Designing a Weekend!

Hope no one is rushing here this morning to see what I created or "Designed" on the weekend.  Don't be terribly disappointed in me when I tell you I created not one thing, nor did I design anything.

My weekend flew by, in typical weekend fashion leaving me dissatisfied with myself for accomplishing  - well - not much at all.

Who said we have to be productive every minute anyway?  I am very productive all week at work - I work hard and accomplish an awful lot - so perhaps weekends should be resting up and doing nothing time?

Well anyway - if life was so perfect we'd all be a lot different than we are.  Thank goodness it's not perfect - it is more interesting that way!

I did get my laundry done - and I did get to the thrift store - which I had not been to in about a month.  I found a real piano lamp there - you know the brass kind that can be adjusted in two places... I have wanted one of these on my piano for a long time.  You can adjust them to shine right down on the music with less shine in the eyes, and because my old piano is an upright I needed a light that could be lowered down the front of the box.  This one is perfect.

And because of that one 6.99 purchase at the thrift store, my plans for the weekend changed.  I realized I had been neglecting one of my other talents so I sat at the piano and played - and played - and played.   What a wonderful way to while away a rainy afternoon!

I also spent some time next door with my neighbour, Elaine.  It's been 4 months since her husband Gordon passed away  - and she has been doing very well - but yesterday was Gordon's birthday - it was a hard day for her, and a week ago she had to put down her beloved Sparky, so she was feeling quite sad.  She needed to talk and she needed to hear how well she is doing, and that there are people who love her...

She made her cheese scones, we had coffee, we talked, we cried and we laughed... mainly due to this little fellow...

Meet Minty!

Minty is the new addition to her home.  He will never replace Sparky, but already he has healed some of her broken heart.  He is 8 wks old, already trained and a very loving and good little guy.  He is exactly what Elaine has needed.

Katie, is not quite sure yet how she feels about this young brat - but at least she is no longer hissing and spitting at him.

So how was my weekend?

I'd say, it was rather Blessed!

It's time!

It's time for a little "Designing" time for myself.  I joined a very large Chatty Cathy group and they have several events coming up for Chatty that require some special outfits.  One is a Halloween Masquerade party.  I have already decided what I want to dress my doll up as - but now I have to create the outfit.  I am going to crochet it (somehow) and I am going to use some of the stash of hand-spun wool my neighbor gave me to make it...  That is this weekend's goal.

Well that and the usual house cleaning- cooking-laundry stuff that usually goes on.  I also am ready to tackle my first re-root (hair) on a doll.  I have been too busy to tackle it before now, but it's time.  I will try and take some pictures along the way  - if I do an okay job, you'll see them - if I don't - you won't!

I really would like to make my cabbage rolls but I think that can wait one more week - not really in the mood for that this weekend.  I usually make many dozen at this time of the year and then again before Christmas.

I am finding being back to working a 5-day week is really tiring.  But I have a week off following Thanksgiving so that should refresh me somewhat... I hope!

So have a great weekend everyone - get out and enjoy the wonderful colors of fall if you can.  We are supposed to have a rainy weekend, so it might be a bit wet for that here - but we won't complain - we really need the rain very badly around these parts.

Talk to you next week!

Bye Bye Sweet Friend!

This is a re-post from a couple of years back.  It is a poem I wrote about my neighbor's cat Sparky after cat-sitting both him and young Katie for a month while his people were away.

Sparky was the sweetest old fellow, and he passed away last Friday.  He will be so missed by Elaine, his owner, and by me too - his surrogate owner.  He leaves behind a very sad a lonely Katie... who just can't quite understand why her best friend has not come home.

RIP Sparky!

SPLENDID SPARKY SPEAKS

Sparky was a splendid cat,

Refined, mature and wise.

He’d been around the world a time or two,

You could see it in his eyes.

He’d hunted rabbits in the wild,

When New Zealand was his home;

He’d been all around the globe,

Except perhaps, to Rome.

His humans were a caring sort,

And sought a friend for him,

The cat they bought to give him joy

Believed the house a gym.

She was a very active gal,

Naughty, more to truth;

It could have been her nature,

But he thought it was her youth.

Mishaps became the normal day,

He had to struggle through.

She listened to no cat advice,

No, not a single mew.

Soon he became complacent,

Or maybe he was bored;

For after all his humans knew

That really, he was Lord.

A tune up was what he’d suggest,

If ever they would ask;

He could even offer them,

Assistance to the task.

Ah, Sparky was a splendid cat,

Refined mature and wise;

Yup, he’d sure welcome any chance,

To cut her down to size.

2010

Dale Graumann

Another "Little Thing"

Speaking of little things - is there anything nicer than receiving a plant - or flowers - unexpectedly?

I don't think so.

I has been a particularly difficult four months at work - with a new billing program topping off a slew of computer related problems and issues.  Downtime has been rampant - work time has been frustrating, even without having more doctors added to my work load.  Most of the physician's I bill for (17 of them) don't bother to even ask how it's going - you'd think they would - after all it is their income...

But there is one who has asked each and every time he steps in the room, and he has shown genuine interest and empathy when we needed to vent or rant or rave.

Yesterday he brought this to the office - just to say thanks for all we do...

A  "Little Token" , says he - 

"Goes a long way", says me...

It's a little thing (according to him) but it has given us joy, and it will continue to do so for a long time to come...

Thank You Dr. R!

Pay attention to the little things!

Who knew I would miss sitting down every evening to write a blurb for my blog... It has become something I do right after I get the supper dishes done - I write my blog for the next day.  In a way it is a good way for me to think about what has gone on in my life - it makes me remember the little things that one tends to set aside as non-important.  Everything is life is important however - the older you get the more true that becomes.

Little things can take one down a very long path.  It happens to me all the time, and I will admit I did not always pay attention to the detail of the path - but I do now.  I don't know why I do - but I do.

It happened yesterday.  I was walking to church in the morning - it's a nice long walk through an older well-established neighborhood that dates back to the very early 1900's.  I love looking at the big old houses as I meander along.  I got to one corner and noticed that there were a lot of oak leaves on the ground, then I noticed the acorns, also on the ground.  Suddenly I was 8 yrs old, and I could almost see myself with a brown paper bag in my hand, down at the end of our street collecting acorns for my grandfather's pigs.  It got me to thinking... my Grandpa lived on a farm with hundreds of oak trees all around.  Whatever prompted me to fill bag after bag of acorns from one oak tree down the street?  I really don't know - but I did every fall.

Funnier yet  - my Dad packed them in the trunk of the car and we drove over 2 hours to see Grandpa and deliver them to the pigs.  My Grandpa was not an easy man to get to know - but it says much about him to me now, when I remember him being delighted that I had brought the acorns, and making a big show of helping me feed them to his pigs, who I'm sure were well fed on grain and chop...

That one little moment eased my heart somewhat, especially since I had spent a large part of my weekend being sad, knowing a sibling of mine was in town, and knowing he would not be contacting me.

A little thing like an acorn laying on the sidewalk - turned out to be not such a little thing at all - AND I got to write about it here, which made it all make sense somehow.

Profound!

May the little things bring you joy in your life...

Just checking in to say HI

Just popping in to say a quick  HI!  Hope everyone is doing fine.

I have been very busy since I decided to take my break.  In the short time I have been away a lot has happened.

First a real sweet and good, long-time friend of ours has passed away.  I have known Rick for thirty-some years or more.  He passed away last week and his funeral is tomorrow.  My love to his wife Donna, and their children, Graham and Hailey.  Rick was one of those people who gave, gave, gave - he was funny and kind, always there when you needed him... a real good friend...and he cooked a mean turkey.  Love you Rick - rest in peace, my friend...

I made a 18 minute you-tube video on how to make bread-dough clay... if you are interested you can watch it here...
http://youtu.be/s5BCG07Wvb8

I will be following it up soon with another video on what and how to create things from the clay...

I finished the afghan for my great-niece who has started college away from home...

I inherited more yarn - real hand spun wool (on the floor) this time from my neighbor Elaine.  So now my stash looks like this...

Looks like a lot but believe it or not - not enough of any one thing to make a human sweater.  However there is more than enough to do many doll outfits!

And speaking of dolls... I made new pj's for my Cathy's so they could participate in the first ever Chatty Cathy PJ Party on Facebook.  It was awesome - we all had a blast - and my photo was one of the top 5 chosen ( out of hundreds) so I am pretty happy about that.

Next Up?

Still trying to get outfits done to open my Etsy shop... there is a Halloween Masquerade Party coming up next month for the Cathy's... I already know what I'm dressing one up as...

Choir is great this year - I am enjoying being back singing again...

The fall weather is upon us - much cooler - yeah - the leaves are starting to turn, and every morning I hear the geese flying south.

Winter is just around the corner...

It's all good...

Till next time - take care everyone!

Isn't this the cutest girl you ever saw?

Taking a Break!

Happy Monday morning everyone!

I apologize for not updating the "Cathy" story as I promised.  I have pretty much had to start from the beginning on the story as my computer issues have pretty much shut me out of my document - and of course I had not backed up most of it - so there you go.

I do know better than to do these things, but my mind has been preoccupied with so much of late, that I am thinking that perhaps now is not the ideal time to be writing this in the first place!

I am really struggling to accomplish way more than I should even be attempting, and so for this reason I have decided to take a little time away from here so I can get myself back on track.  I have re-evaluated my priorities to some degree and I realize that although I do have a handful of faith-full followers, this blog is hit and miss at the best of times.

The reality is that is takes a lot of time, to plan and write a daily blog - even a weekly blog.  What takes the reader minutes to read -  takes me an hour or more to write (on a good day).  Right now I just don't have the time I need to devote to this project.

Also I have some reservations as to who is reading my blog.  When I set this site up I made the decision to leave it open so it would be available to everyone.  That will most certainly change when and if I start to blog again.  There are some who don't want to communicate with me, who don't want to be part of my life, but they don't mind reading all about what is going on in my life - here.  You know who you are, and all I can say is - Sorry to spoil your fun!

So for now I am going to take a break from blogging... while I concentrate on some other important things in my life.

God willing, we will chat again soon -