Books I read in November...........

 "The Seamstress of Sardinia," by Bianca Pitzorno

In 1900 Sardinia, a young woman's remarkable talent with a needle earns her a position as a seamstress with a wealthy family. Inside this privileged world far different from her own humble beginnings, the skilled sewer quietly takes measurements, sketches designs, mends hems--and in the silence, hears whispered secrets and stories of all those around her.

Through the watchful young seamstress's eyes, this small Italian city and its residents emerge in all their vitality, vanity, and fragility--flawed yet congenial people who are not quite what they pretend to be. There is the Marchesa Esther, who rides horses and studies mechanics and ancient Greek; Miss Lily Rose, a spirited American journalist who commissions a special corset--with pockets to hide more than just her flaws; the Provera sisters with their expensive Parisian fashions that belie their financial hardships; and Assuntina, the wild child. There are men, young, old, and in between; love affairs and broken hearts; and even a murder (or was it suicide?). And at the center, watching and waiting is the seamstress herself, an intelligent, ambitious girl with a tender heart and her own impossible dream.

An irresistible literary confection rich in atmosphere and period detail and packed with compelling characters. The Seamstress of Sardinia transports us to a long-ago world not so removed from our own--to a society rigidly divided by wealth and shaped by passion, hope, ambition, and love--the elemental forces that drive human lives.

I actually enjoyed this book; but I can see how it's not to everyone's taste.  It feels as though it's five mini books, with one central character, the seamstress connecting them.  Funny thing about the main character, she is never actually given a name in the book?  I didn't realize this until I actually sat down to write this?

Anyhow, these are stories the author's grandmother told her and quite entertaining they were.  If I had to choose the one I liked best, it was the one about the Provera sisters.  I actually chuckled at the ending.  The stories do show how the society was very divided by wealth on upbringing.  I got this book from Book Outlet.

"In Another Time," by Caroline Leech

It’s 1942, and Maisie McCall is in the Scottish Highlands doing her bit for the war effort as a Women’s Timber Corps lumberjill. Maisie relishes her newfound independence and her growing friendships—especially with the enigmatic John Lindsay.

As Maisie and John work side-by-side felling trees, Maisie can’t help but feel like their friendship has the spark of something more to it. And yet every time she gets close to him, John pulls away. It’s not until Maisie rescues John from a terrible logging accident that he begins to open up to her about the truth of his past, and the pain he’s been hiding.

Suddenly everything is more complicated than Maisie expected. And as she helps John untangle his shattered history, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her heart to help heal his. But in a world devastated by war, love might be the only thing left that can begin to heal what’s broken.

I had a vested interest in this book, as my Nana was a lumberjill.  Not in Scotland in Cumberland.  She also had a young child at the time, so she would drop her off at school and then go out to woods, so slightly different scenario than this book.

This book was all about how a young girl grows up and falls in love despite all the obstacles thrown in her way.  It was also about friendship and how people can pull together when under great stress.

I enjoyed the book, it wasn't a difficult read.  There is a Lumberjill's statue commemorating the hard work of the ladies during World War II in Aberfoyle, Scotland.  That is something I would love to visit, next time we are in the UK.  There is both a Canadian and American link to this book, as some of the ladies, married Canadian's and American's who served over in the UK during this time.

"The Truth About The Accident," by Nicole Trope

I gaze at my husband’s once handsome face, so still and pale in the hospital bed. The doctors say I should keep talking. He might be able to hear me even after the terrible accident that left him fighting for his life. But all I have to whisper to my husband is I know what you did.

Every day I wave my husband Damon off with a kiss and a smile, drive our precious children to school, and make sure our house is pristine before preparing a delicious meal. I pretend I’m not filled with fury that he once nearly destroyed our perfect life. It’s important to carry on as normal.

That is, until the accident.

My husband was hit by a car. It was pouring with rain. Nobody saw what happened. But the police are asking questions…

Do they know about the terrible argument we had that day?

Do they know about the text message I sent, telling someone to Delete everything ?

And do they know that no one is happier that my husband is in a hospital bed, than me?

I go this book from Indigo, in their 3 for $10 section.  It's a mystery drama, involving a man who feels it's fine to have a wife and children, and having multiple women on the side with whom he is having affairs.......

He's involved in an accident, and the police class it as a hit and run; but is there more to it than meets the eye?  You are told the story through multiple women, each with slightly differing stories, and an unknown lady, whose story you're not too sure where it fits in this sordid tale.

Once you get through the first couple of chapters and meet each of the characters, you'll get into the story.  Then you can't put it down, as you're trying to figure out who did what.  

Not an overly taxing book, but plenty in it to keep you interested.

"The Sweetheart List, by Jill Shalvis"

What makes life sweet?

-Freshly baked bread
-A cool lake on a hot summer day
-The comfort of a cozy bookstore
-Second chances and new beginnings

When Harper Shaw’s life falls apart, she knows it’s time for a change. She removes everything that doesn’t spark joy—from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists—and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn’t feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.

With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she’s never experienced since…well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets…

When those secrets explode, it changes Harper’s new world, and she’ll learn, it’s never too late to start over, it’s never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it’s never too late to let yourself believe in love.

Got this from Indigo as part of the 3 for $10 section.  It's a sweet book, pretty predictable, a fast read and one you'll probably forget in a short period of time.  This is book 4 in the Sunrise Cove series, but it works well as a stand alone book.  If you're looking for a light read, that you don't have to concentrate on while reading, this one is for you.

While at son and daughter-in-law's I picked up the book below off her shelf.  Now this book you do have to concentrate on and is not a light read.  I am about half way through it and it is very good so far.  There has already been a couple of surprises in it and I'm guessing there are still more to come!!  You can read more about it here.

Overall quite a mixed variety of books I'd say.

What did you read this month?

Sew Along Cross Stitch....

 Busy day yesterday with a heavy snowfall and being at son's house, so didn't get a chance to post my weekly update.

I say this every week, but I am loving how this is coming along.  The colours she chose are perfect.

As you can see I got very little done on the border.  I have a quieter week this coming week, so hoping to finish the left hand side.

This week's pattern is on the top right square.  Looks like it will be easy enough to do.

She is having a 50% off sale on her Etsy Store at the moment.

Today's Goal's for a 4 year old..........

 This is what I told the teacher at the gate to the Kindergarten entrance.

1. Bring home both his mitten's.......
2. Leave the sand pit at school......

Her response, "Good luck with that!!"

Who knew my life would revolve around mittens and bloody sand all week!!!  LOL

Do you know how far sand travels around a house?  I do, it gets everywhere!!

Crazy busy

Our son and daughter-in-law have gone away on a business trip, so we're babysitting the boys.  The boys are 4 and 7, and are full of energy.  I just wish I have a tiny bit of their energy...LOL  They're really good, but when you're not as active as them it's tiring for sure.

They are such a lovable pair and have lots to say on everything.  When I put them to bed on a night, we go over all the good things that has happened that day, and the 4 year old, just loves that.  It's making me smile just writing this.  I asked him what he dreamt about and he said he was talking to Santa.......he had a huge smile on his face.........such innocence.  

First morning we took them to school we got there just in the nick of time.  The second time we were overly early, so now we just need to get it right.  I have found being organized is a key to getting out of the house in good time, otherwise it's like herding cats!!

They live a five to ten minute walk from school, so we walk back and forth.  One thing I don't like is the amount of people who bring huge dogs to school with them to pick up the kids.  I love larger dogs, more so than the small ones who nip.  However the other day a woman with a dog who was 100 to 120lbs was right by the gate at the Kindergarten and was announcing loudly her dog just loved children and would do them no harm.   Yeah right 😕  Said dog didn't like other dogs though, and up strolled another woman with a mid-sized dog and went right for the large dog.  

Last summer we were picking up our older grandson who was in Grade 1 at the time and up strolled a woman with a "pit-bull like" dog and a snake wrapped round her neck?????  I gave her a wide birth, not for the dog, but the bloody snake...LOL

Anyhow, so this is why I am not visiting your blogs, as in between babysitting, and being at their house, I am prepping for a Christmas party our daughter and I are having at our house this weekend.  Next week it should settle down and I will have more time to visit everyone's blogs.

Have a good week!

Another purchase from Ikea.....

 As I was looking on the website prior to going to Ikea I came across this:

It's plastic doves and leaves made into a wreath.  Very sturdy and ever so pretty.

It takes 3 x AA batteries and has the option to be on all the time or for six hours.

It doesn't give off a whole lot of light, but it does look lovely and is quite flat, so easy to store.

New set up on the hall table......

I have had the bottle brush trees for a while now.  I decided to add the tray as a new thing.

I purchased the tray from Ikea, it's this one which they are calling a candle tray.  I went to the dollar store and picked up the two parcel ornaments.  The "snow" is stuffing that I use in my sewing.  I looked at the dollar store and they were selling something similar, so wanted to use what I had on hand.

The two silver trees, are also what I had on hand.  The ball is one of my Waterford Ornaments, that I just lay on there.  I also had some mini LED lights leftover from another craft, that I laid underneath the "snow."

Super simple and very effective.

Random photos from Ikea

 Had to go to a doctor's appointment in another city the other day, so we popped into Ikea which was a 10 minute drive away to pick up some bits and bobs.  Here are some random photos from Ikea.

One reason I took this photo was that if we forgot where we'd parked I just had to refer back to this photo!!😉

I got a few things, some that I'll share over the next few days......

Niagara Falls (photo heavy)

 Had a night away on Friday.  We were in Niagara Falls.  We stayed at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, just along the road from Fallsview Casino.  The hotel itself is very tired looking, but for the price and the location it's great value for money.  It's a five minute walk to the casino.

The casino/resort is on the hill above the Falls.  If you go out the back of the casino, you look over towards the Falls.  The next few photos are from there.  By the time I took these photos, it was dusk around 5pm.

I am not an expert in casino's as this is the only one I have been in, but it does look lovely all lit up at night.  This was the main entrance area.

We're not big gamblers, but we went in to spend some time playing the slots.  I watch Brian Christopher Slots, every day while having my lunch.  Now our biggest bets were $1 a spin!!  I will say we left the casino after an hour, having a great time, out of pocket by $10 between us.  We would have been up by 55 cents, but we went back in and spent $10 between us on another game, and that was why we lost the $10.

Now the whole reason for going to Fallsview, was to see this show: Tina, Better be good to me!  This was in the Avalon Theatre.

She was pretty good; obviously not as good as Tina, but good all the same.  The show was around 2 hours long and we enjoyed it.  We saw The Tina Turner back in 2008, you can read about that here.

I will say I prefer going to see the shows downtown Toronto.  The acoustics are better, as are the productions.

I personally don't like Niagara Falls, it's overpriced.  It annoys the heck out me how they charge the tourist tax, just don't get it.  However it is a busy place and I do like to look at the Falls.

It made a nice change to go away, and Niagara Falls is only a couple hours drive from where we live.

Looking at booking tickets to see this show in Toronto next.

Christmas SAL

 Another week done with the Cross Stitch Sew Along.

Isn't he cute?  I am just loving the colours.

I didn't get much done on the border this week, and next week will be super busy.

This week's section, which will go to the right of the Santa.  Looks pretty simple and straight forward.

I know I have said this before, but I am loving how simple this is and the colours she chose.  This would be perfect for a beginner as there are no half stitches and no outlining.  Also each section could be used on it's own for ornaments, bookmarks etc.

Just press the bloody button!!

 We moved into this house 7 years ago last weekend.  We have moved numerous times over the years; but have to say this move was the worst one ever.  

Things were going well until it came to transfer our money to the vendor we were purchasing the house from.  We actually closed on our old home in no time flat as both of us were using regular banks.  But the folk we were purchasing our current home from was using some obscure credit union?

Anyhow long story short the movers cleared out our old home around 4 pm, so we contacted the lawyer, too see what's going on.  Back and forth we go and the lawyer confirmed they had sent our money but the credit union hadn't received it.  So all I can say to the lawyer, if you don't have it, the credit union doesn't have it, who does have it?

It was floating in cyber space.  By this time everywhere is closed. 

1. So now, we have sold our old house.
2. The movers have moved everything out of the house and they are sitting by the side of the road, waiting for us to decide where to go.
3. We can't close on our new house.
4. We are missing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Then the icing on the cake..........it starts to snow!!!

The movers took our furniture and parked the truck in their secure parking lot overnight.  We went and stayed at son's house overnight, because technically although the lawyer gave us the keys to the new house, we legally can't stay there.

The next day arrives.  We must have had a foot of snow overnight and can't access our snow blower.  So we borrow son's shovels and go round to the new house to try and shovel us out.  Thankfully one of our new neighbours came over and blew out the driveway for us.  We thanked him, over and over as we were just bone weary from everything.  By 10am that morning, the money arrived at the credit union and we legally owned the house.

We discovered, the reason for this nightmare, someone forgot to press the bloody button to receive the money at the credit union 😖😠  I was so upset, and discussed the situation at length with the lawyer, but was advised it was a total waste of time and money to persue this further and move on; which is what we did.

So here we are 7 years later, and I still cringe when I think back to that day.  The one good thing about it all is that I have no desire to go through that again, so am staying put in this house!!!

Do you have a horror story about moving house?

(Thanks for all the kind comments about my tree and decorations, I truly appreciate them.  Super busy at the moment, but will post some updates of what we have been up too soon!!)

Xmas Tree 2025

 We were away until December 1st last year, so didn't put up a tree or decorations last year.

This year daughter and I are hosting a get together at the end of November at our house, so this year I have to decorate the house.  As the rest of this month we are busy, I found time the other day to put up the tree.

So here is this year's tree.

Always have our British ornaments front and centre!

I found this decoration amongst my stash.  Do you remember 2020..........

Can't believe it's already been five years.  This year is the first time I skipped my covid booster.  Got my flu shot though.  I am one of the lucky ones who has never had covid.  Hubby got it, but I never did.

This time last year......

we were in the UK for a funeral.  Our two children popped over as well for a few days to attend said funeral, as it was their Pop who had passed.

However one of the funnier stories of our time over there involved the kids.  They flew into and out of Manchester airport.  As no one (including us!!) wanted to be in Manchester for 7am to pick them up; as we were staying two hours away, so they decided to take the train up to Carlisle and we would pick them up from there.  It was relatively cheap and they got to see some of the countryside while traveling up.

They had only been on the train half an hour or so, when they pulled into Preston; which turns out to be a main hub.  There was an announcement on the train that they driver was taking his break ??????? (we were all stunned with this!!)  Okay, so the kids sit there, and a few minutes later there was another announcement that the train was now cancelled as they didn't have a driver....WTF????? (again this also shocked us)

Luckily the kids will talk to anyone and they got talking to a fellow passenger who was heading to Penrith, which is the stop before Carlisle.  Our daughter recognized the town's name, so knew we would come and pick them up from there.  They go with this guy to another train and get on board the train. (This guy also told them how to get a refund)  They are sitting there waiting for it to leave.  Then there was another announcement, that the original train was now running!!!!  

So back they go to the original train and they travel up to Carlisle.  Shockingly they were only an hour late.

So a few days later they have to travel back down to Manchester again by train.  The day they left they had booked seats for around 7pm, as they were staying overnight at the airport and flying out the next morning.  That day it was pouring down, torrential rain.  So by around 3pm we saying to them you'd best check the trains and see if they're still running.  At that point there were numerous cancellations, so they rebooked for the 4pm train that was still running and headed out to the station, as it was around half an hour away.  My brother and hubby drove them down.  As they were driving down to the station daughter received a cancellation notice for all trains running down to Manchester.  So brother and hubby drove them all the way down to Manchester.

This time it was a landslide that had closed the line at Lancaster.  Luckily with both these problems daughter got her train fares refunded.

Fast forward to this summer and again daughter and her family were in London and went to visit my mother and took the train up to see her.  We were all on pins and needles as to whether the trains would run.  They did with no issues I'm pleased to say.

The sad thing about this story and I am sure the readers in the UK will confirm none of this is unusual with the UK rail system.

I can't comment on the rail system here in Canada, as I have never used it.  If you have in Canada, please let us know how you got on.  Or if you're from another country, do you use your train system to travel around?

I'll take one please!

I was in Costco the other day and saw the viral Lindt Chocolate Advent Calendar.  I LOVE Lindt Chocolate.  It's around 5 feet tall and yes $249.99 CDN.  So of course I didn't buy one.  One, I am diabetic, and two, I have no room for those extra calories; but boy would I love to eat one of those!!!

We were at Ikea this week and I picked up this advent calendar for myself.  At $14.99 that seemed reasonable.  I am not an expert on Scandinavian  chocolate, so it'll be interesting to see what it tastes like.

Do you buy an advent calendar for yourself, and if so which one do you get?  I am going to pass this year.  I do enjoy the regular Lindt one though.

The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men

I was watching video's on Facebook, when an exercise video popped up using this music.  This song was one of the hits of April 1984 when our son was born, as I noted it down in his baby book.   You can see a list of all the top hits from April 1984 here.

Daughter turned 40 this past week, so this is one of the top 40 hit's from that week:

Here is more from that week.

Well that was a blast from the past for me!!!

"This song makes my depression have a depression,"

Thankfully, I didn't have any liquid in my mouth at the time I read that, as I snorted with laughter at that comment!!! Now be warned if you listen to this song, the "F" word is used in this song. So if you're offended by bad language make sure you don't listen to it.  This is the original version.

 

I will say I prefer this version, it doesn't use bad language.  Haley Reinhart is such a talented singer.

Sew Along

So another week has has gone by and this is the progress I made.  I finished the centre panel and the bottom border, so very pleased with my progress.

This week's section if the for top left side space, and look very easy.

I am getting into the groove with this sew along.  I am recognizing how this designer thinks now.  It's a very straight forward pattern with good repeats.  I am loving the colours she is using also.

This week I am hoping to complete the above section and a good chunk of a side border.

Quick and easy supper........

The older I get the less I enjoy preparing meals.  I would be happy to live off sandwiches or soup.  However, as I am more than capable of preparing meals, I feel like I should make an effort every now and them.  Oh and just in case you're new, hubby does not cook!

On a Saturday afternoon we go and watch the boys at their swimming lessons, and it's close to 5pm when we get back, so I like to have supper cooking in the oven so it's just to pull out when we get back in.  Also a warm meal is better when the temperature is cold out.

I made this tray bake last week and it was very tasty and super simple to make.

I added 1lb of cut up baby potatoes, some frozen Brussel sprouts, a chopped up red onion and yellow pepper, a sliced carrot, and chopped up some Kielbasa Sausage.  I drizzled on some olive oil and seasoning and tossed it all until coated.

I buy this seasoning mix from Costco.

I covered it with tin foil, and popped it in a 375 oF oven for around 75 minutes.  It was really tasty.  Will make this again.

I lined the pan also with tin foil, so to make cleaning up a breeze!  Hubby washes up; that's his job!