The sky is on fire!

Our sunset on Saturday, just gorgeous.......

Makes you glad to be alive, don't you think?

New photo of Miss Nora:

This photo was taken on November 27th.  She is back to her birth weight and is even sleeping through the night up  to a five hour stretch at a time, which is really good.   She is more alert and aware of whats going on around her.  Her hair looks darker but I think it's the way the light is.  Can't wait to see her tomorrow!!!

 Isn't this a super cute outfit?  They were gifted it and its from Gymboree  It's a six month size so goodness knows when Miss Nora will wear them as she is still in newborn sizes.

I will catch you all up with what has been going on, on Sunday.  It's been a super busy week around here and probably won't slow down for a while.

Just popping in.........

to say it cost me $39.25 for all the postage for this years Christmas cards........so far!!  I am hoping it won't be anymore.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon cooking; for both us and dd.

I made dd a sausage risotto, Swedish meatballs and gravy, and a couple of bags of mashed potatoes.  

For us I have two meals of Swedish meatballs and gravy, plus a meatloaf all ready to cook in the freezer.  Two portions of mashed potatoes and three small bags of ground beef and onions all fried up ready to add to a meal.

Today I am making sweet and sour chicken and rice; one meal for us and one meal for dd and son-in-law.  Plus I want to make a carrot cake and get the ingredients together for a Loaded "Baked Potato" Soup for Wednesday's lunch while I am at dd.

I am on making a Sour Dough Starter as well at the moment.  I wanted to see how easy/hard it was to make my own Sour Dough Bread. I am using this recipe.  I am day five of making the starter and won't get chance to make any bread until Thursday at the earliest.  

Do any of you make Sour Dough Bread?  Any Tips if you do?

I am also getting my winter tires put on the car this afternoon and this morning I want to get the bathrooms cleaned and all the attic tidied up.  I got the new basement all sorted out so that's one job off my list.  

I guess I had better get on with it all as it will soon be 2:30 pm when I have to leave the house to go to town to the garage.

Have a good day!

Before and after photos of the family room.........

Finally giving you an update on the family room.  What a difference is all I can say.   This is the before photo:

 After:

Before

 After:

Before:

After:

So what we have done:

Painted the ceiling white and the wood paneling cream.  Added trim (baseboard) and painted that white.  Put in a carpet over the 1974 hardwood floor. 

Added wall lights.  Replaced the iron railings with a drywall half wall, and topped it with stained pine.  All the electrical has been updated with new fittings, and new sockets have been added to the half wall.  We moved the computer and it makes the room seem bigger.

We have taken the sofa from the living room and put the green sofa down in the new basement.  When the house goes up for sale we will also put the matching green chair down there as well.

This was not a cheap reno, but really cheap compared to doing the attic or the new basement.  However the difference it has made was well worth the expense.

It's been a few days since my last blog post, hasn't it?

Last week was a busy week and in all honesty this coming week isn't looking much better.  Will say though I am very pleased to announce that I have all my Christmas cards written, the dreaded Christmas letter written and everything is ready to mail out for tomorrow.  Here's hoping I get change out of $40 for mailing just the British Christmas cards.  I'll let you know.

On Wednesday I went down to dd and son-in-law's to do some batch cooking for them.  Also to have some Nora time!!!

She seems to be doing fine, not that I had much conversation with her as she was asleep most of the time.  However she did let off the biggest fart for such a small baby.  All her newborn clothes are still too big, but she is feeding well and has plenty of dirty diapers, so that's a good sign, right?  She also had her first "photo shoot," as her parents wanted baby photos taken of her.  She slept right through the session.

I will be seeing her on Wednesday when I go down again.

We didn't go this weekend, as we had things to do to get ready for winter, which included putting up the snow fences.  As it was it was a heck of a shock to get up to all the snow we got overnight on Saturday.  It took dh an hour and a half to blow out the driveway.

One thing we have going on this week is I have arranged for two real estate agents to visit the house on Thursday and Friday to see what they say about the house and any suggestions they have.  Also I want to see what they can offer us and what their plan of action would be for our house if we signed with them.  I am favouring one agent as I have met her and talked to her.  The other lady (both are women) is a lot younger and maybe not as experienced in this area.  Regardless I'll give both of them a fair shot and see who we like better.

So it will be a major cleaning and tidying up week for me.  I also have a few little jobs that need to be accomplished in amongst hands.  Dh got a number of little jobs crossed his list this weekend so that is good.

Look out for a before and after post tomorrow!

Look who is ten months old already:

She is growing up so fast, and I think she will be walking soon, as she is pretty steady on her feet when walking around furniture and would rather do the bum shuffle than crawl.

It doesn't seem like long since she was looking like this:

Other other little sweetie Nora left hospital last night with a clean bill of health.  Dd levels are still low as she lost a lot of blood, but they are slowly climbing.  Her husband is off until January 4th so he will be taking good care of her while she recovers from her c-section.

I am going down sometime this week to do a batch cook for them so will have more photos then.

Space Age Stroller..........

things have come a long, long way since I had our children and I was fascinated with Our Little Princess' stroller.  It is state of the art and very high tech and from what I can see is a Graco make:

 It even has lights, that's those white things and there are two smaller LED lights on the rounded bit.

 We were saying this was the GPS, but it's not.  It does however monitor how fast you are going, how far you are going, the temperature etc.  The yellow button is the automatic control to fold down the stroller and you press it again to have the stroller back up into position.  I couldn't get over it.  Oh and Our Little Princess hates being in it!!!

 Here are the two "N's" meeting one another for the first time.  By the way both were born on a Saturday and both were 6 lb 1 oz when born.

Here is our Miss Nora all bundled up like a little burrito!!!

 Here she is again with that expression of look at me I have just pooped again, which she had!!!

Even the newborn outfits are too large for her at the moment.

Say hello to Nora Christine.........

She was born at 5:03 am on Saturday November 16th (due date was December 3rd) weighing in at 6 lbs 1 0z.  Dd was induced due to blood pressure issues, but neither dd nor Nora was doing that great so dd had a c-section.

Nora is a sweet little girl who takes after no one but Nora herself.  She of course gave her Nana her first smile; mind you that could be something to do with the fact she had just filled her diaper and was obviously pleased with herself.  She has brown hair at the moment, but she will probably be blonde or light brown down the road like her parents.

Dd and Nora are in hospital for 48 hours due to the c-section; which to my mind is a blessing as I think they are released much too early nowadays.

I will be sharing more photos in the coming days.  By the way that newborn hat is miles too big.

What are your thoughts on this:

A relative went to a funeral for a man he knew.  On the "programme" (can't remember the right name for it) there was a request that sort of went like this:

"Joe's cell phone number is still connected, please call it and leave a message for him.  We will be burying it with him."

Personally I think that's creepy.  I was telling dh about it and he said under no circumstances to do that with him.  As I pointed out he never answers the phone at home anyway so it would be a total waste of time.

Meanwhile me and the lady who told me this story were killing ourselves laughing at the fact that if someone was walking through the cemetery and the cell phone started ringing from the grave they would be past themselves.

So do you want your cell phone buried with you?  If I had to pick an item it would be my lap top!!!

Update on the step ladder story..........

I still feel as though I have a burning sensation on my tail bone but am not hobbling as much.  It's worse when I am sitting and when I am trying to lift up my legs higher than a regular step.  I went into town to "run" some errands yesterday and I was crippled with sitting in the car.  However I do feel as though there is a bit of an improvement happening.

Must have bopped my head as it feels as though its all bruised, but luckily the bruising hasn't come out on the skin!!!

Last night was a gorgeous sunset that I wanted to share with you:

Makes you glad to be alive.

I had a fight with the step ladder.....

and the step ladder won.....

I landed on my tail bone and at the moment feel as though I have a bowling ball of a lump there {SIGH}  I am now very proficient in the "hobble dance."

Luckily I didn't have a can of paint with me; I was pulling off the masking tape.  As for the colour of the kitchen walls; dh hates the colour and said we I will be re-painting them if we don't sell the house {{SIGH}}

Onwards and upwards as they say!

Oh and heard this song today and thought it was good:

Busy again with this.......

Painting the kitchen.

 I painted it Fossil MSL227, from the Martha Stewart Living colours.  It is more green though than brown and looked a bit grey in certain light on the walls.  I am also going to paint the mud room the same colour.

I know I owe you all after photos of the family room,  I will get to those later in the week.

Happy Birthday dd

It's her birthday today, and between me and you she is closer to 30 than she is too 20!!!  They are coming up to our house and we are taking her, son-in-law and son out for lunch, as this will be the last time without there being a baby present we are guessing.  Just over three weeks to go now.  This is her last week at work also.  She is taking two weeks vacation and then starts her maternity leave of one year.

Went to see Our Little Princess on Saturday.  They came back from India on Wednesday and Our Little Princess had been ill had caught some sort of bug so she had lost a couple of pounds in weight.  Plus she has a little bit of a cough.

She is now crawling and can pull herself up to standing.  I think she'll be walking in no time as she was at the end of the sofa and headed towards me.  Wasn't sure about me when I first walked in, but soon warmed up to me after a while.  I think her head has grown as has her hair.  Her mom says she is a lot darker, but I didn't really think so?  She has one of those funny bandana bibs on. 

And yes their family room is yellow and orange in colour and it does look really good.  I would never have dreamed of putting those two colours together but it really works.

Dh and I were in Tim Hortons later on and I see the Christmas cups are out now.  Notice how I take the top off the Raspberry Muffin and eat the bottom first!!!

Patrick Swayze is very easy on the eyes, wouldn't you say?

Why I am bringing this up; the other day on tv the movie Roadhouse, which stars Patrick Swayze was on.

 I was doing some hand sewing at the time so I watched the movie while doing that.

Then when I was searching for The Cookies song on Youtube I stumbled across this song:


Which in turn reminded me of this fabulous scene in Dirty Dancing:



Think I need to take a shower now to cool off...LOL

Finally found it after searching forever......

I heard this song a week or two ago and it stuck in my head, but I couldn't for the life of me remember who the group was or the title of the song.



All I could remember was "my baby has got me in chains."  Now between me and you when you put that phrase in the Google search engine, songs are the last things that pop up!!!  Don't need to say anymore do I?

Anyway I love this song hope you enjoy it also.

Crazy busy as always.  Got a phone call from the kitchen folk and they should be delivering our kitchen cupboards on Monday which is four days ahead of schedule.  I had planned on painting the walls of the kitchen next week.  Still will do it I think, just got to get the paint. I am thinking of a colour like this to paint the walls: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-ca/paint-color/sagewisdom

Remember remember the fifth of November............

Remember remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot... 

Guy Fawkes & the Gunpowder PlotWords of "Remember Remember" refer to Guy Fawkes with origins in 17th century English history. On the 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was subsequently tried as a traitor with his co-conspirators for plotting against the government. He was tried by Judge Popham who came to London specifically for the trial from his country manor Littlecote House in Hungerford, Gloucestershire. Fawkes was sentenced to death and the form of the execution was one of the most horrendous ever practised (hung, drawn and quartered) which reflected the serious nature of the crime of treason.

The Tradition begins...The following year in 1606 it became an annual custom for the King and Parliament to commission a sermon to commemorate the event. Lancelot Andrewes delivered the first of many Gunpowder Plot Sermons. This practice, together with the nursery rhyme, ensured that this crime would never be forgotten! Hence the words "Remember, remember the 5th of November"

The poem is sometimes referred to as 'Please to remember the fifth of November'. It serves as a warning to each new generation that treason will never be forgotten. In England the 5th of November is still commemorated each year with fireworks and bonfires culminating with the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes (the guy). The 'guys' are made by children by filling old clothes with crumpled newspapers to look like a man. Tradition allows British children to display their 'guys' to passers-by and asking for " A penny for the guy".

(Thanks to this site for that info)

There is no Bonfire night here in Canada though.  In this household we have another reason to remember this day, as it was the day when our daughter and son-in-law were married.  They celebrate their second wedding anniversary today.  Those two years have gone by fast, and we are down to four weeks now until the baby arrives!!

My own personal Lumberjack!

Sunday was a lovely day, pretty cold but at least the sun was shining.  After Friday's wind and rain storm there was a bit of tidying up to do by the willow trees.  They may look pretty but gosh they are messy trees.  This is the before:

 This is the after:

 Dh also decided to try and tidy up a bit where the tree had fallen.  As you can see to the left of him there is still one large limb hanging onto the tree.  I have cleaned up a lot around there are well, and had a fire to burn all the twigs.  Just forgot to take an after photo.

My own personal lumberjack will be cleaning out all the gutters next Saturday as finally nearly all the leaves are off the tree and I guess we should get the snow fences up while the weather is reasonably warm.

Getting the carpet laid in the family room today, so pretty excited about that!  

P.S. I have some new book reviews up on my Book Review Blog if anyone is interested?

We said goodbye to our trusty friend last night......

She served us well over the past four years, but as many of you know she gave up the ghost in June.  Now to be fair dh welded up the chassis and she did work, but has been outside since.  We used her to pull things in the trailer, but we never put the cutting deck back on her.

Over the last week or so I have put things onto Kijiji and we decided to have a go selling her.  On Saturday afternoon I went onto Kijiji to see what lawn tractors were selling for and there was an ad on Kijiji that said "Wanted Craftsman Tractors Dead or Alive."  To cut a long story short we sold her for $125, as honestly she wasn't worth much and we were pleased to get that much for her. Mind you the guy also got spare parts that were worth in excess of $100, but they were of no use to us.

So, so far in the last month we have sold a kitchen sink, some bundles of insulation, a package of vapor barrier, an old sewing machine and at least 75 magazines and now the tractor.  I still think it is a total pain in the butt selling things on Kijiji, but the goods we sold will come in useful for the people who bought them and the money comes in handy for us.

I hope come spring we have as much success in selling the wood chipper, the rototiller and the log splitter!

Look at all the Christmas trees that are cut and wrapped already?  This is why I prefer my artificial tree rather than a "fresh" one that drops it's needles!

Photos of the Baby's Nursery....

With less than five weeks to go now the baby's nursery is all done, and has been done for a few weeks now.  It is looking lovely, although I have yet to see it in person, I am a bad mother/Nana as I haven't had time to go to the house.

 

You've seen the tree on the wall, it does look lovely doesn't it?

 

 That looks like a comfy corner to nurse the baby.  Dd made the mobile herself.  I did tell her to take another photo of the mobile but she hasn't done it.

 The crib turns into a toddler and then an adult bed so is multi purpose.

Now all we have to do is await the arrival of the little one.  Feel sorry for poor dd as she has no ankles now as her feet is terribly swollen, but it's the way the baby is laying.  Her heartburn is still bad and she now has a terrible cough.  So the sooner this is over with the better.  She only has two more weeks at work so that is good, then she can relax a bit before the baby arrives.

Well it at least fell away from the house...

I am not surprised this tree partially fell down as it is rotten and needed to be felled, just glad it fell away from the house.  The wind has been bloody wicked here and add in the rain it has been down right nasty at times.  Just glad it came down as rain and not snow.

So I guess part of tomorrow (weather permitting) will be tidying up the mess.  Can't believe there are leaves clinging on for dear life on some of the trees?  How's the weather in your neck of the woods?