Last day to enter the giveaway.......

I will be picking the winner of the giveaway later today as the contest closes at 5pm today.  To enter the contest please click on this link

Busy day on Saturday around the Acreage, and Sunday will be not much better, so will post more on what we have been up too.

Enjoy your Sunday and a Happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate it.......

Pooja

On Thursday evening we went to a Pooja for the first time ever.   A Pooja is a Hindu house blessing.  Below is how the "alter" is set out.  Everything has a meaning, and unfortunately I don't remember what it is.  They were praying to Ganesha, which is represented by the small figurine in the middle of the "alter."

This shows "R" lighting the candle, her sari was spectacular.  "M" was also dressed up in Indian dress.

The man on the left was the priest who performed the ceremony.  If you look at the "alter" you will notice there are a lot more "things" on it now.  The whole ceremony lasted around an hour.  I got to participate in it, as I was an "old" person there!!  I had to throw marigold petals along with another guy on "R" and "M's" heads.

After the ceremony they had food.  Now I DO NOT like spicy food.  I normally never eat Indian food as it is much too spicy for me.  Anyhow against my better judgement I decided to try some, after checking what everything was.  I was told to avoid the lentil soup, but everything else was good to go, or so they said!!!  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  There was this salad of very finely chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, so you would think that was safe, but no that was spicy.  There was a veggie dish, that I had a spoonful of, and felt my whole face go bright red with........very, very spicy!!

There was this green veggie thing, that looked like a chicken nugget, and again was as spicy as heck.  The naan bread was good, as was the saffron rice, the yogurt sauce thing, the spinach dish and the spring rolls......bit confused as to why there was spring rolls there?  I thought that was more of an oriental dish?

There was cake for dessert which was good and a round ball thing that was made with chick pea flour?  I wouldn't rush to eat that again, but it wasn't unpleasant.  Overall we had a super time and I met a couple of people who I hadn't seen in a while.  I bet there was around 40 people there, luckily it's a huge house so no one felt squished.

Took this photo as the sun was beginning to set on Friday night.

Photos from dd and she needs your opinions.....

Dd made Halloween cupcakes for her work and her boyfriend's work.

The mummy one is cute isn't it?

When we were at the Creativ Festival show last weekend, we both bought rubber stamps.  She bought Christmas ones as she wanted to make her own Christmas cards.

These are her first attempts and she would like your suggestions, opinions especially if you are a stamper.

I like the little jewels she got for the top of the Christmas trees.

She used a full background stamp on this one.

I think I like this one the best.....

Also a quick reminder if you haven't already entered my giveaway time is running out, here is the link to it.

Skywatch Friday -

We had a lovely rainbow in our back yard earlier on today.  It's also cold and very, very windy....I wonder where the pot of gold is?

For more Skywatch Friday posts, please click on this link

Just a few photos.......

Ds went to Japan earlier in the month and brought me back this doll as a present.

Very active sky on Wednesday afternoon

The sunset on Wednesday night

"But they are squishing my girls"................

On Thursday we are going to a Pooja.  Now for those of you not in the know, a Pooja is a house blessing for people of the Hindu/Sikh persuasion.  Our "adopted daughter and son-in-law" are Indian and they are moving into their first house and have decided to have a Pooja.

Now as you may or may not have guessed we are not Indian, so I figured that I would try and blend in a bit more with the other Indian people there and buy an Indian outfit.  So while I was in the city on Tuesday I called in at a couple of Indian clothing stores.  Must say they were a little surprised to see a middle aged white woman with a British accent asking for a tunic, but they were ever so nice and helpful.

In the last store I went into they picked out some tunic tops but all but one were too tight and were squishing the girls (bosoms).  So we decided I would try on the longer tunics and pants sets.  They picked out the largest size they had and they thought it looked wonderful.  However all I kept saying to them, "they are squishing my girls."  They kept saying that's the way they wear them and they were supposed to be clinging to your figure.  Now that's all well and good when you don't have any wobbly bits, but when you have wobbly bits you really don't want things clinging to you.  They did suggest a sari, but I did ask them how on earth me and dh were supposed to tie it/put it on?  I suppose that could be a whole new post in itself; me and dh trying to figure out how to put on a sari!!!

Anyhow, I ended up buying this tunic top which at least I can wear again for another occasion.  If I am ever invited to a fancy dancy Indian function I will go out and buy a sari and make sure I put it on when Rupa is there to help me.

So the reason I was in the city was to go to the dentist for my six monthly cleaning.  The gist of the situation is that there is a problem with the root canal that he just did.  So I am on antibiotics and have to go back in two weeks to see how my mouth is feeling {{{SIGH}}}  I have no idea what is going on, but I know that my poor mouth is still aching.

I was out all day on Tuesday and was pooped by the time I finally got home, but at least I got a number of errands completed while I was down there.

I plan on having an industrious day around the house on Wednesday, wish me luck!!

Wish me luck and another project........

I am heading to the dentist this afternoon for my 6 month cleaning.  I can see it is going to be an interesting visit, as I have toothache all the time on my right hand side where I had the root canal.  Needless to say I am not a happy camper......

I have been busy with this cross stitch card that I got free in a cross stitch magazine.  I have no idea who this card is for but I do know it's not for dd!!  I have started one for her and will show you it next month.

Should say although the cross stitch is finished I still have to adhere it to the card stock.  It is from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

The weather was really strange on Monday.  It was warm enough to be outside with a t-shirt on, as there was no need for a sweater or jacket.  I even barbecued at supper, yes that was why there was smoke in the air!!!  I even got into the garden and pulled up the canna lily bulbs  I also picked the last tomato of the season and enjoyed it on our burgers.

I also meant to say the material I got from the show on the weekend, was from Red Rooster Fabrics and is called Neutral Territory

It was a real pea souper on Sunday......

Very British like with fog through out the day on Sunday.  I guess it was better than snow, at least you don't have to shovel fog.

Here is a photo of the material I bought.  Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, as I am busy with a cross stitch project.

I had a go with the stamping and it's a lot harder than it looks.  The flower to the right is the one the lady at the show did for me.  I did the two on the left, I need to practice more.  Also blogger turned my photo around?  Why I do not know.........

Sunday was a super quiet day, which suited me just fine.  Made a roast of beef in the crockpot.  The recipe is here, and in my humble opinion is the only way to cook beef.   I made enough potatoes for another meal, all I need to add is some veggies.

If you haven't already and live in Canada or the States, please enter my giveaway by leaving a comment on this post

Creativ Festival

On Saturday me and dd went to the Creativ Festival in downtown Toronto.  We had a really good day and here are some photos from there.  By the way no photographs were supposed to be taken, but I asked permission each time I took a photo.

Dd really liked these cards and wanted me to take a photo of them.

This woman is called Lennie Honcoop, and her work is just lovely she has a web site where you can order her product from: http://www.dutchquilter.com/index.html  I fell in love with the poppy quilt on her left hand side.  It will be in stock later in the year.

This next photo wouldn't turn around for some reason.  Anyhow dd bought the stamp kit to make these cards.  It's from a company called Local King Rubber Stamp  So we all expecting this Christmas Cards from dd this year.

I picked up this stamp kit called Thoughtful Flowers  We bought a starter kit each which consists of the stamp set, a background stamp I got one similar to this one  We got an acrylic block to put the stamps on and 40 sheets of glossy paper.  The lady demonstrating it was really good and very patient.  She even told us to buy crayola markers instead of the more expensive pens she was selling.  I am looking forward to trying this out.

There was this poor little alpaca there, who kept chewing on the bars???  Alpaca wool is very soft, I didn't know that, as I don't knit and neither does dd.  We avoided all the knitting boothes.

This photo is out of focus I am afraid but I fell in love with the material and the colours.

Mad About Patchwork is out of Ottawa and she was a lovely lady, again sorry about the quality of the photo. I picked up 16 fat quarters and 1/2 a yard of fabric from her booth.  She had the most gorgeous Christmas fabric see here that sold out on the first day (Friday.)

I picked some quilters basting spray at a great price from A Great Notion and they too have an online store here.

We could have spent a small fortune at the show as there was so much to buy.  We really had to limit ourselves on what we bought.

My poor old feet were killing me by the time we had finished walking around.  When we were entering the show, a pile of people were milling around as they had just walked up the CN Tower for charity.........me I was exhausted just walking from the subway to the Metro Convention Centre!!!  So the whole idea of me walking up to the top of the CN Tower was ludicrous, especially  when it's a well know fact I am allergic to exercise!!!

When we were leaving the show, we were met by lots of little kids and their parents who had just been to see the Wiggles in concert at the Rogers Centre  A lot had purple Wiggles t-shirts on.  All were very tired with having to walk three miles (slight exageration) from the Rogers Centre to Union Station.  Mind you there was one person whining more, as her feet were killing her......oh and she has a British accent and was with her dd who had no sympathy what so ever about her mother's sore feet!!

It's the same dd who does not trust her mother what so ever on the subway, as for some reason her mother who generally has a great sense of direction looses it when she gets on the subway!!!  My ears also wouldn't stop popping either on the subway this time, that normally doesn't happen.

All in all though a great day out, and a great mother and daughter day.....even though the daughter has no sympathy about her poor mother's ailments!!

A question and other stuff

This was Friday's sunset, we have been having some glorious sunsets recently.

Friday at 5am I had to let Molly out for a pee and the car was covered with flurries, it was nippy cold here.

I was talking to my mother on Friday and she was saying that she has been inundated with telemarketing calls.  I was saying that over here in Canada we have a phone number where we can register our phone number on a do not call list.  My question for anyone in Britain, do you have the same thing over there and if so what is it?

I love this town sign, it's so pretty don't you think?

I'm all excited as I get to go to the Creativ Show today........I should have lots of lovely photos to show you on Sunday!!

Poor Molly, and a few other things.......

On Wednesday Molly had her tooth extracted and below is the evidence!!! She was missing half the tooth it turned out.

It turns out we did it just in time, as she had a lot of problems with it; it was pretty rotten and her body was fighting the rotten part of the tooth.


I picked Molly up at 4pm and she was still a bit groggy poor thing.  Here she is laying on the sofa. If you click on the photo you will see how glazed over her eyes is.

She had a rough night and was up a number of times with diarrhea.  I am so glad I don't have a new born in the house, as I was pooped by morning.  Anyhow when we got up in the morning, she seemed a lot better and was wagging her tail, which is always a good sign.  She did finally have something to eat and drink by lunch time.  However she is only allowed soft foods for ten to fourteen days until her stitches heal; she had four stitches.

Do you want to buy a church?  This one is for sale.  It's actually a lovely church, I was inside it last year.  It's in a lovely little village called Mono Centre.  I'm not sure I could live in a church could you?

Mono Centre also has a real British telephone box:

Have you entered my Giveaway yet?  Here is a link to it.

Finally turned the heating on, on Thursday.  Not that it was on through the day.  We had snow flurries up the road from us.  Just streamers off the lake, but it's gone cold and I still haven't got everything done for Winter.

Another Giveaway.........

This I must say is a good one.  I have been thinking about getting a barstool for my island in the kitchen and have seen some that I like on this site.  I have been fortunate enough for them to ask me to do a review on an item from their main site.  They have also offered to supply me with a $70 gift card for this site for one of my readers as a thank you.

Unfortunately this time it will be restricted to people who live in the States and Canada.  I’m hoping down the road if I am able to do this again, that maybe we can include the rest of the world.

So here are the rules:

1.    You have to live in the States or Canada to be eligible (please indicate which country you live in.)

2.    You need to go to the site and tell me which Bar Stool you like the best and put that link in with your comment.

3.    You need to leave me your email address if you don’t have a blog where I can reach you at.

4.    If you promote this giveaway on your site (need to provide link and a separate comment) you will get an extra entry.

5.    The winner will be drawn on Sunday October 31^st, 5pm my time, which is EST.  I will contact you then and you have 48 hours to get back to me with a valid email address, as the gift card code will be emailed to you.

For those of us in Canada, please be aware there will be “international fees” of around $20 on your purchase, those are duties, taxes etc, that we always have to pay.

Good luck and I hope you enter…….

A memo to my Christmas Cactus..........

Look at you, you are beautiful again, all those super pink flowers.  However I have just one little request of you, would it be possible for you to flower one of these days at Christmas time, just like the season you are named after?

I have yet to see you flower at Christmas, you generally flower in the Spring and Fall.  Would you prefer to be in another room?  Would that help?  Regardless though, I am just pleased that you do keep on flowering for me.  Keep up the good work!!

Aren't plants supposed to thrive if you talk to them?  I read this article and it says it does help them grow!!

As I was watching the news on Tuesday night the word "Flurries" popped up in the weather forecast..............I am so not ready to hear that word.  We still don't have our snow fences up yet and dh hasn't tried the snowblower yet.......

This was Tuesday nights sunset:

Has anyone been to the Creative Festival in Toronto?  I was thinking about going, and wanted to know if it was worth while.

How organized are you for Christmas?

I hunted out all the Christmas presents I have bought so far and sorted them all out to see what I have got for everyone.  I seem to be in good shape so far.  Have a number of gift cards to buy and am waiting for a couple of things to go on sale before I buy them!!!!  I have to say that's one good thing I love about Canada, most things tend to go on sale at one time or another!

I have made a decision about one thing though, there is no yearly newsletter going out with the Christmas cards this year.  I want as stress free a Christmas as possible and writing that newsletter every year just adds to the stress.

I am not a fan of vegetable drinks, the whole thing is icky to me.  So when I saw the new V8 drink that incorporates vegetables in a fruit tasting drink I thought I would give it a go.

My impression of it.......I don't know, it wasn't totally unpleasant, it was just a bit thick for me and the taste wasn't as "fruity" as I would have liked.

Are you a fan of those vegetable juices?

I was looking through an old post and thought it was interesting, here it is

A quiet Saturday.....

Dh was off work on Saturday, which was nice.  Unfortunately he has hurt his knee, so he's hobbling at the moment.  Dh is one of these people who doesn't like to sit down doing nothing, so I had to force him to sit and watch British soccer on tv on Saturday morning to rest up his knee.  He has to work on Sunday so I figured a few hours not doing anything would help his knee.

We went to Tim Hortons for lunch then on to Cookstown Outlet Mall, as we are going to a housewarming party and I wanted to get a gift.  We ended up with this Corning ware set, which I thought was useful, as you can't have enough serving dishes.

Oh and Molly, well she was chewing a raw hide bone on BOTH sides of her mouth, which  makes me question the whole broken tooth thing; as I didn't really see it, and Molly won't let me look in her mouth.  So I am going to call the vet's on Monday to talk to her.

I was looking through a couple of old posts and happened upon this one brought back great memories for me.

While I was typing this I heard the snap of the mouse trap, so two mice caught today :0(  I have to say the traps I use work well:

I find peanut butter works a treat for attracting them.  I keep a separate jar of peanut butter in the fridge especially for the mice. 

Thank goodness for Dh.......

Our washer drains into a sink which then drains into a pump which then pumps the water up to the septic/sewer line and out into the spetic bed.  On Wednesday I was doing laundry and when I went down to the basement to get it out of the washer, I found water everywhere on the floor.  I figured that the hose had come loose.

On Friday did more laundry and the same thing happened; so this time figured that maybe the bottom of the washer had rotted out.  Anyway did another load and discovered the pump wasn't working; instead of pumping the water up to the septic pipe it was just pouring out the pump all over the floor.  What a flipping mess.

Anyway my dear dh came home and stripped it down and repaired it, and now it is working fine!!  So that saved us $300 thank goodness.

I went to get the mail from the mail box and it was full of mail on Friday.  Unfortunately at least six pieces of mail was for other people at other addresses!!!  To cut a long story short I got the phone number of a "higher up" individual and they are going to see what's what.  I told them I am fed up of the situation and they are not to use my name............so we'll see what happens.

Friday's sunset........pretty nice eh!

Poor Molly..........

Had to take Molly for her annual check up as they wouldn't give me any more pills for her allergies until I went in!!  Anyhow, ended up HAVING to consent to her getting her rabies shot, along with the DHP and Parvo vaccination.  The vet was really pleased with how her skin is looking and how healthy she is.  She has lost another pound in weight and is down to 38 lbs.

While we were in the vets office a guy came in with two cats in carriers.  Molly could hear them, so that set her off........she howled and howled.  The true hound in her came out in full force.  When we went into the main reception,  Molly immediately went for the cat carriers............however one of the cats hissed and flicked its claws......so Molly went flying the other way to get out of the way!!!  Then she started howling again.......my poor ears were ringing by the time we finally left the office.

So why am I saying poor Molly............well she is scheduled for surgery next Wednesday (20th), as she has gone and broken her upper molar, exposing the nerves.  Why she is not in excruciating pain is beyond me.  They have to put her under general anesthetic as this tooth is the hardest one to extract.  The bill for this will be between $530 and $580.  Her visit to the vet on Thursday was $193.17.........yep she is one pricey dog!!!  One good thing though is that they are not scaling her teeth while she is under as her teeth look good otherwise.......thank goodness for that!

It rained on Thursday, bringing down even more leaves.  So as soon as it dries up a bit, I must go out there and run over them with the tractor to mulch them.

A frosty start to the day and a couple of recipes......

There was a hard frost on Wednesday morning.  I don't think I will be hanging out the washing anymore in just my nightie!!  It was cool enough that in the afternoon I put the fire on.  We still don't have the heating on.  The black container on the top of the fire is a cast iron pot that contains water; it's to keep moisture in the air, as the fire makes our skin dry.

For supper on Wednesday night I made Ham and Zucchini skillet with mashed potatoes.

To make the Ham and Zucchini Skillet you need the following:

2 Zucchini, sliced

1 Onion, sliced

1 -2 cups cooked ham, cubed

Salt and pepper

Garlic Powder

Olive Oil

Place the olive oil in a frying pan/skillet.  Add onion, zucchini, and seasonings, and fry over medium heat for around 10 minutes until veggies have softened.  Add the ham and cook for for another 5 minutes until the ham is warmed through.

This was enough for the two of us,  so adjust the quantities accordingly.  We had it with leftover mashed potatoes.

Shirley asked me for the Stuffed Chicken breast recipe that I posted about the other day on this post

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with cream cheese and spinach.

For each person you need:

Boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 slices bacon

1 tbsp cream cheese

spinach leaves

Flatten a chicken breast by putting it between two pieces of cling/plastic wrap and "whacking" it with a rolling pin, or with a wine bottle!!

When you have flattened it, spread one tablespoon of cream cheese, I used the chive and onion flavour, on one half of the chicken breast.  Add a couple of spinach leaves on top of that, and fold over the other half of the chicken breast on top of it.

Cut the slices of bacon in half and place on top of the chicken.  Place in a dish and bake uncovered in a 375 oF oven for around 40 minutes.

I don't have a photo, but it was really good.

The wildlife hotel seems to be open again, and other stuff....

Yep, it seems the hotel is open again for business.  Already had 3 mice move in, the cluster flies are settling in quite nicely. So much so that I have the vacuum cleaner out full time for quick hoovering up!!!  Now I see the Asian beetles/ladybugs are moving in also!!!

The main job for this past weekend was installing a new garage door.  It was a cheapy all in all cost us just over $200, but it's a whole lot better than the prior one.

I did laundry on Monday and this pair of my Canadian themed socks was still hanging on the line as they weren't dry.  Just thought it would make a nice photo.

Happy Thanksgiving and a recipe........

A Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there.  It's Thanksgiving weekend this weekend.  We "celebrated" on Saturday as the kids came over.  We didn't have a turkey, I made chicken breasts, stuffed with cream cheese and spinach and wrapped in bacon.  Roasted potatoes (from the garden) and Caesar salad.  For dessert dd bought an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen and I made Chewy Ginger Cookies (recipe below)

The following recipe is from a Better Homes and Gardens, "Christmas At Home By The Fireside."

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour (plain)
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine, butter or shortening
1 cup sugar (granulated/white)
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses (in Britain use treacle)
2 tbsp sugar (granulated/white)

Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat margarine, butter or shortening with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds to soften.  Gradually add the 1 cup of sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add egg and molasses; beat well.  Beat or stir in flour mixture.

Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in the 2 tbsp sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 350 oF oven for 10 minutes or until edges are set and cookies are still puffed.  Let stand for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. 

Makes 24 cookies.

*****  What I do or don't do.

I didn't add ground cloves as I didn't have any.  I didn't roll in the 2 tbsp of sugar; too much extra work for me!!!

I did chop up some crystallized ginger and added them; that's what the lumps are in the cookies.  I probably used around half a dozen pieces, and I buy it from the bulk food store.

Simple recipe that everyone loves.

The weather has just been glorious this weekend, and we still don't have the heating on, so I am setting a new goal of not having the heating on for another week.

The project for this weekend is putting a new garage door on the garage.  I should hopefully have photos tomorrow.

{{SIGH}}

Ever had one of those days when you thought, it can only be better tomorrow?  Well Friday was one of those days.

I can't go into detail on some of the issues, but one issue I can talk about is Sears.  So I had to order a switch and a couple of blades, 25 minutes later, I had them ordered.  Do you know that I was calling the Philippines.  She kept calling my tractor an appliance??  And if she said "hold on one second," one more time I think I would have screamed..LOL

I then went grocery shopping and I didn't get to the store until around 11am and the store was so busy I couldn't concentrate.  I ended up buying Presidents Choice Cola, instead of the "real thing."  No doubt there will be some griping from the people who drink it!!  I don't drink pop as it makes me gassy.......I swear I could burp the alphabet after I have drank a can of pop.......too much info??  ;0)

When dh came home he put a temporary switch on the tractor so I can use it until the new one arrives.  He is such a love isn't he?

Took a photo of the flowers and pumpkins on the front porch.

 This is the view north west of the property.

Going to have a busy day on Saturday as the kids are coming over.

Busy, busy, busy........

The weather is glorious here, so have been busy outside.  Managed to break the tractor again (SIGH), got whacked by a tree branch and it broke off the knob that turns the blades on the cutting deck on and off ((SIGH))  So must remember to chop that branch off.  Meanwhile I can't cut grass, until I get a new knob.  Luckily it's not bad, although I do have a little more to do on the field yet.

If you're from Britain this is a blast from the past.  Do you remember Cissie and Ada?  Click on this link to remind you, and for everyone else, this was big in the late 70's and 80's.

It's Thanksgiving weekend here so planning on being in the garden for most of the weekend.

Enjoy your weekend.........

Skywatch Friday - Blue Skies .....

Blue Skies, by Eva Cassidy

Blue skies Smiling on me
Nothing but blue skies Do I see
Blue birds Singing a song
Nothing but blue skies From now on.

I never saw the sun shining so bright
Never Saw things going so right.
Watching all the days Hurrying by
When you're in love, My how they fly

Those blue days, all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies from now on.

Blue skies Smiling on me
Nothing but blue skies Do I see
Blue birds Singing a song
Nothing but blue skies From now on.

I never saw the sun shining so bright
Never Saw things going so right
Watching all the days Hurrying by
When you're in love, My how they fly

Those blue days, all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies, Nothing but blue skies
Nothing but blue skies, from now on.

For more Skywatch Friday photos, please click on the link