Weekly Cross Stitch update

 I haven't done as much this week as I have been busy reading.  I have four books to review.

I would think I have another 3 weeks worth of stitching to do yet.  Although I am enjoying doing it, I will be glad when I have finished it.  I do have some ideas now of what I want to do with it when it's finished. 

How have you got on with your projects?  Hard to believe it's the last day of March today.  The month has just zoomed on by.  I just hope the weather warms up soon.

Well I didn't think that through.........

I was out and about earlier in the week and stopped in at Homesense and bought this lovely shower curtain.  

I love the colours and the print.

So warm and bright.

BUT; it doesn't really go with the paint on the walls in the bathroom.  So I am going to have to paint the bathroom 😕  Huh, guess I didn't think that one through.......more work 😉

No amount of money would make me want to do this..........

Here in Ontario/Canada, we have had a new budget released from both the Provincial and Federal Governments this past week.  Neither has benefited hubby or I personally.  As with all things, some things we agree with, some we don't.

Now, that is where this blog post title comes into play.  Would you want to be a politician?  I know I wouldn't because to my mind no one is ever happy with everything you do.  There is always someone complaining about what you have, or have not done.  There is never enough money to pay for everything........mind you that doesn't seem to stop them from spending money willy-nilly.

We were brought up to only spend what we have, and if we have to borrow money (i.e. mortgage) you have a plan of action on how to repay the money?  We were brought up not to lie.  So I am guessing I would make a terrible politician 😏

I wonder why people want to be politician's?  

Which one will last longer?

 I know it's pretty obvious!!

The girls brought us two bunches of tulips on Saturday as a gift; which was so nice of them and our daughter.  Then Nora and I, with a little help from Paige 😉, made up the other box of Lego flowers.

I really enjoy tulips but they tend to droop early on.  By Monday afternoon I had, had to tie a string around them.

I looked up why Tulips droop and I am guessing my vase was too short.  I thought I had heard long ago that if you stuck a pin through the stalk just below the tulip head that would stop them drooping?  Have you heard of this?

It took us 2 hours to make up the second box of Lego flowers.  I will say we both enjoyed doing it, Nora and I.  Nora is 9 and she found it relatively easy to make them.  Plus I don't think there will be any drooping with these ones!!

I am missing a pink petal off the Gerbera Daisy though!

One year later (before and after photos)

and I am still happy with our decision.

I wasn't happy with the kitchen cabinets, BUT there was nothing actually wrong with them other than them being oak and it dating the house.  Plus I really couldn't be bothered gutting the whole kitchen to put new ones in.  I neither wanted the mess nor the expense.  So we decided to get a company in to spray/paint the kitchen cabinets.

Not that you can tell from the photos, but the big stand alone unit and the unit around the fridge were added later by the previous owner and are a slightly different colour to the other units.

Here are some before photos:

Here are the after photos:

The company took all our doors and drawer fronts to their workshop and primed and sprayed them there.  They primed and painted the rest of the units in situ and came back and forward once a week for four weeks total.  We bought new handles and so they filled the holes and installed those.

One year on and it's holding up really well.  I did notice a small chip on a drawer we use all the time.  I have nearly a gallon of paint they left me so I just need to touch it up. 

Would I do this again; without a doubt yes.  It cost us I think around $3 thousand Canadian, so a whole lot cheaper than putting in a new kitchen.  As I said there was nothing actually wrong with the cupboards or the layout.   We had put new countertops in a year or two before hand.  The change in colour has brightened up our kitchen considerably.  The colour we chose, was the colour of the year for Sico paints last year. 

I had posted back in 2021 here about how we had our vanity "wrapped" by a company.  I am super happy with how that turned out and again that is holding up great.  I did get that company out to quote us for the kitchen, but I can't stand the guy....LOL  Really I don't like him, he got on my nerves.  So for the sake of my sanity, as I knew this was going to take time I couldn't/wouldn't hire him. 

Some people do this themselves, painting their kitchen units.  Good for them, I just knew I wouldn't do as good a job as the professionals.

The company we used works in our area, and is not a nationwide company.

A lady I follow on YouTube

I watch her video's every day while I am having my lunch.  If I were younger this is something I would love to do.  Now I can't be bothered, so just live vicariously through her!!

Do you follow/watch video's of a certain person daily online?

Seriously!!!

If we didn't have bad luck we would have no luck at all.

This past six months it has been one thing after another within the family and it's all starting to catch up on me.  Why?  Well I now have shingles..........

Luckily this is not the first time I have had shingles, so I sort of know what's what with it.  The last time I had shingles was the beginning of April, 1984.  Right before I gave birth to our son.  Caused quite a kerfuffle, as it's not something they saw in the birthing unit every day.  Add into the fact it was right around my body where my bra strap would have been and they weren't even sure if I could breast feed our son or not.

It's in the same place as last time, and so far like last time, it's not painful but awfully itchy.  So on Friday I had to drive down to our doctors office to have someone look at it so I could get some antibiotics. 

The cause of this is probably stress.  I am still coughing and bringing up phlegm. Oh well onwards and upwards as they say (((SIGH)))

Weekly Cross Stitch Update

It looks as though I did quite a bit this week.

Last week:

This week:

I took it off the frame as I was struggling to do the leaves on the top corner.  There is another border to go around the leaves.  The majority of the back stitch is done; it's mainly just around the vines.  I will then do the bottom three rows.  I love the toadstool block is just pops.

Still enjoying doing it, but will admit I am itching to get started on one of the kits from the UK.😁

How have you got on with your crafting this week?

Video Door Bell

Another update.  We have had our doorbell installed a couple of months now and so far so good.

We ended up getting a EZVIZ Video Doorbell Camera from Amazon. It is hard wired into the house, not wireless. Now with this one you don't need a subscription to store your video's.  You can install a SD Card and any video's will store on that for you and I think lasts a few weeks.

We did have an extra expense though as our door faces one way and our pathway and driveway face another.  So we had to buy an extra bracket to angle the doorbell down the pathway.

You can just see the top of it in the photo.  We got if off a guy in Alabama via Etsy.  He makes them with a 3D printer and the first one he sent us wasn't correct.  Luckily hubby was able to send the exact measurements and he made us another one at no charge and sent it up right away.  So anyone else wanting a bracket for this doorbell will now get one made with no issue!!  The guy thought all this brand had the same measurements.

It took a bit of fiddling with to get the angles right.  Also the sensitivity correct.  I mean the first time it snowed it was constantly going off 😕  Regardless, now it works great and doesn't pick up every gust of wind....LOL  The video is very clear and as I said overall it works a charm and worth every penny.  So a 10/10 from me.

Update on Costco

So I have had my Costco membership now for around 3 months.  It seems as though I am popping in there every couple of weeks.  It helps it is just around the corner (a five minute drive) from where we live.  So it is very handy.  The one thing I am buying there consistently is yogurt.  What I am paying for 16 in Walmart I pay the same for in Costco and get 24 yogurts.  So at this point the membership is paying for itself by the savings there.

Now if Costco was at the north end of the city I wouldn't be visiting as often and would probably say it wasn't worthwhile.  However as I said, so far so good.

On today's visit I bought the following:

As well as the usual yogurt's, bananas, and fruit snacks.  I got enough Bounce dryer sheets to last me a couple of years.  16 bars of Dove soap, which should last me at least 6 months!!  Some t-shirts for hubby for work, $15.99 for 4 and a new pair of swim shorts, again $15.99.  Both the dryer sheets and soap had extra savings on them, making it a worthwhile buy.

Spent a few cents under $100, but I do think it was money well spent.

First day of Spring.....

Spring, you image warm days daffodils flowering, lambs frolicking in the fields........

Meanwhile in Southern Ontario, the sun is shining, the skies are blue, the winds are bitter cold and snow is on the ground🙄

I went for my first walk of 2023 on Monday and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the back of my thighs and the back of my knees saying otherwise.  It was nice to walk around the subdivision to see what was going on.  To the east of our subdivision they are building another 600 houses.  I see they have made a start:

It doesn't bother me, and although there will be a road through at the end of our street, we shouldn't see much of a difference in the traffic by our house, as there are quicker ways of getting out of the subdivision than via our house.  Plus there will be other ways of getting out of the new subdivision.

The temperatures are supposed to be getting warmer for us throughout the week.  I hope that results in getting rid of this snow.  I am over winter now........just saying!!!

My first Lego build in years.......

I put together the flower bouquet I got for my birthday.  I was stumped for a few seconds when I opened the box and out poured numerous numbered bags.  Then when I saw the instruction book had 82 pages I was a tad concerned this wasn't going to be a five minute job!!

However, I quickly figured out what was going on and the instructions were idiot proof......well more or less!!  I still managed to mess up a piece by putting it in back to front!!  Still I managed to catch that mistake very quickly and got on with it.

The only negative thing I have to say is that some of the pieces are tiny and a little fiddly to put together.  So if you have stiff fingers it may be a little difficult for you.  I found it very relaxing though doing this.

All in all I would say it took less than 2 hours to put everything all together.  I did it over two evenings.  

They are quite heavy.  The photo below was taken at night.

I have popped them into a tall glass, as I want to make up the other bouquet and place them all in the same vase.

I have the girls overnight on the weekend and Nora wants to help me make the wildflower bouquet, as she enjoys putting together Lego.

I have seen these set's online and may get them if I see them when I am out and about.

(image credit)

(image credit)

and the birthday keeps on giving..........

I don't know about you but I have signed up for things over the year's and some sites ask for your birth date so they can send you a treat/code/discount on your birthday.

I have taken advantage of a couple of them.  I was driving past Panera bread, boy is that place expensive.  Anyhow I had a code for a free birthday treat up to $5.  So I picked up this cookie.  It's a Kitchen Sink Cookie and costs $4.19 CDN.  It is huge and really good, but I would not buy one for that price.

The Body Shop gave me $10 in points to spend in store.  So I went in to buy some soap at the outlet.  However it is now $7 a bar; granted there is a buy one, get the second item for 50% off.  I still think it's a bit steep for a bar of soap.  They had this three pack of body butter's on clearance for $11.

I use the body butter all the time and really like the Shea one, so this will come in very handy.

I ended up paying $1.13 for this and had had to go to the outlet mall to pick up something for dd, so killed two birds in one.

I do have some  more discount codes I could use and a $10 of my purchase coupon for a store I could use.  If I am passing any of these before they expire I may use them, however I will not go out of my way to use them.

Do you get freebies on your birthday?

It finally arrived!!!!

Had a great mail day on Friday as my order from Bothy Threads in the UK finally arrived😁

It came in fully recyable packaging.

Here is what was in my package.

I LOVE Wrendale Designs, they are so pretty and just loved this cow's expression.  This is a kit so everything is included.

I love British robins, they are different to the robins we get in Canada.  I am going to stitch this minus the mistletoe I think.  Again a full kit, with everything included.

This is a needle minder.  I have been wanting one of these to attach to my current project

This fabric is used in all Wrendale designs and I have a calendar with more Wrendale cross stitch patterns on it I want to sew up.

I metre of black Aida cloth.  I have a project in mind for this.

I bought this all in Bothy Threads January sale.  I also managed to get free shipping.  I priced all these items out over here and in the States and it was cheaper to have them all shipped in.  Now to get on with my vines and ladders project!!

Cross stitch update and another birthday gift....

this is my weekly update on my vines and ladders cross stitch.  Not sure how much I got done this week?

Dd asked me what I wanted for my birthday so I suggested a cross stitch subscription.  She looked into it and the postage was super expensive  to get to Canada, so she came up with the idea of making up six separate packages and I can open them one per month for the next six months.  What a super idea, right?

This is what was in month 1:

A floss organizer and a Happy Camper cross stitch kit.

Here is what the other packages look like (there are 3 packages in the box):

It's the gift that keeps on giving.  So on the 15th of the month I will open another package.

Spoiled rotten.....

Yesterday was my birthday.  I had Liam overnight and so we had a quiet day.  I was thoroughly spoiled though by all my family.  Hubby got me a new Fitbit watch.  Dd and family made up a six month "subscription" for cross stitch stuff.  So I have a present to open on the 15th of the month for the next six months. Son and family got me these:

Have you seen these Lego sets?  I fell in love with them the first time I saw them.

I figured I couldn't "kill" these flowers😁

Lego has brought out some really neat adult sets.  Are you a fan of Lego?  Can't wait to start making these.

Yea or Nay?

I don't know about you, but I hate it when the time Spring's forward an hour in the Spring and Fall's back an hour in the Fall.  It throws my whole body clock out.  I know I sound like a whining 3 year old, but it does me in for a week or two, as that is how long it takes me to adjust to the time change.

This past weekend our clocks changed, and since then I have been out of sorts.  There is talk by various governments to stop Daylight Savings Time, but in Ontario's case, we will only stop the bi-annual changing of the clocks if the province of Quebec and the state of New York agrees to as well.  I wish they would just get on with it.

The whole idea of Daylight Savings Time is saving money on energy/fuel.  I read the Wikipedia article and found it very interesting.

(image credit)

(image credit)

Regardless though, I am over it, I vote for no more Daylight Savings!!  How about you?

Nothing Happening Here...........

I mean really nothing happening.  Which is the way I like it.  I spent Monday doing some cleaning and laundry.  Then spent a while doing my cross stitch.  I am finding a number of mistakes in this pattern the more I get into it!!

Daughter is away on vacation...lucky duck!!  Facetimed me and asked me what we had been up too........which I replied.....nothing.  

I have been binge watching Our Girl.  LOVED the first series.........

Then Michelle Keegan took over as lead actress in series 2.  Series 2 was alright.  Then started series 3 and I can see this getting more and more unbelievable and unrealistic as each episode is aired.

Such a shame Lacey Turner left after the first series as I thought she did a good job.  I like Michelle Keegan as an actress, but not loving her in this.

We are watching it on BritBox got a promo for $1.99 per month for the first two months.  Figured we would see if we liked it before committing to it.

Right, now back to my "nothing!!"

Need your input.........

We are buying a new mattress this year.  Our old one is only 9 years old.  I wrote about buying our present one on this blog post.  Now instead of having a valley in the middle like our old one, our present one has a hill dividing us.  This one was not a good buy, as I had hoped to get more than 9 years out of it....though saying that how long does a mattress normally last?

So this is where you guys come in.  I am thinking of buying one of those mattresses in a box.  That way they are delivered to your door and you deal with it.  On the up and down side though, one I don't have to lie down on mattresses in a store, and risk getting head lice (read the old blog post) but the down side is I can't lay on one to get the feel of it.

I have narrowed down a couple of choices.  This one by Endy.

Or this one by Simba:

Yes they are both expensive and will cost $2,000 but the older we get the more we crave a decent night's sleep.  Hubby especially is a bad sleeper.

I am open to other brands.  We don't need a box spring, just a mattress.

So please let me know your experiences with the mattresses in a box.  If we had Sears still here in Canada, I would go with one of theirs, but we don't.  Love and miss Sears.