Bring on the weekend!

What  week!  I am so happy it is Friday and the weekend looms ahead.

I have been spinning my wheels trying to get caught up at work, a task that I think I might actually have accomplished for once, but I am not fooled into believing that is will last for long.

The wheels have been turning at home as well.  I have such a mess in my craft room that I can barely find the chair or table in there.  Once again I have a zillion things started, a couple of things finished, and a mind full of ideas yet to start.  I have to get this under control  - I really do!

I have managed to finish 4 doll sweaters - they now need hats to complete the sets.  And perhaps a bit of embellishments as well  - after all they are for dolls...  I know they won't last long so I am knitting more so I can get a head start on them.

Last night at choir practice I was reading the upcoming bulletin and saw the church is having a tea and craft sale in December - news to me...

And what do you think my brain is doing today - would you believe me if I said - thinking about getting a table?  You know me too well!

Speaking of choir practice - it went well - and we sound fantastic - so much so that we have been asked to sing for a wedding on October 19th.  How exciting is that!  We will be doing Jesu Joy - which personally is not one of my favourites - but we do it well, so the bride and groom will be happy.  I hope to sneak my ipod into a practice so I can record a couple of pieces for you.

Tomorrow is going to be cabbage roll making time.  I have to buy my ingredients tonight, and plan to spend the morning in the kitchen.  Maybe I'll do a little baking as well - it has been awhile since I have had any baking in the freezer.

So on we go - have a safe and productive weekend everyone!

BOO!

Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day here.  The weather turned warm, the colors are vibrant on the trees and also on the ground as the leaves are falling.  My favourite time of the year, finally is here!

I have another contest coming up in the Chatty group.  This one is to have a fall picture with a Chatty in it, and the only other thing that the picture must have is the word BOO.. somewhere.  It has to be posted on Oct 5th on the Chatty group site - and of course there is a prize for the best picture.

I knew right away what I wanted to do, but for this project I decided a smaller Chatty would have to be used as Cathy is pretty heavy.  I crocheted the letters BOO in black and glued them to a lollipop stick.  Then I dressed my doll - this is one that really needs to be restored - but I haven't tackled it yet.

So here are the two pictures I came up with.

What do you think?

Basically the same picture, one is just a little closer than the other.  Think I will use the second one.

Cute or what?

So wish me luck - maybe I'll win the prize!

There is also another prize to be won at the Masquerade at the end of the month.  For this one a Chatty has to be in a costume.  I haven't made one yet, but I do know what I will make.

In the meantime, I have been trying to make some things for my Etsy shop.  I'd really like to get it up and running within the next week or two - so stay tuned for more on that.

And last but not least - a big (((HUG))) for my nephew Leigh this morning - today he starts a new journey as he sets up housekeeping in his first apartment.  Good Luck Leigh!

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...