blogger, after almost two years, caught up with the changes I made to my account, so if you want to see pictures of what's happening in my creative world, go take a look at my other blog Needleworks Galore.

Enjoy
Jean

Wow

Blogger finally got caught up with my changes and I have my old blogs back. Guess I will have to see about what to do between the old and the new. This blog has always been for my creative side.
When I lost it I started another one call Glorious Needlework. Not sure if I now want to break them into one for the traditional needlework and one for the Artsy side. We will see.

Today I have pictures for you. Both of these have been at this stage for a while. The first one was a study of sorts. I wanted to try with this pattern to see the pattern within the pattern. Didn't work, know what I did wrong. Still it will be quilted.

This next one is one that is still in progress. This is exactly the way it was to be laid out in the instructions. Don't like it but the first border has some of the blocks extending into the border. We shall see.

This is what is on the design wall right now. It too has been there for a long while. I want the pinwheel blocks to be on point, but not sure what to use as setting blocks. This was taken from a magazine, sorry don't know which one. This one will be blinged up with threads, beads etc.

None of this is on my horizon right now as Christmas is coming and so some stitching is being done.

This is what I will be working on for the next few months. The aim is for ten, but expect to get half done. They are the stockings from Shepherd's Bush. This one being "Reed". Think I will get them all done before I chose the names for each one.

So not much going on. I really do need to use my other camera. Keep forgetting as this one is always handy.

Have a good week and Happy Thanksgiving to you all in Canada.

Blessings
Jean

LAST DAYS

In the next couple of days I will be moving to a new village within the province of Manitoba. I have enjoyed living where I am right now, but I am thoroughly in love with my new house on my new cul-De-sac. When I open my windows I hear meadow larks, robins, those darn pesky grackles, and a whole bunch of birds who I had forgotten existed. I will miss my daily visit with the foxes, coyotes, deer, rabbits etc. that take their early morning trek through my back yard on their way to the local watering hole, which is a farmers dugout. As I am right on the edge of town and farmers fields, I am going to assume many animals will trek through. Where I am right now, these animals and I had come to the point of having eye contact. They would stop and stare at me through the window and I in turn would stare back, sometimes very quietly saying something I knew they could not hear through the glass and even saying a prayer for their safety. Yes, where animals are concerned I am a big old softy. It comes because I grew up in what I call the silent house. My parents - when they chose to both be living there -  never talked to one another - at least not in my presence. I know the communicated, they each knew where each other were and what was up. The farm animals and so some extent the wild animals became my world. God used them to teach me many lessons in life and so when I got to school and learned about the life cycle I could already envision it in my mind. God in his infinite wisdom did that for me with regard to a lot of things. I could watch my aunt create a quilt, hook a rug, work on embroidery and just by watching I got the general idea and so could go on to create and understand the process. Same with cooking, I was a natural. At a very young age I could read a recipe and then just do it. My mother did get me going on the terminology and she had a wonderful cookbook/etiquette book/everything else book that I read almost cover-to-cover. In one of our moves it went missing and I often look at junk-jumble-garage sales and antique stores looking for a replacement. I have never found one. It had all the terminology, recipes, how wash clothes, how to get stains out - almost everything you could imagine. When it came time for brownie badges, well, that is where I learned to set a breakfast table, a luncheon table, and a formal dinner table. Got that badge in good time. Because of what I learned, I have always been an experimenter in the kitchen. I have always had a love for crystal, china - all the fancy stuff. Both my brother and I did a bit of growing up in our community. By that I mean there were times where we had to find shelter for the night. One lady Mrs. Gaskell who often took us in was a lovely woman whose descendants had come from England. She set her table in a marvelous way every day and was a stickler for etiquette. For the most part that is where both B. and I got our manners from. Came to good use when we had to go to business dinners, weddings etc. Her and her husband came very close to being our parent models and they performed admirably. There were other people in the community that took us in when needed and taught us both other skills. The saying that it takes a village to raise a child was certainly true in our case and I am hoping that all these people were truly blessed for what they did for us.

Anyway, once I move, I may or may not be able to have internet. The usual ways are not available out in the boonies. I do have a list of options though. The problem is that I have three blogs and both google and blogger are not great when you change providers. For instance google will only allow me to sign in under an email I had three years ago. I have attached my present email and tried to make it my main one but to no avail. Long story short - if you don't see anything here in a long while, it will mean I have had to start a different blog. Not sure what it will be called. My other two Fleming Fun In The Sun and Living life in the.....Seniors lane will also need to be restarted. I so loved my title for my general life blog. Will have to see what I can do to fix it. Have contacted google and asked questions on blogger but as you all know there appears to be no help. I will try to set up new ones today and will do a post tomorrow about new names etc.

QUILTING

This morning I started a Jean quilt. On this one I will not be using any leftover jeans, as the ones I have need to go into quilts for my kids. The jeans were all my husband's and so I need to dole them out wisely. This quilt will be for someone else. My jean quilts are meant mostly for use as picnic blankets, so I put a ripstop nylon on the back in case there is any moisture on the ground. I use mine also for on picnic tables or on the benches - depending how grungy/dirty they are. I saw somewhere where they made a couple of those short bed quilt runners that people are putting at the end of the bed, again out of jean material and voila you don't have to worry about what the kiddies are touching or sitting in. It will be a slow process as I just sold my house. I need to be out by June 28th and I still have not found a place. I probably will need an quick possession date so if there is anything I need to do before I move in, well it can get done without a lot of stuff in the way. I actually had a tiny look a couple of months ago - found one, saw it again on Monday, then saw a few more and found one more possibility, but I feel I need to have about three up my sleeve as they still have those bidding wars up here and I have set myself a stick price limit. Bidding on the second one is Tuesday, so will see what happens. I really don't want to have to stay in my son's unfinished basement if I can help it. Though I wouldn't turn it down. We have a 0.001% rental rate up here, so there are no rental units available. We have two universities here and the kids either don't give up their apartments over summer, or their parents have bought houses and they rent out rooms. Markets are very tight. I saw one place on Monday where they had 72 couples go through, and they knew at least 6 offers were coming in. They changed the house buying rules up here, so fewer people are moving and there are fewer buyers, but not enough to go around.

Anyway, have a great week.

Jean

NOTHIN' DOIN'

That is what I feel like and that is exactly what is going on right now. I have been busy, but sad to say no creativity at all. It has been birthday after birthday after birthday. Right now we are caught up until mine in August - which we don't celebrate at all - too busy time of year. So, the next big birthday will be for little P who will be one the end of September.

Other than that, I live in a construction zone eight houses being built and mine is for sale. I am sure you can envision just how hard it is to keep on top of the tracked in mud, the dust and all the crap flying around and landing in my yard.

So, from here on in until who knows when - hopefully tomorrow - there will be no creativity going on in my life.

Have a great week each and everyone. Enjoy the beautiful weather we now have.

Jean

THE LEAP

Today, I started a new blog. It will be about being a senior and widowhood. It is called Living in the .....Seniors lane. Every time I start a post where I want to describe or show pictures of my stitchy things, it always ends up being life related. I want to keep the two separate. In the past few weeks, I have been working at finishing my UFOs - all ??teen of them. I also hope to get into some other types of creativity and may showcase them there also. In a couple of weeks it is my daughters 35th birthday and I have been working on a scrapbook of her and her dad. She is not aware of this project, so please don't spoil the surprise. I will take pics before I give it to her, but won't show them on here until after her special day. Right now I am working on a sweater for the middle grandson. He will be 4 this week and I need to get it done before we have our special birthday day together. I try to take each grandchild out just me and them for a day to do something special. This is a hard one this week as two of my grandsons are born on the same day, but 8 years apart. So, pictures to come and maybe I will get a picture of the granddaughter in he sweater I made for her birthday. Stay tuned for the excitement!

Jean

GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT

Yup, that is what I am. It is spring (well sort of) and in this lovely season and in fall, I always, always have a major arthritis flair. So, what did I do today? Offer to take three of my four grandkids for the afternoon and then give said grandkids and their father supper. Mom had a wedding shower to attend. We had fun though....except for little P. He is at the make strange stage and I almost had to stand on my head to get him warmed up to me. As I put on my facebook page - They came - they destroyed - they ate - they left. Such a whirlwind of activity, but wonderful activity. They have such great imaginations and a fort became a scary cave. Of course little Mr. 4 y.o. had to keep asking Miss 7 y.o. - Koda I'm not scared of caves right? Of course little Miss 7 had to let out a cackle and tell him no, them commence to torment the child with tales from the crypt or what she perceives as such. Next was bath time. Mr. 4 always has to have a bath at my place as I have the deepest tub. He can "swim" from one end to the other and not a drop of the "waves" hit the floor. If I was a lot lighter, I may be tempted to try that one, love playing in the water, just not baths. I am a shower gal all the way. Now I have to do the dishes, sweep the floor and put my bed back together. I believe grandmoms should always let a bit of mischief take place. It makes the best memories. Then I will be off to the medicine cabinet for another round of Advil and then hopefully my back will allow me to sit in bed and read. Tomorrow, will be a true day of rest, I don't think I could stand to sit in the chairs at church, so will listen to a few radio programs. I got rid of my satellite service. I don't watch much TV and I believe I will use that money in a more worthwhile way.

If any of you out there are widows, well heck even if you aren't a widow/er go on over to The Widows Mite: Encouragement for Widows. Virginia is an awesome person who puts a lot of thought and prayer into her writing. The same for Ferree over at Widows Christian Place. If you are just starting out on this journey or if you have progressed some of the way through are maybe stuck, or just to know someone is out there and rooting for you, please visit both blogs. They both offer encouragement, advice, music and sometimes some silliness - which we all need regularly. I visit them almost daily and really appreciate this ministry of theirs. God has used them both at times where I was struggling and voila my answer was through them.

I am not even going to rant today about the long winter we are having. Spring will come, it has to, the sun is getting so much higher in the sky and I saw my first Robin today. He was bobbing along the fence at the back. I am really glad my neighbours feed the birds. I would love to, but with a small back yard and I would have to shovel a path all the way from the front to the back. I don't think old Arthur would be able to take that much action. I will sleep with my window open tonight cause if there is one robin there is more and I so look forward to listening to them sing in the early morning. If I am lucky, Mr. Meadowlark will have arrived back and I may hear a song from him also. I think I am going to figure out a way to feed the birds next year (if I am still in this house).

Son #1 and his lovely wife have bought property way out in the boonies. They will have to clear between 200 and 300 trees just to build the approach and the house. It is such a beautiful property and I can hardly wait to watch it take shape. Glenn would have been in there like a dirty shirt, working  on anything he felt he could do and then some. When we first found out they got the property, we all had the same thought of Glenn. God is good and though we had a day of grief, we now talk freely of what Glenn would have done and what Glenn would like for them to have on this property. Now we are excited and we will see what they integrate of what Glenn would have wanted for them. The littles saw the property for the first time yesterday. Koda was quite put out - it's all trees. Grandmom told her we are building a giant tree house for us all to live in. Mr. 4 thought that would be quite cool. Guess Geoff will have his hands full trying to convince them that grandmom was just teasing, but that he will build a small tree house for them. I know I shouldn't do or say things like that, but in my world that is part of making memories. All the fun and banter we have.

Well, I best be getting to the dishes and then make a nice cuppa. Maybe I will knit instead of reading. Another birthday - another sweater.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Jean

WATER WATER EVERY WHERE AND NARY A DROP TO DRINK

Today's flood forecast has also included a small bit that said our two major rivers here would probably not peak until Labor Day weekend. That is September in case you forgot. This means that there will be no boating, no tubing, no walking on the river trail and no water taxi this summer. Earlier in the week they thought it might turn out to be the same as the 2009 flood. Not so! After having their meetings with there North, South Dakota and Minnesota counterparts, our flood forecast has been upgraded. Ours though still will not be as bad as Fargo North Dakota. They had already placed one million sandbags and this week they are placing another 500,000 or more. The one million would have covered a once in 400 year flood (same as the 1997 flood), but now they had to change everything. And thanks to the way God made the world all waters from those states as well as Saskatchewan flow into our great province. Guess when they settled this area they did not realize it was a huge lake bed. The lake at that time was call Lake Agassiz which slowly dried up and became two large lakes and many smaller ones. By the way all this water will eventually flow into James Bay and then on out to the Arctic Ocean. It actually is very interesting to watch a flood progress from all that snow, to water everywhere, to really full rivers, to nothing. As I said in a previous post, there are still a lot of people displaced from previous floods and now this will make even more have to give up their life long homes.

This week has certainly been a hard one for those in the US and I would like to remind you all to continue to pray for them all. I cannot imagine the trauma that those bombs caused and how those people were really enjoying the day and the race and then poof - life changed in an instant. It is hard to fathom in ways, but it is one of the many ways God uses us to remember to pray not just for ourselves and our family and small world, but to get out there and pray for everyone. Then with that fire and fireball in Texas. Those poor people in that area tomorrow will be remembering the Waco killings of years before and then now this. God really does use tragedy to bring beauty from ashes. I will look forward to seeing how his glory shines through the things all these people went through this week.

Had a wonderful afternoon out with my granddaughter last Saturday. It was the big 7th birthday. Her party with school friends is not until this weekend and our family get together was not held until this past Monday, I thought to myself what a perfect opportunity for us to have a tea party. Since she was less than 2 years old she has loved tea parties. I always put out all my fine china, my good linens, whatever flowers are around and of course the full nine yards for food - finger sandwiches, scones, goodies and tea. She would always sneak into the garage to invite granddad. Granddad loved food and so was delighted to attend the tea parties. Us gals always dress fro the occasion; dresses, jewelery and hats and along would come granddad in his grungiest jeans - the ones with the holes in the knees and thighs and his "outside" chore shirt. His shirt was a castoff golf shirt from golfer son. It has an array of paint, grease, sweat, grass stains and whatever else on it. He would show up in his finery and Dakota would feel mighty special that granddad came. This is the first tea party since Glenn passed away. I knew she would talk about him and I knew that I needed to do something special. I printed a picture of him at one of the previous tea parties where he was wearing all his finery. I also printed one off of Roscoe our Bichon that I had to put down just before Christmas. We went to a tea house in a town nearby and I had them set an extra place for granddad. We had sandwiches, soup for me, apples and chips for her. We were treated to the best Chai cheesecake I ever had. My tea was called Buckingham afternoon, and the little miss had granddad's favorite - Raspberry.  Dakota was so excited and in the end she declared it was the best birthday she had ever had. She is looking forward to our next adventure. I think I will call them our Tea Adventures and will maybe have to do a scrapbook for her. Of course there were presents involved which she loved. I did hold one gift back until the family party. It was a shrug sweater I knit. I can hardly wait to see her in it.\next week I have two grandsons birthdays which just happen to be on the same day. They are nine years apart. So, I need to come up with an adventure for a 12 year old who has Asberger's Syndrome and an adventure for a 4 year old. I will not do them on the same day as I think that each should have a special day.

Well, that is life this week. Hope you all are enjoying the new green grass, the birds singing, the early flowers and the smell of damp earth. I can hardly wait for my turn.

Blessings to you all

Jean