HORN TOOTIN, HAND WAVING WONDERFUL!

Yesterday we decided to take a drive to Dauphin Manitoba.  It was a bright sunny morning, the forecast wasn't looking too bad, so we hopped in the car and were on our way by 10:30.  Its only a 40 minute drive so we got there long before noon.

We were looking for the hardware/lumber store, McMumm and Yates - apparently there is a large one there - our mission was to order a counter top for our island, and hopefully also pick up some finishing wood for the back and sides.

Before I say anything else - just let me say that I really do not like Dauphin.  I don't know what it is about that place - but it just doesn't do anything for me.

Well -  we drove to where google maps said this store was - and couldn't find it.  We should have taken our GPS along - our fault we did not.

So we changed gears and went to Extra Foods (we know where that is) for dog food.  That stop for dog food cost us 130.00!

Next stop - Walmart!  Mission there was to get a copy of Ufile to do our taxes.  Yes  - we know you can download it off the Internet - however  - our Internet is slow - and so it the old PC we use to do taxes on... hence the stop at Walmart.

The stop for the UFILE software cost us 120.00... and change!

It was past lunch - Gary wanted a DQ burger - Guess what - we couldn't find the DQ!  The Internet says they have one - we couldn't seem to find it!

The golden arches were right there - so we pulled in there for the first time in over 7 months!  Say no more!

Gary was getting a headache - so I took the wheel for the ride home.  We hadn't even gone a mile and we hit snow-packed roads from heavy ground drifting, and side winds that just about blew us off the road.  It looked like that was going to be the conditions most of the ride home.

We drove through the stretch of road where silver birch trees are all one can see for miles - I break out into a grade- school song I remember from my youth... "Land of the Silver Birch - Home of the Beaver"...

.... and then we were at Ste. Rose Du Lac!

The roads are dry, the wind is gone - my right foot goes down - and we are sailing home!

My spirits lifted, my dissatisfaction with our outing disappeared as we got closer to home.  We passed the lone pine tree in the middle of the field that tells me Laurier is the next town on the right...

Cheerio, Laurier - you great, wonderful little Hamlet, you!

And then I see our tower - our grain elevator - and I am so happy I could sing once again!  "Take me home, country roads... to the place.... that I love!

Horn tootin - hand waving, wonderful home town of mine!

WE ARE HOME!

WELL - THAT WAS FUN!

I don't know about you - but I seem to be back into those "doldrums" again.  I have so much to do, and just no ambition to do it.

I forced myself to deal with a project that I have been wanting to tackle for a very long time.  Doll Clothes!  I have totes upon totes of vintage baby dresses, suitable for large baby dolls.  More totes yet of real doll clothes to fit almost every size doll imaginable.

It is really quite unimaginable!

And it is driving me absolutely around the bend!

So I opened up three large totes and dumped them in the middle of my studio floor - and then talked  nasty to myself for the rest of the weekend!

"That will teach her - now she will HAVE to deal with these clothes!"  says the always nattery (is this a word?), practical Dale.

"Huh!  That's what SHE thinks!"  says the lazy "retired" and I deserve to be lazy - don't I? "  Dale!

Yeah, well neither one won this battle.  I did manage to undress and redress my Vintage 1957 Baby Doll twelve times to get some pictures to post on the sale site.

These 4 and 8 more...

And I managed to take photos of about 25 more of the dresses for the same site - I even managed to get the doll photos posted on the site.  I had a lot of views - some even wanted to buy the doll - lots of interest - no sales!

The bad is what I am left with... I am sure you all feel very sorry for me....

 






I do feel your sympathy - really I do!




End of story.

Well - not quite - I just got an email from a fellow doll collector - she wants all 12 items I posted and everything else I have like them.

Okay - so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all!

MUSIC ENGAGEMENT

I spent a lot of time this past weekend working on music - going through old music books, looking for and practicing tunes to play for the residents of the nursing home in the coming weeks.

As I was playing it struck me that although I know they really enjoy hearing me play - maybe I am a bit of a bore to them as well.  After all - I just sit and play.  Really -  you could get as much satisfaction just putting a headphone on your ear that was attached to some music playing something or other.

I think I mentioned before that I had the idea to do themes for my little concerts in the care home.  I have been choosing music accordingly and the theme I have been working on the past few days has been music from the movies.

I started with the song "When You Wish Upon A Star" from the 1940 Disney movie...   Do you know what movie this is from?  Would it help if I said a little green cricket sang the song?  Would it help you further if I said his name was Jiminie?

Well this kind of talk was running around my head as I was practicing this song - and then all of a sudden I knew what I was going to do.

There is a thing called Music Therapy - it is much sought after for the elderly in nursing homes and in hospitals.  Usually it is performed by University- Educated Music Therapists.  It has been proven to be a very beneficial program to those who are institutionalized in any way.

I don't know if what I am planning to do is close to that - but I do know, as a former Registered Nurse, how very important it is to "engage" people who are living away from their normal lives.  If you don't encourage thought, speech, action - it will eventually vanish.

So...

I am working on my own version of what I am calling "Music Engagement".

I play a song from a movie... then I ask if anyone knows the name of the song, who sang it, what movie it is from.  As I ask the questions, I tell the story of the movie - I introduce the characters, the plot - I tell them the outcome... and then I play the song again and let them remember whatever they can on their own.

They get to enjoy the music, but they may also get to relive a memory of a movie they watched - maybe with someone special in their family...maybe they get to remember something they haven't thought of in a long time...  we have engaged thought, speech, action, and memory....

And just maybe I am no longer such a boring entertainer!

For this first session, I have chosen 10 songs from seven different movies.  Pinochio; Breakfast at Tiffany's; My Fair Lady; Mary Poppins; The Sound of Music; Fiddler on the Roof, and Dr. Zhivago.

If they don't know the movie, they will for sure know the song, or visa -versa... all are familiar popular songs.

To take this one step further, I am also going to speak to the Activity Director, to see if she would like to follow this activity with one of the movies I feature with my music.  That might be very enjoyable for them as well.

So wish me luck .... I'll let you know how this works out...

FRIDAY DECLARATION!

Have you been getting any inspiring ideas lately?

I used to do this thing with my friend and co-worker, Pam; where I would seek out ideas I thought she would like on Pinterest and send them to her.  She didn't go on Pinterest back then, and she loved seeing creative things that others did - so I made it easy for her to get those ideas.

This was especially fun the month or so before Christmas.  In my spare time I would  find and save the neatest ideas for things to make for Christmas - for the home, for decorating, for the family, and then every Friday I would send her a whole bunch of stuff.

Believe me - I had just as much fun finding and sending them - as she did seeing them on those Fridays so long ago.

Pam is one of my regular readers here - so... Pambie - this is for you darlin... miss you, my friend!


I will start with this one - this is so neat - and if my cabinet wasn't being used as a TV stand at the moment - I would seriously consider doing this for one of my spare rooms...

Check it out!

I love this next one - and that school that I was at earlier this week has a lot of old broken wooden chairs - so I am adding this one on my list for sure!

 

You know how much I love old suitcases - I use one old blue trunk as a end table now.... so now I have to keep my eye open for a small one that I could do this with (lots of pretty carved finals and posts at that school too).. 

What a great entry-way piece...

And just one more, because I think it is so darn fetching... 

So I declare - Fridays from here on in - shall be Re-purpose Day at Erndalesnmore!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

AS DAYS GO!

As days go, yesterday was a good one.

I went for my doctor's visit and it was just as I said it would be, except for some reason the shot really hurt yesterday!  The walk there was really cold and pretty slippery.  We have had rain, and then cold, and then snow, so the footing was not the best but I managed to slide my way there and back and even made a detour on the way home to get the mail.

I had planned to sort through some of my totes of doll clothes and start to make piles of some that I want to sell.  Remember those boxes and boxes of clothes I bought a few years back from Vicki?  Well all those beautiful vintage dresses are clean and pressed, but they have been in storage totes all this time.  Time to unload some of them.

So I started the process.  I was upstairs after breakfast going through stuff and then I went down to have a cup of coffee with Gary.

He was on the ipad browsing the Internet on the Buy and Sell for our area.  Actually our little town has a buy and sell, and the content and prices are way better than anything I have ever seen in Winnipeg.

Anyway he spotted this for 50.00!  Remember the  kitchen island post from months back?

We called the fellow who informed us he and the item was at the Kelwood school - come on down!

Kelwood is less than 10 minutes away, so away we went. 

I will be the first to admit that I know very little of the history of the towns in this area.  We drive past Kelwood every time we go to Neepawa, and we always remark that we should go and check it out.  By the time we headed home in the late afternoon we had learned quite a bit about the town and the history of the area.

The school is on the main road as your drive into town, it is a large school (schools out here are because a lot of them are kindergarten through Grade 12).  We park, I sit in the car and Gary runs in.  We have no idea where in the school this fellow is - is he a teacher?  Will we find him?

Gary comes right back out and beckons me inside.

Well for one thing - although the school might used to hold children within it's walls, it is pretty clear upon entering that is no longer the case.  We later find out that the school has been closed for years, and the children are bused to other towns to attend school.

So what is the deal here?

A fellow shows us the cabinets we have come to see, and they are really nice, and very high quality.  Solid hardwood construction.... SOLD!

Then a lady comes up to us and asks if we want to look around?  We say - sure - and the fun begins.

Turns out this is a pickers dream come true.  Okay - so we are not pickers - but Holy Moly we sure do love to wander through places like this!

Every room is stacked to the ceiling with "stuff"... the gym is loaded - and then we meet the owner.

A fellow comes up to us, introduces himself, shakes our hands and proceeds to tell us that he bought the school.  He is originally from Florida, but has migrated north over the years and has landed in Kelwood.  He buys properties, renovates them and resells or rents them out.  He also fixes cars, and sells used cars and trucks.  He also buys huge Estates full of stuff and that is where most of the "stuff" comes from.  He bought the school with the intention of turning it into a automotive center - but due to the size of the town that idea didn't bear oil.

He takes us through the whole school and then opens the door to the Kindergarten room.  "Here's where I live, " he says as we walk into a huge open apartment - completely renovated and decorated.

We visited with him some more, then we load our cabinets and head home.

But - we are going back.  I spotted a small wheelbarrow, and a lot of things I can use in my gardens outside.  Gary found an exit sign for his movie room... (a school is full of them).  I am afraid to think what we may drag home from this "school" over time.

As learning experiences go - it was a good one!

And yes - we are going to have a kitchen island soon!

I AM OFF TO GET MY SHOT!

I have to go to the doctor today to get my B12 shot.  It is a 10 minute walk from my house to the hospital.  I go down my street to the Provincial Trunk Highway, turn right, walk a long block and I am out of town.  I cross the railroad tracks and then I am walking in the country.  I see wide open spaces mostly, but there is a pretty red barn, and a grain elevator, to catch my eye, should I be interested.

My doctor is the only doctor serving this town.  She works out of her clinic in the hospital building and she is wonderful!  She is friendly, knowledgeable, professional, and on time.  I can not tell you how refreshing she and her staff and her clinic are from the big city clinics that I have worked in and attended all my life.

True - she does not have the volume that the big cities do - but she still has the same medical complaints to deal with as the city doctors do - without every resource available at an arms reach!

My doctor wasn't always a country doctor.  She had a practice in Winnipeg for many years.  To hear her tell her story - she was happily living and working in Winnipeg, and then she fell in love with a farmer.

That's a pretty good reason to move your life to the country -and happy I am for her to love a farmer.  They are the best of the very best.

So I look forward to my doctor's visit.  I know she will be in a good mood - not stressed beyond her limitations, she will be on time, and she won't rush me back out the door the minute the needle is out of my arm.

She will ask how Gary is, she will talk about the weather, most likely we will talk about spring and our over anxious need to get out in the garden.

When she asks me if "there is anything else" she won't already be rising out of her chair and heading towards the door... and I won't have seen a sign any on any wall anywhere in the clinic about the 2 complaint rule - you know the one that says if you have over 2 medical complaints you have to book a new appointment.

So I must get ready...

Talk to you tomorrow!

I DOUBLE DOG DARE DALE!

I have been in kind of a flux, where my crafting and projects are concerned.  I don't seem to be in the mood to crochet, knit, stitch - even reading has seemed boring to me of late.

I still have several bags of very sad dolls from my pick at the hoarders house last fall, that I have been walking past all winter where they sit on the floor in the stairwell to my attic studio.

I actually kind of forgot all about them  - until last week when my cousin and her friend came up for a visit.  It was so nice to meet another of my readers in person that day, and we talked about the post where I described my experience with these rather sad dolls.

She wanted to see my collection so up we went to the doll/craft room.  On our way up, I reached in one of the bags and pulled out a very large 1960's fashion doll to show the general condition of the dolls I had found that day back in fall.

I put the doll on the step and forgot about her - until yesterday morning.  I was heading up to my computer, coffee cup in hand, and there she was - still where I had dropped her.  I picked her up and brought her along up to my work area.

She is so sad...to begin with she is filthy - her hair is falling out, she is missing 2 fingers on her right hand, and her dress - which may or may not be original is in shreds.

 

 

I'll bet she was stunning when she was new.  She has green eyes - that's not all that common in dolls - they are cloudy and dirty - but maybe I can bring them back.

I start to imagine her clean with peach-coloured skin, sparkling green eyes, shiny new blonde hair, a beautiful ball gown of shimmering silk, a wrap, a pair of sparkling beaded high-heel slippers and a purse - Oh, and a glorious big round hat with a plume!

Ahhhh.... she is gorgeous!

Ta-Da! I am not bored anymore.  Off comes the torn material some would call a dress, and down to the bathroom sink we go.  I can clean her up - maybe I can even re-root some new hair for her...

Do you think I can go so far as to make that outfit?

Wouldn't it be challenging to see if I can?

Remember, I am not the seamstress I wanna be!


Is that a DARE I hear?

A DOUBLE DOG DARE even?


Hmmmmm...