One thing I need you to do today.........

is to pop by Magpie's Mumblings blog by clicking on this link.  She is such a talented lady and this piece of work she has just completed actually brought tears to my eyes as it's wonderful and it will pull on your heartstrings.  It is also up for sale along with some of her other pieces.  It is part of a series (all for sale).

I don't know her personally, just through the blogs, but honestly she is so talented and a fellow Canadian.

I am so privileged to have met so many talented people through blogs.  Everyone has a unique talent in my opinion.

Here is a video to a property seller in the UK I stumbled upon.  Lot's of history in this house that's for sure:

My Froggie Stuff

I know what a funny title, but it's actually a Youtube channel that makes furniture and things for your Barbie dolls.  I was standing in line waiting to pay in Michaels on Saturday and got talking to another lady and it got around to Barbie dolls and furniture and she told me about this Youtube channel.  There is also a blog with all sorts of crafts on it with the same name My Froggie Stuff.

I don't have the time to be making Barbie furniture at the moment, but I do have the time to watch the odd video while knitting.  These would make great Christmas gifts and seem pretty simple.  I watched the one on how to make a Barbie sized refrigerator and a sectional sofa.



I guess I need to be saving all my empty boxes and buy some foam core board!!

Random thoughts and things......

I am going to do one of these blog posts each week, because sometimes things you want to say don't justify a full blog post.

This is what I wrote on my chalk board for January (all  my own words):

Friday was one of those days when you go outside and if you have any moisture in your nose it freezes; today will not be much better.  You have to warm up your car before going anywhere.  We are lucky here in Southern Ontario that we don't have to plug in our cars at night, like they do in the Prairies and Northern Ontario, as it's even colder there.

Due to the extreme cold temperatures my walking has been very little this week.........me and the treadmill must get better acquainted!!

Cutting things out of your diet which you love sucks...........just saying.........which in turn makes grocery shopping a pain in the butt........it'll get easier I guess?

Roll on the end of the month when I see the specialist and I can have a colonoscopy and get a good clean out😎  Not many people say that I'm sure!!!

Saw this post over at Lazy Daisy Jones where other bloggers give you their blogging tips, well worth the read.

Need to devote an afternoon to going through this, as I am a bit like what that image is at the moment😏

(image credit)

A new blog

As you know I have been attending knit and sit sessions at The Knitting Basket in Rosemont every Tuesday.  Although Angie has a Facebook page, she didn't have a blog.  So on Thursday morning I went over and set up a blog for her called The Knitting Basket.  As it says on her first post, it's under construction, and I know there will not be another post on there until next Tuesday, as that is when I will see her next.  Now to ask you a HUGE favour, would you mind popping over and saying a quick hello for me; just click on the names in blue above.  

Although Angie is a very talented knitter, blogging is quite a foreign concept to her, and like it was for all of us, there is going to be a bit of a learning curve.  However if you do follow the blog I can guarantee there will be a lot of great things in the future that she will be featuring.

I took a couple of photos while in the store this morning:

Have to say I had a great time with Angie setting this up.

This week's "Home of the Week," isn't bad and would be perfect if it didn't cost $1.4 million, too expensive for me.  Even the back yard is nice with a lot of plantings.  I agree though the red of that sitting room, is going to take a lot of primer to cover it before painting it a more neutral colour and red is my favourite colour!

At $1.2 million for this week's "Condo of the Week," I don't think it is a bargain despite it being owned once over by Robertson Davies.  Don't worry I had no idea either who the heck he was that is why I put a link in with his name.  IF YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH THIS POST, PLEASE CLICK ON THIS CONDO LINK AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE PICTURE IN THE SECOND PHOTO.  I am not going to tell you what I think, but I would think my face would have the same expression!  Overall the condo isn't bad, but I don't love it.

The "Cottage of the Week," is back; now for those of you who are familiar with my posts, "cottage" is a word open to interpretation when it comes to these posts!!!  This weeks, has a $3.3 million price tag on it and is nearly 6,000 square feet, which is four times the size of an average house for goodness sakes?  The photos of the outside were taken last year, especially the one showing you the path to the dock, as the flowers aren't out yet in that area.  In fact we had frost last night, so if the first one was taken recently those annuals would probably be dead unless they took them in overnight.  Beautiful "cottage" but you would need a housekeeper to keep a place that size clean.

Finally Our Little Munchkin is sick AGAIN!!  More to follow on that.

Home of the Week,

This week's "Home of the Week," is on sale for $1.5 million and it's gorgeous.....over priced, but lovely.  I can't justify paying that amount of money, but would like to live there.  I love the facade of the house, and the little details.  However wish there was more of a yard.  It does have the bonus of a 2 car garage which is good.  Still can't justify the price tag though.

The "Cottage of the Week," is also pricey at $1.1 million.  Also again the term cottage is not really appropriate as it's huge.  Like the idea of the lift to get back and forward from the dock; but you know me I'm allergic to exercise at the best of times.

The "Condo of the Week," is not my cup of tea and at $625,000 for a one bedroom condo is again pricey for what you get.  I am also not a fan of the exposed ducts and ceilings, all I can think of is dust and cobwebs when I see those.

Talking of homes, have you seen this blog: Young House Love?  It's quite neat to see what they do.

Spring might just be here......at long last!!

Why, well I got my first load of laundry hung outside to dry on Friday. Love the smell of line dried sheets.

As you can see our main log pile has nearly gone.  There are extra logs around the corner, but it looks like we have burned at least 3 bush cords of wood this year.  We actually didn't light the fire on Friday as I was out until 3pm, and we had to leave the house by 6pm to go to a visitation, so it wasn't worth while lighting the fire.

Mind you there is still some of this white stuff hanging around!!!  We are in for a wet day on Monday, so hopefully we'll see the back of it then!!  Although I haven't been out to check on them, it looks as though the raspberries have survived the winter.......remember I have 100 pots of raspberry jam to make as wedding favours this summer, so they had better be alright!!!

Have you heard of Amanda Marigold?  Well that's the name of a new blog created by our own dear Star, as an outlet for her writing.  She has a new e-book published on Amazon called "Murder In The School."  Pop by and wish her luck if you have a minute.

I wish you could smell this......

as it smells so good.


On Friday I made a big pot of pea and ham soup.  I had a couple of ham bones in the freezer that I wanted to use up.

I also made some bread rolls, and while they were cooking I popped a rhubarb crisp in the oven to cook as well.   I put tin foil under the rhubarb crisp as I had visions of it running over all over my oven, even though I mixed the rhubarb with sugar and cornstarch to thicken the juices.

I am trying to clean out the upstairs freezer.  I have found another dozen bananas in there that I need to do something with.  Also found another ham bone, so may make another pot of soup and freeze it.

I first saw this idea over at Carol's blog about making little dresses out of pillowcases for girls in Africa.  What a lovely idea and you can go wild with all the neat things you could embellish them with.  They are also looking for shorts for the boys as well.  I need to look at the clearance racks of stores when I am out to get some for dirt cheap and make them up, as you can get some really pretty patterns in pillowcases.

Carol always has some neat links on her blog.  She is such a giving person.

I was reading this post about when we were down in Charleston South Carolina in 2008.  Come hell or high water we ARE going on vacation in 2012, as it's been much too long since we have been away now.

Lemons and a welcome to a new blogger......

I bought a bag of lemons to make Lemon Curd with, but haven't gotten around to it, so I made a couple of Classic Lemon Loaves instead.  Just click on the links for the recipes.   I love the taste of lemon and for us it is prime season for buying lemons over here.


I also wrote a column for the Orangeville Banner about lemons, you can see that here. I must go back and edit that column, as I set it up with points bullets and they never materialized in the actual column?


Took a photo of lemons......why, just because......

You would maybe think as I am talking about lemons I maybe had a "lemon of a day" as well, but no it was busy and productive, I am pleased to say.

One of the things I did was help a dear friend set up her blog, now "Crazy Daisy" as she will be known is neither crazy or called Daisy, but that is what she wanted to be called in blogland.  I was wondering if you would all pop over and leave a comment wishing her luck and love and whatever else with her blogging.  Here is a link to her blog and it's called: Call Me Crazy Daisy  I am sure she will have a lot of interesting things to talk about and she is a love, we get on like a house on fire.

****JUST A NOTE, THE LEMON CURD IS QUITE TART, SO IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING SWEETER, ADD AN EXTRA 1/4 CUP OF SUGAR TO THE RECIPE TO SWEETEN IT UP A BIT***

Snow fences, a very talented lady and a problem....

We finally got the last of the snow fence installed on Tuesday.  It's actually technically not snow fence, as when you go to the store to buy snow fence it is generally orange or black, or wooden.  We had this fence and the posts from the old house and we brought it with us. So figured we would use it this year to see if it prevented the snow from drifting as much on our driveway.

 It has a rotten habit of drifting just as you come into the driveway and just up the driveway.  We had a lucky escape on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, as we have a pile of rain.  Luckily it was still warm enough to come down as rain as otherwise we would have got a good six inches of snow if it had been colder!!!

Looking at those two photos, it looks as though the grass is covered with leaves.  They are the tiny leaves from the willows and are impossible to mulch, so fingers crossed the wind will blow them away.

If you have a moment pop over to Valerie's blog as she is such a talented lady, you should see her parchment craft and the gorgeous cards she makes.  Here is a link to her blog.  Look at Monday and Tuesday's posts.

I have run into a problem with my blog.  The Picassa Web Album which Google uses is full, so I cannot upload any more photos on my blog.  If I delete photos in the albums they are deleted from my blog as well?  I could pay for more space, but I would rather not spend anymore money at the moment.

Any suggestions/ideas/tips?

A heart warming story

I was visiting Sandra's blog on Thursday and she had the most marvellous story about a lion on her blog.  Please take five minutes to read it, as its so worth your while, here is the link to it.

Below is a shot of the condo building that dd and boyfriend live in. 

Their condo is on the left hand side of the building facing east.  She is on the 21st floor; however there is no 4th, 14th, or 24th floor as 4 is an unlucky number in the Chinese culture.  Not sure about the 13th floor as a lot of people reckon that is an unlucky number also.  They have a teeny tiny balcony where you can fit a couple of lawn chairs, otherwise they have no outside space.

I will be showing some photos of the front entrance of the building on Sunday for Today's Flower as they had a couple of lovely urns outside with flowers in them.

I know I have mentioned this before, but we live pretty close to a cattle operation, where they keep 3,000 cattle.  I never hear the cows, but I smell them a lot!!  Anyhow all the manure goes into pits and trucks pick it up and they spread it on the crops.  While driving back from town on Thursday morning, what should pull out in front of me but one of those trucks.  The smell was vile, I mean really, really vile.  Thank godness I only had to follow it for a few minutes.  I don't know how those truck drivers manage to drive those trucks all the time.  I guess you get used to the smell?

Here is a photo of the roof of one of the cattle barns that we can see from our house.  As you can see from the photo its mainly camoflauged by the trees.

I managed to get to visit some blogs on Thursday finally.  If I haven't got around to yours, I will on the weekend, as its going to rain all weekend, so no gardening for me.

A couple of things......

This week's column for the Eden Valley Messenger is up and running here  I just want to thank Tracey for the graphic.  I bet we have all felt like that graphic some days!!

I stumbled across this blog via Sandra's Blog and what a story, these guys run the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary  If you have a moment pop by and take a read, and vote for them so they can win money for their sanctuary.

Thanks for all your support yesterday, and unless they ask for it, no one's getting any money from me!!

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?

Today's Money Saving Tip:

11 Money Saving Tips That Will Extend The Life Of Your Refrigerator/Freezer




1. Locate refrigerators away from heat sources like your range, a radiator, or a sunny window. To prevent overheating and system failure, do not locate the refrigerator near anything that can restrict the airflow to the motor, coils and compressor. Also, do not place refrigerators on top of carpeting because most condensers are located under the refrigerator and carpeting retains heat and restricts airflow.


2. To avoid burning out the compressor, always plug the refrigerator directly into the wall. If you absolutely need to run an extension cord, make sure a heavy duty, 3-pronged extensions cord. If unsure, consult the manufacturer specifications in the user guide.


3. Never run frost-free refrigerators with freezer compartments in unheated areas with air temperature below 60 degrees F unless they are specially designed for such conditions. When the air temperature goes below 60 F, the compressor runs less, keeping temperatures in the refrigerator compartment cold enough for fresh food but not cold enough in the freezer compartment to keep food quality there. At air temperatures below 40 F, the compressor stops running, so the freezer compartment rises to air temperature and food thaws and spoils. Also below 32 F, water melted during the automatic defrost cycle may freeze again and block air passages.
4. When leaving for an extended time like a vacation or other long trip discard perishable food, turn off the ice maker and leave the refrigerator on.
5. Do not over fill the refrigerator because cold air can't circulate freely to regulate the temperature food.


6. To prevent odors and food quality; cover or wrap all exposed foods. Clean up spills and remove spoiled food immediately


7. Clean the refrigerator/freezer regularly by taking out all food and removable interior parts. Wash with a mild house hold detergent or baking soda and rinse with warm water. Rinse and wipe dry. Take out removable glass shelves and plastic and repeat the procedure. Be careful not put cold glass or plastic in hot water; they may crack. Clean the door gasket with detergent solution; rinse and dry. Do not use abrasives.


8. Clean condenser coils regularly by gently brushing off buildup that may cause overheating.


9. Regularly clean the seals in order to maintain proper temperature control and system efficiency.


10. Sweep or vacuum dust and other debris under and around your refrigerator to promote good airflow and temperature.


11. Always ship refrigerators upright. Placing the refrigerator on the side may cause a Freon leak that will prevent cooling. Placing refrigerator on its back will damage the condenser coils. Also, this can cause the compressor to fail if restarted before allowing the oil ample time to drain out of the lines and the compressor back into the oil chamber.

All came from this source

Recipe and other stuff........

I made a new to me recipe today, infact I sort of made it up myself.

Strawberry and Mango Crisp.

Ingredients:

1lb strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 or 2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar

Topping:

1/2 cup flour (all purpose/plain)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup marg
1 cup rolled oats

Method:

Toss the fruit in the 4 tbsp of flour and sugar and pop in dish.

For the topping, mix the flour, sugar and rolled oats together, rub in the marg until mixed in.  Place on top of the fruit.

Bake in a 375 oF oven for 40 minutes, until topping is golden brown.  Serve with icecream or cream.  It's good!!!!

Now you know I am not one for bad language, but when I saw this over at Tracey's I knew right away I could relate to this:

I saw this dress on the online store at Roots and thought it was nice........not big enough sizing though for me.

I have started inputting recipes for the church cookbook, and I can see me trying a few!!  So no doubt you will be benefiting from this!!!

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?  We are nearly at the end of month three!!!!

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Let your laundry dry outside. If you have the ability to hang up laundry outside, let the sun and warm summer breeze do the drying for you. Even if you can’t hang up clothes outside, try using your dryer on a lower heat setting or only partially drying your shirts and letting them air dry the rest of the way.

Snow, snow, and more bloody snow!!

My apologies for the strong language but I am not happy!!  I had to plough the driveway twice on Saturday and the second time is was the wet heavy snow.  The weather man forecast light snow/flurries of up to 4cm.  Light snow my behind, we must have got another six inches of the bloody stuff.  It did stop in the early afternoon and did get above freezing, so melted a lot on the decks, but even so.  Hopefully this is the last snow storm for this winter (as I touch wood when I say that), however I don't think so, March can be a nasty month; and remember that saying:

"March in like a lion, out like a lamb" 

The forecast for Monday is variable cloud's, with a possibilty of 1 cm of snow and temperature around the freezing mark, to me that is more lamb like than lion like don't you think?

I took some photos of the snow coming down.  It all looks very picturesque, but roll on Spring.......

My dear friend Leiani has decided to start a blog.  She has a great family and I love the way she writes.  Please pop by to say hello and welcome her to blogland, here is the link to her blog.

It's the last day of February, did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot?  I have $75 in my pot......how I have no idea, but I do.  If you're not sure what I am talking about check out this link

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Hide your credit cards. Take your credit cards and put them in a safe place in your home, not in your wallet where it’s easy to spend them. If you argue that you need it for “emergencies,” just be sure to keep a small amount of cash hidden in your wallet for these emergencies. Don’t keep plastic on you until you have the willpower to not use it even when you’re sorely tempted.

Keep Calm and Carry On, or better still put the kettle on!!

I just love this, it's so British. Now I know it's generally "Keep Calm and Carry On," however I saw this on Smitten By Britain's blog.   Basically in my mind this says it all, as the first thing we do in a crisis is put the kettle on as a cup of tea solves all the problems in the world!!

There's even a website that carry these items, here is the link I love the apron and tea-towel I must look into how much shipping costs across the pond.

Did a bit of sewing on Tuesday and here is the results. The "Fair and Square" block in the black, white and red colourway, and as its a quilt as you go quilt, it's already quilted. However when I finally find my free motioning foot which seems to have sprung legs and walked off somewhere, I want to do some free motioning (squiggly lines) on the grey and black borders. I know it has to be in one of the boxes, but I just can't find it!!

Here is the front:

Here is the back:

Wife in the North is a blog I stumbled upon, and Judith has written a book about her experiences.  It looks like a good read.

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot?

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Clean your car’s air filter. A clean air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 7%, saving you more than $100 for every 10,000 miles you drive in an average vehicle. Plus, cleaning your air filter is easy to do in just a few minutes – just follow the instructions in your automobile’s manual and you’re good to go.

(Now my dad is probably rolling around in hysterics at the moment, saying, "She can barely put gas in her car, and here she is telling everyone that cleaning your air filter in your car is an easy job, I bet she has no clue where her air filter is in her car?" 

I so hate it when my dad is right, it is so bloody annoying...LOL)

I love you just the way you are.....

Thank you for all your input over the past couple of days. You've really been a big help. Do you remember in the movie, "Bridget Jones's Diary," when Mark Darcy says to Bridget, "I love you just the way you are?" Well I think I am thinking that about my blog, I love it just the way it is. Other than some cosmetic changes I think it will be staying the same.

I spent part of Tuesday doing some sewing, and the results were these three blocks are now quilted and sewn together.  There are still another 9 blocks to do, and we get one block pattern per month, so its a work in progress.  I am thinking of doubling up and having a 24 block quilt, I'll see.

This is the back, as you can see its very basic quilting nothing fancy. The backing is a good quality white muslin.

This is not a great photo, but I had never seen this type of bird before, it was a lot bigger than the usual birdies.  I think it was a Grey Jay.

Did you remember to put your money into your pot today for the daily savings club?

Today's Money Saving tip:

Write a list before you go shopping – and stick to it. One should never go into a store without a strong idea of what one will be buying while in there. Make a careful plan of what you’ll buy before you go, then stick strictly to that list when you go to the store. Don’t put anything in the cart that’s not on the list, no matter how tempting, and you’ll come out of the store saving a bundle.

Something funny.......

if you want a laugh pop by this blog Cathy at Cathy's Caper's featured it on a post, and I have to admit it was funny.

Let me know what you think and leave a comment for Mr "Two Legs." He must really love those pigs, I would have sold them for bacon if it were me!!