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.

Nespresso Vertuo Chrome

For Christmas the kids bought me a Nespresso Vertuo Chrome and Aeroccino  I had tried a sample of coffee at Canadian Tire and fell in love with it.  It has a lovely "Froth/Crema" on the top which I enjoy.  I was also lucky they included the Aeroccino with gives me the frothy milk, again which I enjoy.  I got the mug for Christmas, and it's perfect for that lovely big cup of coffee, don't you think?

Part of the package I received with the machine was a sample package of coffee.  When I was looking at it I noticed the package had an expiry date of the end of November.  So I called Nespresso and they sent me another package right away which arrived on January 2nd.

Inside there are 12 different coffee types to try which will give you an idea of what you do or do not like!  Will say great customer service on their behalf.

I will say I was a little surprised at how expensive these pods are, but in the scheme of things they are cheaper than buying a take out coffee, so that's good.  Does anyone else own a Nespresso machine?  Are there any do's or don'ts?

Christmas shopping..........

(image credit)

yes I know I mentioned the "C" word, but you know me I like to be organized. I am nearly done with all the grandkids.  When there is six to buy for it can get expensive, so shopping for deals is a must.

I picked up their Christmas pj's from Hatley's sale the other month.  Love their quality, well worth paying that little bit extra for, and when I can get all six a pair of pj's for under $90 for all of them, I can say I did well.

I also made out like a bandit at Chapters Indigo as well.  They have a summer reading programme on at the moment.  When you buy a child's book, you get a stamp.  Five stamps = $10 off a child's book or toy.  Combine that with the buy 4 items for $10 in the children's department and there was a bonus points thing going on one weekend, I swear I cleaned up there!!!  On the 4 items for $10 table, there were also games, puzzles, boxed crafts as well as sticker books, reading books and packages of books.  I see they also have free shipping on books all summer, so even if you don't live near a Chapter's store, you can take advantage of the deals they have.

I still put $20 a week away in my Christmas jar.  Been doing that for years and will continue to do that.

How is you Christmas shopping going?  Do you buy months in advance or are you a last minute shopper?

Cut it all out on Friday.......

Planned on spending Sunday sewing, which I did, then took another couple of days to finish it all off and here is what I made with that stash of material:

A Christmas gift of two hot pads for soup bowls, a key fob and a tissue holder.

 It's pretty neutral fabric, though the material with the writing on is in silver and gold.

 Another key fob and tissue holder for a gift.  The back of the tissue holder is the same as the key fob.

 The last two of the dolly blanket's.  Such bright fun material and perfect for little girls.

 This shows the inside with the pockets.  I posted a link to the tutorial on this blog post.

I can now return to my knitting.  I have a hat to finish knitting for a Christmas gift.  I will show you a photo when it's done.  Will say I am loving the pattern.

Have you finished all you Christmas shopping and gift making?

Another Christmas Song:

Quick and Easy gift too make..........

This cost me nothing but time as I had all the bits in the house.  There is nothing better than sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of soup on a cold winter's night.  It's made all the better when you don't burn your hands on a hot soup bowl!!

I made a Soup Bowl Hot Pad using this tutorial.

All you need are two 10 inch squares of fabric
Two 10 inch squares of batting, toweling or flannel (padding to go between the layers of outside fabric)
Coordinating thread
Scissors
Ruler

It's sewn with a straight stitch, so if you can sew in a straight line you can do this.  The pad itself is completely reversible and it is washable.

A couple of these along with a jar of soup mix (recipe here) would make a great Christmas gift.

I am going to sew some more of these now I have made my first one.

Tree Lighting Ceremony

We were invited to a tree lighting/wine and cheese last night.  It all started out as a bit of a joke, when I turned on my Christmas outside lights before December 1st.  When I mentioned to the neighbours why they didn't have their outside lights on; they said they didn't turn them on until December 1st. So I suggested they should have an official Christmas tree lighting ceremony for their outside Christmas lights.

The phone rang on Monday evening inviting dh and I to the ceremony.  As two neighbours were having the ceremony (they live side by side) I figured we had better not go empty handed.  So after I got the winter tires put on the car I popped to the store to pick them up a Poinsettia each.

Popped into the dollar store and picked up a gift bag each.....they cost $1.25 by the way not $1, some candy canes and the little Santa ornament.

It's not a lot but it says we are thinking of them.

Today's Christmas song I thought should be about Christmas lights.  Although this is really neat to look at I would absolutely hate to live next door to this!

Loving Christmas Shopping via the internet........

Got another parcel in the mail yesterday.  This time from Tupperware.  Who knew that you can order Tupperware without having to go to a party?  I am a HUGE, HUGE fan of Tupperware.

Can't say what I got, but I know both items are useful and fun!  The photos though suck.  I need to fire the photographer and get another one........oh wait that's me!!

I ordered a couple of things from Land's End also the other day for the first time.  Never done that before?

I checked out the home of the week and it's a 60's flashback.  Quite pricey at $2 million, but can't say I was offended by any of the decorating.  If someone where to give it to me I wouldn't say no.

Now the condo of the week, I will pass on despite it being relatively cheap for Toronto at only $380,000.  It's described as "spacious," I beg to differ on that.  Look at the size of the kitchen, can you actually call that space a kitchen?  The foyer wastes a huge amount of square footage.

Got the last of the blinds from Blindsgalore.

Really pleased with them.

Last full day of Summer............

Where did the summer go?  Have to say Fall is my favourite season of the year.  What is your favourite season?

With Fall comes hopefully cooler temperatures.  We had a light frost on the rooftops last week.  The a/c hasn't been on in a couple of weeks.  I will again pay $100 on our gas bill this month so I am in a credit ready for the bigger bills that will arrive in January and February.  It will be interesting to see how our utility bills pan out in this house.  Still haven't had a bill yet for the property taxes.  Putting money away each week towards it, as when it does come in I am guessing they won't wait forever to be paid!!

We got our water softener put in just before we went on vacation.  We got a Clack 1 Water Softener.  It was a lot more expensive than the ones you buy in a big box store, but we have a lot of issues with our water and it has done wonders.  Our water in the toilet doesn't look brown anymore, and we can now drink the water; so well worth the money.  For people with Water Softeners in Ontario; we are finding that TSC is the cheapest for the salt for the softener.  We were buying at Lowes, but they have hiked up their prices to around $6.50 a 20kg bag.  TSC's is around $5.50 a bag, that's for Windsor Select Plus Salt.  If you know of anywhere cheaper I am all ears.

How is your Christmas Shopping coming along?  I have made a great start and my Christmas box where I put $20 a week is looking healthy.  Have to buy for three grand kids this year as well. 

Saw all of them last week.  Our Little Princess is growing up so much and is so well mannered.  She is 20 months old and is such a good talker.  Our Little Munchkin is 10 months old and will be walking very soon.  She eats everything you put in her mouth and is getting more verbal.  Then Our Little Guy, well he is so tiny compared to the other two, heading back towards the 6 lb range.  He seems to be getting a darker skin tone also and is quiet as a mouse, unless he wants feeding.  I am guessing when he gets older he'll have to find a voice when the other two are around, otherwise he'll never stand a chance...LOL

So there you go a bit of everything in this post.

A rambling sort of post, there might be something of interest in there for you?

Finally some cooler weather, just glorious and now I can sleep better.  Poor dh though was huddled under the covers; I think his blanket will be appearing on the bed shortly though; no doubt Jane's will too, they're twins.  Roll on the weather being a bit cooler in the day as well.

All over the news for us, part of the famous St. Jacobs market burnt to the ground early Monday morning.

You can read more about the story here thanks also to them for the photo.  Anyone in the south west of Ontario this was a great place to go and if you had visitors visiting you would take them there for a day out.  Such a shame, and a lot of people lost their jobs.

Today I MUST clean the house.  I am going to be trapped and eaten by a spider as the cobwebs are getting that thick!!!  I will report back if I actually do clean the house; if you don't hear anything I failed AGAIN!!

Good news the Red Cardinal has finally given up fighting itself in our window; only taken him a couple of months to realize it was his reflection.

Only 13 more weeks until dd has the baby.  Must make a mental note to myself to stop buying the baby clothes.  Our Little Sweetpea is going to have more clothes than she can wear.  This was the latest onesie I bought.  It was only $3 so I couldn't resist.

Haven't heard from Our Little Princess and her family; hope to hear from them this week.

Finally I have started Christmas Shopping, by picking up some stocking stuffers.  Late getting started this year!!

There you go a post about nothing really.

New tea pot and other things

I bought a new teapot the other day.  It's the Aspen teapot from Tea Forte.

I wanted a teapot with the option of using loose tea or tea bags.  This one comes with a removable filter.

The other day when I was in the city I had a few minutes to spare so I called into a thrift store that I have been too before.  As I was parking the car in the car park, a woman driving a newer model Jaguar pulled in beside me.  The woman got out and was very well dressed.  She followed me into the thrift store and I saw her looking through the clothes rack's.   This thrift store does not have good quality items to my mind, and found it surprising that someone who obviously had money would shop at a thrift store?  Though maybe that's why she does drive an expensive car, as she saves money by buying clothes at a thrift store?  By the way I spent a total of 57 cents for a brand new Christmas mug to add to a gift.

I managed to get all my Christmas cards written and all the international ones mailed out on Thursday.  I did have a parcel to mail which was just over $17, but the stamps itself for the cards came to $40.  Now I will have a couple of local stamps left over, but overall I used them all.

I have nearly finished the Christmas shopping.  I ordered some more things from Amazon as all my Swagbuck's Amazon gift cards came through.  I had $40 this month, and with what I ordered, I only had to put just over $4 to the total.

On Wednesday night I went to "Ladies Night," at our local Home Hardware.  I actually thought it was just a figure of speech, but they really meant it was Ladies only and turned away men.  I picked up some things, all Christmas gifts and my scratch and save card was worth 10% off, so that was better than nothing.

I can't believe it is Friday already.  I am determined I am NOT leaving the house today, as I have been out of the house every day.

More about Christmas...

I ordered some items online this week for Christmas.  The item I ordered from Amazon on Tuesday was here on Thursday, great service and I never left the house!  Bit sad when the UPS guy arrived with the package, as he had dog biscuits at the ready to give to Molly..........had to explain to him about Molly's passing.

I am finding that I am buying more and more things online nowadays.  The older I get the more I dislike trailing around stores fighting the crowds.  Plus when you can often get free shipping why waste my gas/petrol?  I will admit though the item I ordered this week from Amazon I did have to pay nearly $15 in shipping as it came from an affiliate store, but out of the $70 + this present cost it only cost me $20+ as I used my Amazon gift cards I got through Swagbucks.

I can't tell you what I ordered as it's for our son for Christmas and although he doesn't read my blog, it still might get back to him what I bought.  I have my eye on some more things from Amazon, so as soon as November arrives I will cash in Swagbucks for more Amazon gift cards and will be able to order another $25 worth of product for $0 out of pocket.

The one thing I won't be able to do is cash in big time at Shopper's Drug Mart, as I haven't been shopping there much, so have under 50,000 points :( 

I need to do an inventory of what I have for Christmas and lay it all out on the spare bed to see what I have got for whom.  One thing I have ordered is a magazine subscription for Money Sense for son-in-law, has asked for it.  I enjoy giving magazine subscriptions, as it's a year round gift. 

I also buy the kids a $10 gift pack of scratch and win lottery tickets that come out every year.  They enjoy sitting and scratching them on Christmas morning, and the year dd and son-in-law got engaged, ds won $1,000.

What's these in amongst the flowers and weeds????

They are the packing peanuts from ds Christmas gift.  There was a note inside the box saying that they dissolve in water.  So as we are going to have rain for the next few days, I thought we would see if what they say is true!!

Are you making plans for Christmas yet?

I have started thinking and buying things for Christmas.  We are cutting back major though this year with everyone, as things are iffy financially, so we don't want to go overboard.  I did use a big chunk of my Christmas pot on a house repair, which isn't helping the situation, as I do put $20 a week away year round, but I think with cutting back and careful shopping we should be alright.

Me and my mother were talking about Christmas cards and we both were wondering how long it would be before people stopped sending cards at Christmas?  The price of postage is crazy and more and more people are just sending cards through the Internet.  I do however love to receive cards myself, just like I do like to read a book or magazine, rather than look at it digitally.

I am planning on sewing a couple of things to give as gifts and using up points and gift cards to buy presents for people.  I ordered some gifts on the Internet today, using a promotional card I bought through Kijiji.  I have scoped out other gifts and trying to buy them at the best/cheapest possible prices.

I think with a little thought we will have a decent Christmas, maybe not as many presents under the tree, but given with the same amount of love; and that's a good thing.....right?

Merry Christmas to Dh and I.......

We bought our Christmas present to ourselves on Sunday morning.  10 sheets of drywall/plasterboard:

We also bought a carry handle thingy to carry the drywall, which turns out to be the best $7 we have spent as per dh:

Here is a close up of the writing:

This is something we will use over and over, and as I couldn't help dh lift the drywall this was worth every penny.

Dh's goal is to have the rest of the new basement drywalled, taped and sanded before Spring.

In case you think that's an awful gift, if we want anything we generally just go out and buy it when we see it, if it's in the budget, and we don't really want anything at the moment.  So we thought drywall was the perfect gift. 

However, we are giving one another a $40 budget each to go out and buy a couple of small things for one another.   I am getting dh another book on renovating; they are actually the only books he will actually read.  Plus some scratch and (hopefully) win cards, and I am not 100% sure what else yet.

Christmas Eve

I was out and about on Thursday.  Had a doctors appointment and dropped in to see a couple of people in the city.  Once again was thankful we don't live in the city anymore.  The traffic is too crazy, mind you they had no snow.  I had to snow blow again, as it had all drifted onto the driveway while I was out.  Should mention my appointment was the second one of the day at 9:10am, it was after 9:30am before I got too see him; he was busy doing paperwork!!!


Got this stunning Christmas arrangement,  dd best friend sent it too us for Christmas, wasn't that nice of her?

Now I may be a party pooper, but this would drive me crazy if I had to live next door to this house. However it is great to look at if I was passing!!

A couple of firsts on Thursday...............

I had to dry the laundry in the electric clothes dryer for the first time in months, as it rained for most of the day on Thursday.  However, I hung the clothes on the clothes horse for most of the day, so they were half dry.  Dh needed work clothes, otherwise I would have just left them to dry overnight.  I even had to put my jogging pants on instead of my shorts also on Thursday as it was cool. 

Then I went into town and bought a couple of Christmas gifts, the first gifts for the 2010 Christmas season.  Can't say what I bought, as they could read the blog. 

I tried a new recipe on Friday: Peach and Nectarine Muffins.  It was the monthly ACW meeting, so wanted to take some for the members to try.  I also supply the recipe for them as well.  Everyone liked them, and the vicar even had a couple.  I forgot to take photos, sorry.

Talking of recipes, I got all the editing done that I needed to get done in the book, so that's a good job over with. 

My arm is sore, but it's early days yet, so hoping things get better.

Christmas trees, wrapping presents, and Christmas songs

Managed to get all the presents wrapped on Sunday, which is good.  I remembered last year I dragged it out over a few days.  Due to the fact that we have bought a number of people gift certificates, that doesn't take a lot of wrapping!!!  I have even got a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates wrapped up for just in case gifts; you know when someone pops in with a gift when you weren't expecting it kind of gift.  Always handy to have a couple on hand I think.

My brother was telling me they have a BLACK fibre optic Christmas Tree.  Now I have looked up on google for a Black Fibre Optic Tree and I found this one and have come to the conclusion I don't like black Christmas Trees.  I am a green traditional Christmas tree type of girl.  Do you have a different colour Christmas Tree, or are you traditional type of person?

I have always loved the David Bowie and Bing Crosby's version of "Little Drummer Boy."

How are you Miss Molly Moo?

We call Molly, Molly Moo at times, when she's being a good girl. When she is digging in amongst the insulation in the attic, I can't repeat what dh calls her...LOL

Anyhow, we came to the end of another batch of pills on Sunday; and as Molly has started to chew and scratch as we started weaning her off the pills, I put a call into the vet to see what the next plan of action is. She called me back on the weekend, and as we can't afford the allergy test at the moment, she came up with another suggestion that she thought would be cheaper............

I agreed to pick up some paperwork on the medication and she told me there was a rebate on a pack of pills when I bought four packs. So Monday I go and pick up the info, and said to the receptionist I would get back to them. The pills are called Atopica, and for the first 30 days I would give Molly 1 x 100mg pill per day. Then I could cut it back to one every other day. Sounds good so far right?

I hope you're sitting down, and DON'T TAKE A DRINK!!! So the cost of this, $127.50 per pack of pills, and how many pills in the pack........15 So for the first month it would cost us $255, then $127.50 per month after than. Then I guess they will be charging me $65 for the cost of visiting the vet on top of that, as that is the only way we can get them. Now how this dear vet thinks this will be cheaper for us I do not know??? Just a reminder the allergy test was going to cost us $390.03.

So unless someone else has an idea I think we will watch Molly for the next week or two and then try and figure out another option. We truly cannot afford for her to be on those pills forever more. One thing we do know is that food wise she is fine on the vegetarian food, and we don't think its a food allergy.

In this post's comments Gaynor suggested using Pyriton, however we cannot get that over here. Also Janny suggested prednison, I haven't heard anything good about that drug, so don't want to use that if I don't have too. I'll keep you updated on what happens next.

On Tuesday I went Christmas shopping. I got the main shopping done, just made a list and got on with it. I still have a bit to do, but at least I have got the main stuff done. For the British readers, have any of you ordered from Marks and Sparks online? If so how fast do things arrive? I want to order a couple of things to be delivered in Britain, and I wasn't sure how soon to do it for Christmas. Also I had a look at the Tesco site, but couldn't see where I could order a gift card.........am I blind and just can't see it?

Due to me being out shopping for most of the day, I apologise if I didn't visit your blog on Tuesday, its a time issue thingy!!! When I did get back from shopping I had to hoover up all the cluster flies and ladybugs. We have had some super weather these past few days, but its brought out the cluster flies and ladybugs in droves. To the point I am fed up to the back teeth of being bitten by the ladybugs, they seem to love my neck; being dive bombed by the flies on a night while I am watching tv. I have also decided some of these cluster flies have suction cups on their feet, as even the hoover is struggling to suck them off the windows.

I wanted to thank you to Kim for this comment yesterday:

What a lovely blog. I just dropped in when googling for recipes for fabric softener, but I love your recipes, outlook, and sense of humor. Plan to come back and read blog in its entirety. You are now on my favorites list. Kim U. - USA

Oh and finally, google.ca has had Sesame Street characters amongst their Google logo this past week. Did they do the same worldwide to celebrate Sesame Street's 40th birthday?

Be warned - a whining post coming up!!

So today while I was hoovering up the 7,000 flies and sweating like a silly thing, a thought floated through my mind briefly - why had we moved out of our air conditioned brand new house to this????

I have to hoover every single day at the moment, as walking to the bathroom on a night in our bare feet to have a pee, we don't want that crunchy feeling under foot of walking on dead flies, now do we?

I mean it feels like a building site as soon as you go upstairs. Everything is covered in dust and dead flies. I do try and clean up, but honestly I am wasting my time. Where these rotten flies are coming from goodness knows? Now lady bugs have started to move in as well. I can't see the welcome sign flashing outside, but obviously all the insect world can. All I need now is the mice to start moving in by the dozen and that will be the finishing touch!!!

I have resorted to also spraying them with fly killer to make them die faster. Which in turn leaves murky marks on the windows, along with all the fly poop. So now all the windows look icky {{{SIGH, SIGH, SIGH}}}

Then the humidity had hit with a vengeance, which isn't helping me one little bit. I was sweating like a silly thing just hoovering up the flies. However that could also be me having one of my hot flashes, AGAIN!!! It was much too humid to work around the house, or in the attic.

I think next week when dh goes back to work I am going to scrub the house top to bottom to see if I can add some sparkle and polish to the look of it..........mind you I think I am wasting my time......as it will be as bad again a few days later!!

So on Tuesday as it was so hot and humid, we headed to the mall to do some shopping. It was our first time going to Georgian Mall in Barrie and have to say it was lovely, they have a contest on their website, so if you're in Ontario you should enter it. Its so bright and clean, even the bathrooms were spotless........I am incredibly fussy about public washrooms.

I picked up some Christmas presents, but can't say what they are, as certain people read this blog!! I will be going back there are there were plenty of stores that I like, and the Homesense there has a great variety of stock, the best one I have been into yet. I must take dd one day, as she would enjoy it as well. Normally shopping cheers me up, but it didn't hit the spot on Tuesday..........

Need some suggestions......

I was visiting with my step-mum yesterday and we got to talking about Christmas. We are both at a point, where if we need something, we go out and buy it. Therefore neither of us really need anything......well other than bucketfuls of money!!!

So we decided that me and dh, and my step-mum and dad are going to give one another just a token gift, basically a joint gift. The problem is what to give as a token gift? We couldn't think of anything. I was thinking no more than $50 and it has to be a joint gift. I told my step-mum I would post it on my blog, as you would all come up with great ideas, and as she reads my blog as well, this would sort out our problem.

I had a day out from the Acreage, and had a lovely time, visiting with my step-mum and I also got to have a look around Homesense and picked up a couple of things. They live around an hour south of us, and it was so much warmer down there than up here. People were wearing shorts and no socks, whereas I had my jeans on, with socks!!

I witnessed a close call for a guy, how he didn't end up dead in his car is beyond me. I bet he had to change his pants when he got to his destination. He ran a red light and just missed a transport truck!!

Otherwise Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day around here.

Finally finished the quilt........

I finally got Mya's quilt finished. I was going to make her a Tu-Tu, but haven't had the time to go and get the material, so thought I'd make her a quilt with some material I had in my stash.

I must say I am pleased with how it turned out. I love the pink's and cream, just right for a little girl. The front of the quilt is in cotton and the back is flannel, so it is nice and warm. It's around 36" square.

The front of the quilt:

A close up of the front:

The back, I used some leftover flannel from my niece's quillow:

Finally a close up of the back with the label I put on it.

Lets hope she likes it............