Sticker shock.......

On Sunday we were out and about.  One of the places I had to go was Michael's as I needed some new blades for my rotary cutter, which I use to cut out material.

I was shocked to see they were $49.99 for a pack of five blades.  Anyone who quilts how long have they been that expensive?  I will admit to not having to buy any for a while.  Also pleased I had a 50% off coupon, so only paid just over $28 after taxes after the coupon.  Which I guess is better than nothing.  Quilting isn't the cheapest hobby out there, that's for sure.

Question for the quilters out there: how do you dispose of your old blades?

I forgot to show you our latest acquisition from the charity shop:

It needs recovered and waxed/stained; which we are going to do in the New Year.  I think I paid $38 for it and dh uses it to put his feet on when sitting on the sofa.

Last week when I met Jane for lunch in Orillia, we went to a restaurant called Sixteen Front.  It was a really lovely place and here are a couple of photos of the place.  First the toilet paper in the ladies bathroom:

I love to see the toilet paper folded like that, always a good sign if you ask me!!

This is a photo of my meal.  Salad, soup and sandwich, just can't remember the flavours now!!

The photo I took of Jane's meal, which you can sort of see, was blurry, which was a shame.  If you are in Orillia for any reason both Jane and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal there and the whole ambiance of the place, and it's well priced.

Another great Christmas song:

Lunch with Jane........

On Wednesday I met up with Jane for lunch and a bit of retail therapy.

I'll post about where we ate tomorrow; decided I would get my side of "this" story in before Jane adds here two cents....LOL

We called into the hobby store as Jane noticed they sold wool.  There was a woman that was inquiring about some wool/yarn that you make into a scarf.  The young lady in the store was demonstrating how to knit it, so Jane and I decided to watch.  Now the woman and Jane managed to understand the procedure (is that the word,) but of course I didn't "get it!!"  Anyhow the young lady let me have a go and I managed to knit a row.  So Jane and I decided we would have a go at knitting a scarf.  Jane and I of course wanted the same colour ball of wool; so being the bigger person (in more way's than one!!) I let her have the grey and pink ball , while I took the purple ball as it matches my new Vera Bradley handbag.

So that's our project over the next few months, to knit a scarf.  Now I made a start on mine on Wednesday night, as I figured I would remember what to do.......wrong, wrong, wrong.  Had to go on YouTube to see how to cast on and knit it.  It seems like it's idiot proof as I have got a bit knitted.  Jane can knit so it will be a doddle for her, me; well don't expect me to knit for the Olympics but I think I may have the hang of it.

Now I would love to say I knitted this, but I picked this set up for under $25 for the lady who is having her baby.  It's gorgeous isn't it?

Update 7:30 am Thursday:  Krippa had a baby girl yesterday (12th), no name yet, don't know what time, other than it ended up with a c-section and I think 7lbs 2 or 4 oz.  Mother and baby doing well.

So these in a store, nothing much to say about the sign, other than it's a strange name for a line of wallets don't you think?

We called in at the Mariposa Market Bakery for our special coffee's.  In my case I had a white peppermint hot chocolate. and Jane had a gingerbread latte.

They of course had a wonderful cakes on display like always.

We had a lovely time that's for sure, and will post more photos tomorrow.

Today's Christmas video is a favourite:

Ladies who lunch.......

On Wednesday Jane and I met up in Orillia again for lunch and a catch up.  I was not in a photo taking mood and warned Jane not to take any of me, I guess I was being a right diva........no idea if she took any notice of me though...LOL

So the photo's from the day are very few and far between.  We had lunch at the Brewery Bay Company and I took this photo.  The day was gorgeous.

The colours on the tree are just gorgeous at the moment.

Now I am just being plain artsy-fartsy with this shot!!!

The Brewery Bay is also having a Fall Food Drive.  We helped the lady get the sign straight.  It involved a lot of nodding and thumbs up from Jane and I.

Can't remember what this store is called, but son-in-law is a big Beatles fan and so I took this photo with him in mind.  I think it was priced at around $1,900, so not cheap.  Notice the sign below.  It was clear glass with "All you need is Love," written on it and that cost around $90.  There were other signs with catchy phases on it that were as nice.

For once we both left with bags of shopping.  I got a suet feeder for the birds, a bar of Goats Milk soap and a pair of Crocs that I am using in the house as slippers thank to Jane for the suggestion.

While we were in the shoe store we did a public service and educated the girl serving us.  They sell a product called BOGS, now that is slang for toilets in Britain, which we thought was a funny name for boots.            

This is what BOGS look like:

They look very comfy, but I can't go around wearing a pair of boots with the name BOGS on the back of it, honestly I can't........

Another day out with photos......

On Thursday it was dh's birthday, so we went to St. Jacobs and Elmira for part of the day.

However first a warning for people who don't live in the countryside and don't normally travel on gravel roads.  If you have to travel on a gravel road.........SLOW DOWN......if you don't then this could happen:

See the car in the field, it had flipped over by going too fast along the newly graveled road.

Will have to say Thursday wasn't the best of days and just after we got to St. Jacobs it started to rain, so we got what we wanted and then headed to the restaurant in Elmira.

The restaurant we were heading for is called "At The Crossroads."  This is what greeted us at the door:

They offer both a regular menu and a buffet style menu.  We opted for the buffet style menu; here is a photo of one of the salad bars:

There were a couple of salad bars, two types of soup, chili, bread and biscuits.  There were a couple of hot bars, with veggies and variety of meats.  Here is my plate of chicken drum sticks, onion rings and scalloped potatoes

Dessert was mainly hot made pies and they were perfect, along with a fruit crisp and baked apples.  I had half a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie, which is something I have never had before and it was something I would love to have again.  I also had a slice of custard pie, which was perfect.  I forgot to take a photo of those.

It was $12.99 for the lunch buffet, and as it was dh's birthday he got his meal for free.  I personally found the food bland, which is a major surprise as I do not like spice at all in my food, so of course bland tasting food is the way to go for me!!!

Also be warned on "market days" the place is busy.  It was "market day," on Thursday and there were two bus loads of people in there so it was busy, along with regular people like ourselves.  I will say I was one of the younger people there, other than the restaurant employees.

Will we go again, yes as the salad bar and the dessert bar was perfect.  The hot foods needed work, and due to the two bus loads of people, the line up for the hot food was a little long.

They also had a gift shop and a quilt shop attached to the restaurant.  It was a feast for the eyes and to be honest it was very overwhelming.

I loved this enamel ware.

I loved the big stars on the wall.

Of course there was lots of Christmas stuff out.

I forgot to take some photos of the quilt store; but it was gorgeous.  All in all a good day out with dh.

Just a reminder; if you haven't already remember to enter my giveaway, to be drawn on Sunday.

A day out........photo heavy!!!!

We had a trip to Erin, Ontario on Wednesday as it wasn't raining and it had been years since I was there.  Now will say don't go by what your GPS says, as it took us to Hillsburgh, Ontario?  Took us ages to flipping well find Erin, as there were a couple of closed roads.  Plus we were driving towards that huge cloud.

Looked a bit brighter to the west, but we weren't going in that direction!!!

We finally found Erin, and this is a shot of the main street.  Typical small town Ontario, very pretty.

After we left a store called What's Cookin'(where the tin man is in the photo) a lady ran out and asked me if I had a blog.  It turned out to be Elizabeth over at Kitty Cafe  I will admit I was stunned for a couple of minutes, that someone would recognize me, but I should have taken a photo of dh's face, as his face was a picture of not sure what on earth was going on...LOL

Anyway Elizabeth thank you for stopping me in the street and I encourage everyone to pop by her blog and say hello.

We stopped for lunch in Tintagels Tea Room, which is a British style restaurant.  Dh even took a photo of me waiting for our meal.

The green lamp on our table was a period piece and this photo does not do it justice, I loved it.  We also liked the badger picture, but at $190 it was a bit pricey for us!!

I ordered a Ploughman's Lunch, minus the Branston Pickle and the celery sticks, along with a pot of tea.  Didn't eat the carrot sticks or the dill pickles either, and dh had the roll with two pieces of cheese as he was hungry.  The egg was pickled, and it tasted horrible, which surprised me as I always loved picked eggs?

Dh had a ham and Swiss cheese quiche with a slice of bread, organic greens, with some weird looking dressing on the top of it, and a coffee.

While I was paying the bill ($34) I noticed the really neat tea urn.  I had never seen one like it before and the lady said they had only had it a couple of weeks.

Further up the Main street is Holtom's Bakery.  Honestly where do you start to make your choices?

We purchased two strawberry and rhubarb tart, two peach tarts, a pumpkin tart, a raspberry tart and seven scones.  Should have been six but she popped an extra one in for us.  All in all well worth the $9.10 we paid for them.  That's the best pastry I have eaten in an awful long time.

Further up the road is Beaver Mills Design.  Now this is a rotten photo, but the table in the window was stunning.

They are a design studio and antique dealer.  The lady was tidying up this tapestry cushion cover which was gorgeous, again my photo does not do it justice at all.  Should say the edging on the cover was no where  near as old as the centre panel.

This is what caught my eye though a full wall of shelves full of Farrow and Ball paints.  A paint lovers paradise.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!

I would added more links to the place but honestly I was surprised at how many companies don't have web sites.

When we got home we did a couple more preparing for Winter chores done.  Putting the tarps over the winter wood, so it'll be nice and dry when we put the fire on.  Also putting a tarp on the back of the garage roof, as it is raining in, and is a must do job for next Spring, when we have burned all the wood.  Also as it's going to cost around $2,500 to do it, I need to save up the money first.

Just a reminder if you haven't entered my giveaway, please do so here.

Photos from Blue Mountain resort....

in Collingwood where we visited last week.  The Blue Mountain resort is a big ski resort, but there is lots to do all through the year there.

The first photo shows part of the resort.  You can stay in the condos and there is plenty of shopping and entertainment and of course sports.  I was actually taking this photo for the sky.

They put a new mini golf section a year or two ago and it is very pretty.

There was a number of Christmas decorations up in the stores, despite it being only September.

Collingwood has a big Elvis festival every year and this was a topiary of him in the resort.

Day out at St. Jacobs........

Lots of photos from our day out.

The colours were just stunning of these flowers.

I wonder how they "made" these roses multi coloured?

I had never seen onions this big before have you?

Jumbo sized radishes as well.  Beginning to wonder how they grow the veggies so big?

I wonder if these are cheese flavoured cauliflowers? (notice the spelling!!)

Bought some of these pears along with a basket of nectarines, which when I got home were past their best.  Should have checked them myself, rather than letting them pick the baskets!!

Home of the week will be on tomorrow's post.