Guaranteed to please..............

As you know I have multiple grand children between the ages of 4 through 13, yep one's a teenager already!!  Anyhow to eldest five are ages  nearly 10 to 13 years old.  They are past the easy to please with cheap chocolate and toys stage, cash is key with those guys....LOL

I will be seeing those five over the next week or so and I am not sure if I'll see them before Easter, so decided to be organized and get their Easter gifts sorted.  Of the five, four are girls and one boy.  I headed to Dollarama and this is what I got!

In each bag I placed four bags of candy and a $10 Dollarama gift card.........

I popped them into a brown bag lunch bag, and decorated it with Easter stickers, remember they are tweens and teens, so baby things are not cool!!  They will tolerate a few stickers ....just...LOL I always do seven hugs and kisses on everything of theirs, one hug and kiss per grandchild.

I realize it is not a healthy or nutritious treat bag, but they will be thrilled with it, plus they get a gift card to go and buy more sugary treats!!!

By the way I use the brown bag lunch bags, to store my mushrooms in the fridge, they last way longer when you do that!

I haven't forgotten the two youngest ones, both boys, but as they are 4 and 7 they are still okay with just a toy and candy, oh and stickers!!!  I will get them closer to the time as we live closer to them.

February is going to be a

... Jane Austen reading month for me.

I picked up this Jane Austen boxed collection on half price at Christmas for $15 which I thought was a good deal.

This is what is in the set:

Not sure in what order I should read them?  

Is there a right or wrong way in the order they should be read?

I have probably read these books at some point in my life, but I can't remember when?  I am a sucker for a historical British romance, so must say I am looking forward to reading these.

I will probably end up donating these to one of the "N's" both are bookworm's.  Would you believe Nora turned 12 in November and Nitara turned 13 earlier this month.........where has the time gone too?  Both are in Grade 7.......high school is just around the corner!

Are you a Jane Austen fan?  When was the last time you read one of her books?

I am turning into an old person....LOL

 Do you remember when you were a teen and your parents and grandparents were always giving you "advise," and you secretly or not so secretly just rolled your eyes and thought to yourself, "they don't understand because they are old?"

Well I went back to school shopping with daughter and two grand daughters, during the week.  One grand daughter will be 12 in November and is your typical "Tween."  The other is 9, and thankfully not into the brand of clothing, it just has to look a certain way.

I basically just tagged along and gave my "old woman opinions every now and then."  Which were met with a look of pure astonishment on the girls' faces as to why would I even think that piece of clothing would work, or a roll of the eyes.....LOL  Sometimes I just said I liked something to get a reaction out of them............yes, I have a naughty streak in me.

A good time was had by all.  However my poor feet were really feeling worse for the wear.

I keep thinking to myself I want to take advantage of these shopping trips because in another few years they will be at university and super busy with their lives and will barely have time for their parents never mind their grandparents. These memories will be with me for the rest of my life, when I'm too old and crippled to go shopping with them.

A surprise hit at Christmas....

I bought the older five grandkids, XL cross stitch kits for Christmas, as they looked simple and easy to make.  They are from Anchor and called Big & Easy Cross Stitch XL.  Here is a link to them on their site.  Now I bought them at Fabricland close to where I live and I got them on sale.

Here is the one that Jeina made, and she will be 8 at the end of May.  Hers was two cats kissing and she did a super job.

She was so proud of how neat and tidy her back was, as was I.  For the first time doing it she made an excellent job.

The two older girls got the London one on the site.  Sam got an "&" sign one in black to do and the two younger girls got the cats one.

I helped the Brampton crew start theirs off when they were up for a visit.  Nora did hers, as I had taught her how to cross stitch.  Not sure if Paige got hers finished or not.  

I would say for children aged 7+ they are a perfect way to introduce cross stitch.  Also it is a finished project, as it's already on a canvas so ready to hang.  Depending on what the canvas is of, these can be done in a weekend no problem.

Christmas Present

The three eldest Grandchildren love Harry Potter and love reading.  The two five year old's love anything their elder siblings love!!  Neither though are big readers.  So I have decided to make Harry Potter bookmarks for the three eldest.

It's a cross stitch pattern I bought from an Etsy store.

You get the two patterns.  However I am at a big of a disadvantage as I know NOTHING about Harry Potter and the characters.

I decided not to add in the foot prints to this bookmark.  From my very limited knowledge of Harry Potter, I am guessing these are the main characters?

To finish the bookmark, I used some stiff iron on interfacing and white felt and sewed everything together.  There were no instructions on finishing the bookmark, so this was my idea to do it this way.

I have been doing cross stitch for over 35 years.  So luckily I had most of the supplies in the house.  I did have to buy some thread.  Overall I am very pleased with the first one.  It's a super easy pattern perfect for the beginner and not an awfully long project to do.  You have to download the pattern from the buyer.  I am hoping to get the three Harry Potter ones done for the eldest three and hopefully just name bookmarks for the two five year old's.  We'll see.

Vaughan Mills,

Met dd at Vaughan Mills, to do a bit of shopping.  It is an indoor mall, and I think it must be around 2 years since I was last there.  It's a decent sized mall all on one floor with a good mix of shops.  Unlike my closest indoor mall there were very few, if any empty store fronts.  I was quite surprised about that, as the retail industry has suffered a lot due to the pandemic.  

As it was a Thursday and in the morning when we met up, it wasn't too busy at all.  I don't think I would feel the same on a weekend though. You felt quite safe as everyone wore masks.  We ate our lunch in the food court and again very safe.  It was cordoned off and you have to show your vaccination certificate, along with identification to be able to sit down in there.  The tables were spaced apart and someone was cleaning there all the time.

Dd wanted to get a bit of Christmas shopping done.  I went along for the morning out, but did end up getting her, her birthday gift while there.  I brought it home with me, as she wants it wrapped and presented in the bag.......it's a Michael Kors wallet.

I was able to finish off all the grand children their Christmas presents other than the baby.  Part of his gift is a box of diapers and the way he is growing I will pick them up closer to the time.  His parents suggested that, as he has no need for anything else.

Dd then bought my Christmas gift from her and her brother.  It is a purse/handbag from this wall of goodies in Kate Spade!!!  She took it home with her and as I pointed out, I will have forgotten about it by the time Christmas comes along.  They were having a super sale right throughout the store.

All in all we wandered around for 3 hours, I managed to walk 7k in steps which was a bonus.  We put the world to right and had a good time catching up.  I was tired when I got home though.  Once over I could walk all day shopping, those days have well and truly passed now!

Christmas shopping........

Well I have started Christmas shopping as there was a segment on the radio the other day, that was saying there could be shortages this year due to problems in the supply chain.  Now this is not the first time I heard this.  "R" was telling me there was talk at her work that the staff who buy in all the Christmas stuff were concerned about delivery; despite them ordering everything in February for Christmas.

It doesn't help that there is such a tight window for retailers to sell things for Christmas.  Saying that I am seeing email flooding in with adverts for all sorts of Christmas items.  I also heard and was told, that getting deals and bargains will be also difficult.

The grandkids are all getting Lego in some shape or form (other than the baby) this year, and trying to find a deal on Lego is difficult.  I ordered another lot from Chapters/Indigo, where I get Plum points.  I ordered online, so I get Swagbucks and put it on my credit card, so get PC points.  So all in all, I did pretty well with the order.

For the adults, I generally send out a group text telling them I will get them a gift card and where do they want it from.  The reason I send out a group text, is so I know I will get a response from them all!!  However, it then turns out to be a long winded affair, as my son thinks he's a comedian😏

Again this year, there will be very few Christmas cards sent out; postage is too expensive.  A lot of people have emails, so would rather hear from them via that.

Have you heard about the shortages and have you started your Christmas shopping?

Centennial Park

We had the girls overnight over the weekend.  We took them to a local park as we had never been there before.  It turned out to have the nicest playground I had seen in a long while.

Not only was there a large play set, there was one for the younger children.

They also had a Nature Hunt.

You had to find all these themed plaques around the play structure.

Here the girls are pointing to the bear one.  They were pretty hard to see and find.

They had a great rock climbing wall.  The ground was covered in wood chips.

The domed structure had picnic tables in it.  The building to the right was bathrooms; perfect when you have young children with you and grandparents with pea sized bladders!!  To the left of the photo was a large pond and some trails.  We weren't dressed to go walking the trails; plus the sun was hot.

They also have an enclosed off leash dog park.  All in all a pretty good place to visit.

British or Canadian?

(image credit)

When people ask me where I am from my standard answer is: "I am a British born Canadian."  We hold dual citizenship and there was no doubt in our minds that we would become Canadian citizens as soon as we could.  We are lucky that we didn't have to give up our British citizenship; if we had to though I think we would have.  We carry Canadian passports; and have no desire to carry a British one even though we could/can.

Canada is home; the UK is where most of our family live and it's where we go on vacation to.  A lot of expats still say they are going "home" when they go back to their country of birth, I do not.  We have strong roots in Canada.  Our children have married fellow Canadians, have super careers here and have Canadian born children; our grandchildren.  Canada has been good to us and we are thankful for that.

Do I miss the UK; very much so.  As I said most of our family are in the UK.  They are getting older, and along with that comes the problems of aging.  If we lived there I would be able to help out more with various members of family.  As it is, all I can offer is support from the sidelines; it's not the same.  Add into the mix the pandemic and things become increasingly more difficult.  We were due to go to the UK in 2020, that obviously was cancelled.  We knew this year would be a no go; so we have our fingers crossed that we can go in 2022.

As our children were 5 & 3 1/2 when we came to live over here, they have little to no memories of living in the UK.  Dh and I were 25 & 30 and we still speak with a British accent, the kids sound as Canadian as people who were born here.  As we age our memories are viewed through rose tinted glasses.  However in real life things are totally different.  In our last couple of visits I for one have found that how I remembered things and what things are actually like are night and day.  I feel more and more like a "foreigner" every time we visit the UK.

The UK has a huge part of my heart and always will have.  We prefer to watch tv programmes from the UK.  Our sense of humour is very British.  The way I speak and the way I spell and write things are very British.  That's part of me and it will never change, but Canada is home.

Are you living in a country that you weren't born in?

"There are Dinosaurs in My House, " by Helen Gordon

There are Dinosaurs in My House, by Helen Gordon

 "There are dinosaurs here, there, everywhere!

It isn’t every day that you find dinosaurs hiding all over your house.

Can you find them and see what they are doing?

Come and join us on an adventure and see what you discover.

With dinosaurs, familiar objects, recognisable environments and simple rhymes, this picture book is perfect for toddlers and dinosaur-obsessed little ones."

My mother sent over this book for the kids.  Her neighbour's daughter wrote this book and she thought the younger grand kids would love it. This is Helen's first book.  Liam loves it and has read it with me a couple of times.  It can be purchased at a number of places and is perfect for the under 5's.

I love reading books, and four of the seven grandchildren love reading books also.  The older three are into Harry Potter and Goosebumps books, and really all chapter books.  The two younger girls are not big readers.  Liam LOVES books and will read a book anytime, anywhere.....and Evan; well at 2 months old, his priority is being fed in a timely manner, not reading!!!

Couple of funny things..

I posted this on my Facebook page last week:

It seems I may be a bad influence???

Liam was talking to his dad and they must have started talking about the pond by our house.

Liam (who is 3): "and there was a bloody great big snapping turtle in the pond, dad."

Dad: "who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Liam: "and snapping turtles bite people, dad."

Dad: "and who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Funny thing is, I remember saying that to Liam, as I got the shock of my life to see a "bloody great big snapping turtle" in the pond...LOL

It also seems I am not the only one in the family that uses the word "daft."

Paige called her mother daft the other day.....oops!

Also we pronounce the word GARAGE - GARIDGE. Nora now pronounces it garidge and Liam is forever correcting me and telling me it's GARAGE not garidge.

Oh the joys of having a British accent. We have lived in Canada now over 32 years now. Dh, I and both kids have all now lived longer in Canada than the UK.

Goodness me......

 It's been forever since I last posted.  I am around, just didn't feel as though I have had anything worth sharing with you.  I have missed blogging though and I am finding the older I get the more I forget things 😊 so at least when I blog, I can look back on things and it reminds me.  I have to say that's one thing I like about Facebook, old posts pop up in memories and remind me of all sorts of things.

I have found since the covid pandemic things have been harder and even though we are all double vaccinated I am still not comfortable being out and about in crowds.  If people get close to me in the stores, even though everyone has masks on, I still don't like it.  I know people are travelling; but I am not happy doing that, though I would dearly love to go back to the UK for a vacation.  "R" and her family just came back from Mexico and the resort itself was fine, with only 25% capacity.  It was the travelling there and back that was stressful.  We are not willing to expose ourselves to those type's of situations yet.

We have gained another member of our family.  Our son and his wife had another gorgeous little boy back in June.  Evan James is growing like a weed and will be 2 months old in a couple of days time. He is our last grandchild.  Everyone has said their families are complete.

All the rest of the grands are growing like weeds also.  Nitara will be 9 in January, Nora will be 8 in November, Sam will be 7 in September.  Jeina and Paige were 5 in May & June.  Liam was 3 in May and Evan was born in June.  That's right I have four birthday's from the end of May until the end of June.

Dh is still working, in fact has never stopped during this pandemic, made no difference at all.  He will be having his annual vacation shortly thank goodness.  It has been hot and humid these past few weeks and it's really making dh weary.  We have no plans to go anywhere, but I do have plans for things that need doing around the house...he will be thrilled..LOL

I have stopped sewing for Appleby Lane, my poor hands are getting too arthritic to do a lot of sewing.  I just make odds and ends for the family and myself now.  So I have been busy making jigsaw puzzles and reading while hibernating from the heat.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.

So there you are a little catch up and I think I will start blogging again.  Keep an eye out for the next post.  Hope everyone is well and please stay safe.

Social Distancing.............

Truth to be I am fed up to the back teeth with that phrase, but it's something we all have to do.

I am missing my grandchildren something awful and will say I do feel for all parents with children young and old, being stuck at home.  They do need to try and help their children to keep up with their school work along with everything else they have to do.  Will say the parents of our grands, are doing a great job.  Although we have not been officially told that school's will be closed until September, my guess is they will.

One thing I have been doing is texting over a letter everyday to two sets of grandchildren with tasks to do.  This is an example of what I have texted over:

I do this Monday through Friday, as even Nana's need a rest😃  Thank goodness for modern technology where we can see and talk to the grands through various means.

Again, "short term pain, for long term gain," comes to mind!!

Are you doing anything for your children or grand children to keep them busy/occupied?

Model Railways and Liam's haircut

Last weekend our local library hosted the local model railway club and they set up a display.  As I had the girls and we always go to the library this was an extra bonus seeing this display.

Unfortunately none of the photos are very good but it will give you an idea of what there was.  I personally know nothing about trains and model railways but do like to watch them.

This display was not child friendly and making sure two sets of hands didn't touch anything; plus making sure they didn't fall off the chairs they were standing on so they could see was not an ideal situation!!

The guys (they were all men) although pleasant were not used to dealing with women and children I think.  I mentioned something and then got a very detailed explanation lasting at least five minutes or more; most of which flew over my head I'm sorry to say.  However it was very kind of them to set up this display for the general public.

I went and got my hair cut on Christmas Eve morning and when I had finished who should be there in the waiting area but Liam and his dad.  As they were next in line I waited with them and helped keep Liam occupied while he was getting his hair cut.  He has had his haircut numerous times, so doesn't scream the place down!!  He has just turned 19 months old.

He's still a red head..............

The grand children

Have the kids up on Sunday for Daughter's birthday, made them brunch.  They had to leave before 1 pm as the girls were having their photos taken for Christmas.  So here they are all dressed up in their Christmas dresses.  Nora will be six next week and Paige is 3 1/2 now.

 Here they are with their cousin who is growing like a weed!!  He is coming up to 18 months old already.

 The girls love him too bits, and he is starting to interact with them now.  Both girls have gorgeous long hair.  Our little man's hair is looking a bit lighter as he grows.  He is teething so his cheeks are extra rosy at the moment!

So lucky to have the best grand children ever.

So close your eyes and imagine this..........

hang on a minute that won't work, as you need to read what I am about to tell you!!

So on Saturday at Paige's party they had a bouncy castle.  So before everyone arrived, there was only the girls, their parents and dh and I.  The girls asked me to go on the bouncy castle and I said yes (THAT WAS THE WRONG, WRONG ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTION ON REFLECTION)

There is a small opening that you crawl in........that should have been an indication that this wasn't a good idea, but no I decided to give it a go.  There was a small platform that was made up of blown up material you crawled on to get to the opening.  Well when my "delicate" frame got onto that I didn't get on in the middle and I fell down to the side.  However not to be deterred I tried again and got my head down to my butt through the opening.

At this point I am sprawled on my stomach like a beached whale but couldn't haul myself through the opening, so dd is pushing me by my butt through the opening.  I get through the opening and the girls think this is great fun having their Nana in a bouncy castle and are bouncing around like lunatics. 

Meanwhile I am trying to stand up and failing miserably.  So to cut a long story short I made up a game where Nana lay on the bouncy castle floor and tried to catch and tickle the girls when they bounced past.  Which I have to say they thought was a fun game.

After a while Nana was pooped and decided to get out while the going was good.  So I wriggle out feet first land on the blown up platform on the side again, so end up rolling off the platform and onto the grass which was on a slight incline.

Both dh and son-in-law are shouting, "are you alright?"

Me: "I"m fine (my dignity isn't!)"

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and I guess I'm not fine.  It feels as though someone has kicked me in my right butt cheek, and all down my right leg.

So the moral of this story, if you're over a certain age and weight, steer clear of bloody bouncy castles!!!

Busy few days

What with getting everything sorted out for the Facebook Shop and everything we have been up too these last few days have been a whirlwind of activity.

I picked up these two on Friday morning, Nora had a PD day at school:

Here they are having Kraft Dinner, and blueberries along with a YOP Yogurt drink and water for lunch...........all while watching Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Can you see the fabric on the bottom of the photo, got a big parcel delivered on Friday!!

Anyhow back to the girls.  You know if I could only bottle up a little of their energy and drink it I would be a whirlwind.  They never stopped all day, and neither did their grandparents.  I finally got them to sleep around 9pm.  Nana and Grandad were in bed not long after!!

Saturday saw them sleep in until after 7am.........which we were glad about, as it meant we were able to get up and have a tea before they materialized!!  We were having a bike ride around the block before 9am.  Though Paige's legs get tired peddling up the hilly bits so we weren't out long.  Grandad then had them to the park..............remember we live by the park...........such a blessing.  

At the beginning of Friday Nora could only manage getting across two of the bars on the monkey bars.  By Saturday she could do five of the six.  Next time I expect her to go right across.  When their parents picked them up before lunch, dd helped me with the Facebook Shop while their dad took them to their uncle and aunt's house for a pool party.  I dropped dd off there and they never left until after 6 pm.

We had a dump run Saturday afternoon to get rid of a pile of garden waste, as we are putting in a garden.  Then we had errands to run.  I picked up fish and chips for supper and they settled heavy on both our stomachs.  The older we get the less we can handle greasy food.

I sewed this custom set for someone on Saturday night, while dh watched woman's soccer.

Sunday the sun was shining and I hung the laundry out and ironed it all outside as well. 

However despite the lovely weather the mosquito's were out in force.  I mean we have mosquito's here the size of small birds I swear.  Poor dh was bitten to death working in the garden.  I cut the grass and even I was bitten.  They even got into the house despite the screens.

So in the afternoon we hibernated as it was too hot for us.  I spent some time doing some sewing, trying a new to me project which I hope to sell in my shop when I get all the kinks worked out.

So here I am writing this on Sunday night wondering where the weekend went too?  Did you have a busy weekend? 

New House.......

Our new home is a bungalow again, just like our last home.  There were a few reasons we bought this house.  The size, it's around 1,400 square feet with two bedrooms, a large living area, a kitchen/diner and bathroom on the main floor.  A large family room, a laundry/storage room, another bathroom and bedroom in the basement.  Plus the all important two car garage.  We dh has a lot of stuff/tools etc.  It has a lovely front porch where we can sit and because it is at the end of the street, lots of windows that make the house light and airy.

A big selling point is the park for the grand kids.  It's right across the street, but far enough away so not to be too noisy.  You can't see it now, but the residents of the subdivision flood part of the grass to make a community ice rink in the winter. 

There is also a pond and a green space across the road as well. 

The location was also a big draw for us.  Although we have moved 30 minutes north, we are exactly the same distance and time from dh's work, as he wants to continue working for a couple of more years.  We are on the edge of a city but only 10 minutes drive from all the stores I love!!!  Due too all the green space around us it feels as though we are in the countryside.

We are a five to ten minute drive from our son's home.  We are a 75 to 90 minute drive to our daughter's home depending the day of the week and the time of the day.  We use the 400 and 401 highways to get there which are major highways around Toronto.  Then we are probably 80 to 100 minutes away from "R" and the other three grand kids.

So far we are loving it here and it's beginning to feel like home now.  

Crazy busy, I mean crazy, crazy busy!!

This week has been super busy with one thing and another.  

As with most things in life everything happens at once.  When I booked our trip to Britain, I said it'll be "sod's law" and we'll end up selling the house and having to buy another one all at the same time.

Well; we have an offer on the house.  We went back and forward with that at the beginning of the week.  We ended up accepting the offer, BUT the buyers still have theirs to sell.  Where it is at it shouldn't be a problem, but who knows?

Meanwhile we have no where to go and are going on vacation in a week or so's time.  Fast forward until today and I have narrowed down my selection of houses to ONE; BUT and there always is a but they want way more for it than it's worth and there is a bit of work to do on it.  So we are going for another look today (Friday) and we'll go from there.

The closing date for our house is October 31st, so only 60 days which isn't long when you go away on vacation in between hands!!

I also committed to send 10 knitting kits up North for a women's/girl's group, so have been busy putting them together.  Finally got that done, as they will be starting the Fall session soon, will do a post tomorrow on those.

Then we to get ready to go on vacation, plus I want to see all the grand children, they are heading up on Sunday with parents for a get together, so that will be 10 adults, 5 kids and a baby.

The home inspection is being done on Monday, so need to get the house tidied up for that.  Small children are like little tornado's and it's amazing where their sticky hand prints end up!

I still have photos to sort through and print out to take with us.  Still have a few things to buy to take with us.  Did get all paperwork sorted to take with us and got cash converted over. 

I know there are a hundred and one other things to do; I need to make a list😉

I wish I had a smaller head..........

as wouldn't it be fun to wear one of these.......

 Picked up these for the girls for Christmas.....

 Got them from North of Nine Designs.

They are just so pretty, and I know the girls will just love them!!