A wonderful Monday...

Today was a wonderful day despite what Mark the weatherman predicted.....the temperature rose to a balmy 14' Celsius, it wasn't sunny but it was nice! The morning was spent being quiet and then going to pick up a few groceries, visiting my mom and having coffee, the Hubs was sleeping off a night shift so I like to vacate for a few hours so there is peace in the house. Some days I will just putter around but it was just too, too nice to stay in. This afternoon, Sue and I went down to the beach looking for "sea glass" now this could become an addicting habit. Walking along the beach searching for wonderful pieces of glass. Did I mention I like "rocks"......another serious addiction.....not too mention driftwood. I'll really have to keep a check on these habits. I can see it now, I will have a yard full of driftwood and bowls of rocks.....but it was a great hour spent wandering up and down the beach. When Hubs gets a day off, I will show him this new haunt.....he'll be excited!

I've decided the purse is going to have a transformation, yes.......sad but true, the contrasting color they wanted you to use,  isn't working for me.....the more I look at it,  the more I think it should be a lighter color, and since it's a fair swim away to Michael's, I hope I can find something here at the Yarn Shops. So stay tuned, lesson learnt.

The Heather is starting to bloom

Not sure who this was named for but its
 a rather old and rustic foot bridge

These fire hydrants are everywhere, and in theeee
 most random places!

Arbutus tree root, love these trees!

I have my eye out for another camera, there's a camera store in the city, and apparently they take trade ins, and they have a HUGE supply of used cameras.........so I'm thinking..........................yup, the brain never stops.  Tomorrow, we have a long run planned, I hope the rain holds off till later in the day.  Good nite for now. Sweet Dreams!

End of a productive weekend

As the weekend comes to a close, I'm feeling quite tired.....thank goodness I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Or the next day for that matter but that's another blogging day.......I have been considering it, but my heart starts to race and the palpitations scare the heck out of me!  No... I am not ready to commit to being somewhere quite just yet. I was quite excited to finish the Crocheted Bobble Day Bag that I started last week, and everything stops until I finish one project and fight with myself about starting anything new.  I did start and finish a pair of slippers for my daughter, but they were super simple and will keep that pattern close to my heart. But the purse.......ah!  I am quite proud!  I managed to follow the pattern till the end but then I had to change it up a bit just because it made more sense. I know...... I am impossible. But I did try Deb! Honest to Pete! Now I am onto another variation of the pattern. From my brain, no other source this time. I really should write these down but they kind of come to me as I go along and I doubt that I can remember or repeat the pattern so my friends everything is an "original".

Crocheted Bobble Day Bag

The inside lining....... before I decided to put some
 pockets on the sides

So I unpinned the lining, and  found some funky fabric and
made a few
pockets with compartments

Bobble Bag before I added the shoulder straps
because every girl wants to be able to free up her hands
 and throw her bag on her shoulder

So that is my crocheted project for the week, I think it is very "funky"........ not sure what I am going to do with it, it just might go into inventory until I get my store up and running..............speaking of running...........Sue and I had a great run Saturday,  a beautiful day, no sun but no "rain", the Hubs and I went to BonnieBrooke Beach earlier in the afternoon and walked for an hour and half, beach combing, I found 8 pieces of sea glass! And took a bunch of photos.....soon to be posted. Then we came home and had lunch, then at 3:30 Sue and I went out for an hour and made up a new route, 70% downhill and a excruciating 30% of uphill! I tell you with all this hill running......what doesn't kill me is making me stronger! i\ will be able to kick some serious butt sooner or later! This morning we ran from home to meet up with the group and I made a serious mistake of running the lead with one of the guys who typically runs probably a 100km a week. What was I thinking! Gruelling but I kept up!  I might pay tomorrow but the old girl still has some  "gas in the tank"! Well back to the hooks, I hope you had a really great weekend. Photos of the beach tomorrow! Nighty night.............

Poof! The end of January...............

Could somebody put a hold on time please! We just finished getting over the Christmas holidays and its the end of January already. People usually say January drags by, I don't think so.....its been whizzing by for me. I had a busy weekend with running and who knows what, but I know on Monday of this week, I was busy.......baking, cleaning and making a few things that I had on the back burner. I made another pillow. I have been wanting to do something with the letters I had gotten from Michaels, everyone has them E~A~T but I wanted to do something different..... well...... I got an idea in my head....... in the middle of the night, so I went to work....... between baking, dinner prep, and sewing, and running a few K's. It was a busy day, and I think I get a little carried away and one day leads into the next.  This is what I was up to for the past few days, not to mention a quick trip to the Mainland to do a little visiting and shopping, with my Mom . We went to vist my Aunt Ev and get her a few goodies. She's 95 and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately she can't get out very much, so her days are perked up when she has visitors......A busy day running around that's for sure.

Cinnamon buns underway

~~~~~~Ready for the oven~~~~~~:*)

~~~~Apple Pie Oatmeal~~~~~

creating the background for the sign.......

E~A~T

Finished! .......and I like it! Sometimes things just
work!

Yummy! Yummy! Put some fat on your Tummy!

A pretty "drop cloth" embellished pillow ....

I really liked this flowery fabric but thought it was a bit much to have a whole pillow made with it, I just wasn't feeling the love...............so somewhere in the recesses of my brain I had seen similar, Lord only knows where, but thank you. It works! Well I am back to the crocheting for a few days.... with a new project that I will share possibly tomorrow. Very cute.......and I followed a pattern! There is hope for me yet! Deb would be proud. Have a good night, I'm off to enjoy a cuppa tea............because this craftyrunner is tuckered............................night!.

Getting on with the Weekend....

The other day, mmmmmm.........must have been Thursday, it rained cats and dogs and snowed and did what ever "Old Man Winter" decided to throw at us! So needless to say it was a turn up the heat and get out the crafts kinda day! I had decided during the night I wanted to get the pillows done for our sofa and decided on the usual "drop cloth" fabric.....gotta love that stuff! Anyway, I took half of a 5x12 sheet, so 5x6 and put it in the washing machine with half a gallon of bleach and waited to see just how much I could whiten it up. I let it soak for about half an hour and then washed, dried it, and ironed it. It turned out pretty creamy. Now what to put on it, mmmmmm.................so to the Graphic Fairy website I went and perused......I don't know if I saw it in a magazine or where, could have been my dreams but I wanted a "birds nest" and I  found a very pretty one and proceeded to stitch up a storm, of course does anything go smoothly? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!!!!!  It was one of those days and you wonder what the heck is wrong with me? But fear not instead of taking my scissors and cutting things up into shreds, I took a deep breathe and started over. Remember now, I'm a little OCD, and ADD, as well as being blond.....I know,  not a good mixture but a girl's gotta do what she can. So perseverance, and another night of sleep I think I came up with a "darlin" pillow for the Hubs to rest his sleepy head.

Of course my girls had to comment on there being five eggs in the nest and shouldn't it be "empty"?
Ahhhhh excuse me!! That's how many grandchildren I would like to have......jeez!

So if that wasn't enough to send me over the edge I thought perhaps I would like to slipcover an otto man we have, totally the wrong color but with the help of the "old mighty drop cloth" I struggled with my disabilities and managed to cover that nightmare. Lets just say I have had better crafting moments and hope we don't have a repeat of one of those days. Because really ......I am usually quite talented. Believe you me! So I am off to doing my grocery shopping (gag!!!!!***) and hit the $ store. And hopefully be back in a few hours to continue on my journey. Have a very unstressful day!
 Keep Calm and Drink Wine! Ciao...........................

Wednesday, mid-week ramblings

OMGoodness! It is cold here today -6 Celsius with a windchill of -11. Okay not as cold as some places out there but cold for here and it's snowing to boot! So  much for my plan to get out and run 10km this morning at 8:00.....the princess in me decided to wait for a bit and see if it quits blowing, otherwise  I may have to resort to the treadmill.Yuck! Sooooooooo........wonderful day in the Big City yesterday! That is going to be my saving grace for a while. My sister-in-law and I went in on the 10:20 ferry and spent a few hours doing the stores, and I made a little dent in Michael's and visited a few of my favourite haunts.......good for sewing, crocheting, knitting, crafting, and painting for a few days now. Never thought I hear myself say I want to go to Vancouver, but it's my saving grace these days.

My "new" Steve Madden Boots
the backs.....

The side view

Ahhhhhhh.......... Urban Barn..................
places dreams become reality!



Hellloooooo Lulu!

This was the view from the ferry coming back to the coast, those mountains are so beautiful. To see the water and the mountains capped in freshley fallen snow is a picture worth a thousand words...........just gorgeous! I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful country. Well need to go and accomplish something this morning before it is over.......mmmmmmm.....what shall I do? Run.......paint......house clean? Me thinks go for a run! Ta  da!!!!

"Think left and think right and think low and think high.
Oh, me thinks you can think up if only you try."
- Dr. Seuss

Monday morning musings..............

Gee I think I hate Monday morning even if I'm not working......I don't know what happened to Sunday but I know I didn't go anywhere.......by the time the Hubs and I read two days of newspapers and a few cups of java it was noon. He went out so I thought I'd take a whack at the garage....................HOLY CRAP! That's all I can say about that. Jeez Louise! I made a huge dent in the organization and cleansing of "crafty" materials, and I did like I was told and started a pile for a "Garage Sale" Did I mention I hate Garage Sales! Well I have a huge pile just for that. If it waits that long. I also have a car load to go visit my new found friend Amanda for next week.

I collected antique cameras for a few years, and well I never did get the cabinet bought or built to showcase them, so there they sat in a decrepit box getting all dusty. So I spent the better part of Friday on EBay looking to see if they were worth anything at all. So yes/no they are worth a few dollars, although I won't be buying a red Porsche anytime soon! Then there is all these stained glass lamps that my dad had made, and as much as I would love to keep them out of sentimental reasons, they take up ALOT of room and I know I won't hang them anywhere.  They will go also. Maybe there is someone out there who loves stained glass. Then if I can get the sofa out of the garage I will actually get to park in there.

The Hubs is off for a few days here so I will get him to help with putting up the cupboard in the laundry room. I love having a cupboard, they are perfect for hiding all the jugs of this and that......I just hope there are studs in that wall to anchor those puppies! Because they get heavy!  I managed to get the other two chairs covers made on Friday night, soooo much nicer looking! and finished making a hat that turned out quite fabulous if I do say so myself!

Mmmmmmm.....Cooooookie!

Chicken Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce

Some art that I am going to try and replicate
stressing heavily on the "try"

Also baked cookies for the first time (in this house), Peanut butter/chocolate chip, a broccoli soup and a new recipe for a delish Chicken Lasagna, and I started to make some art work to hang over the fireplace. but basically it was a relaxing weekend filled with puttering, crafting, crocheting, some good food, a quick run in a pouring rain/sleet/snow......so fun! I'm thinking of setting up my treadmill for those long boring runs since it's hard to find any long distance runners at the moment.....won't that be a barrel of fun! Well off to see what Nate is up to today! Ciao for now..............What are you getting up to this week? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............

Whoa! Wednesday........ Already?

Hokey Doodle! Here it is Wednesday night already, where oh where does the time go? And here I was thinking about going back to work! Ha! I don't think so Ted! I need more hours in the day.......I know what I did yesterday.....busy....busy making my desk area "pretty" because you know the creative juices just do not flow if you're sitting in "Uglyville". So I got busy making a slip cover for the chairs I want to paint but for now I'll just cover them up, when it gets warmer I will paint them. Sure I would like to buy some new parsons chairs but for now until Garage Sale season starts I can just make do.

This is the "before"|

The "After"

The bulletin board "re-do"

I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. I like the drop cloth slip cover, Lords knows I have enough drop cloth fabric to slip cover the country. The bulletin board turned out to be a bit more than I was counting on, just because I didn't really have the width of ribbon I needed and well frankly I would have preferred just buying a new one. On the "list" for town next time. I made sure I took all my drapes when we moved, as I knew they wouldn't want them, but that's another story. So tomorrow I'll make two more for the other kitchen chairs.

Today I met my new hairdresser....Kathy..........sorry Farrah, you're just too far away now! Anyway "bobbed" again, and at the rate my hair grows, in no time at all, I will be inverted again! Went to visit my mom today, that just seems sooooo weird, had a coffee, before she needed to run out. She is one busy lady. It was a beautiful sunny day but chilly! I have a new friend, Amanda, she owns a Trade, Buy and Sell store, and here I was taking things to the swap she!!!!. Sold a few things and proceeded to London Drugs and spent it on ink cartridges (now that was a challenge changing those puppies!) Yikes!!!! and some comfy cushions for the other chairs. There you go my week in a nut shell.

The Hubs and I went to the beach on Monday......................

I love this new site! Like a kid in a candy store................
love:*))))))))

Have a good night!

Back to the Empty Nest

Well all the birds have flown the coop and it's back to normal. The Hubs and I spent half the day yesterday in Vancouver, got most of the things I was looking for, but of course you always forget a few things. Oh well next time! I was very disappointed in Winners/Home Sense but I guess they are busy cleaning up after the Christmas season and restocking the store, I probably could have shopped around and found a few more things but....... well..............."Shopping with your husband is like going hunting with a game warden!" Seriously! He was good....... don't get me wrong, it's just not the same when you can just peruse at your leisure........next time! And I never did find Michael's......that will be on my next list as well.
Our son has gone back to Base and I imagine he is in seventh heaven being back with all his buds. It was great to have him home but way too long to sit idle. Any way.......it still chokes me up when he leaves....must be that mother/son thing. My girls, I hear from daily, and well.......they are just girls and it's different. So it was back to normal today, getting the house cleaned, catching up on laundry, crocheting slippers, tomorrow I am going to tackle the garage again. Yikes! That's a scary thought!

Special Moments
Make a memory with your children,
Spend some time to show you care;
Toys and trinkets can't replace those
Precious moments that you share.

Soooooo excited.............

Well I can't help myself, sometimes things just get me sooooooo excited. Of course these days it doesn't take much for me to get excited! I spent the better part of the last two days fixing and fluffing my kitchen. Because I love my kitchen. I don't love the flooring but that is going to change in the not too distant future. Now if I can find the lighting fixture I am looking for......... it shall be PERFECTO! Of course all this fixing and fluffing came from Pam, and I just ran with it. Amazing how many "things" I found when I went searching! Then I found mini lights to put around the top, that just made it even more esthetically pleasing to the eye. Now for the plants.........but first I have to find some potting soil and a few small planters. So I am plenty excited about going to the Big City to shop! Sorry Hubs but you'll survive a few hours.



Just needs a little greenery



Need to hide the extension cord

See I found some "things" not a problem

I still have my desk area to finish but it needs a few alterations made to make it work. Definitely a chair with some pizazz....because the one that's there, does nothing for my creative juices. It doesn't even want me to want to sit there. Pain in the buttooey! So that's about all for today, my wee tiny head is bursting with ideas for this and that, I need a hair cut but I am thinking I am going to live in a hat for awhile, I thinking a fedora.....something like this one.......

Kind of Funky

Well it's time to get this "show on the road"! Hope your day is filled with exciting ideas!

It's raining, it's pouring.............

It must be January on the South Coast! Apparently it rains a lot here in the winter, well all I can say is "have at her" you don't have to shovel it!

I have been spending time going through my yarn trying to use up bits of this and that because I thought it would be a nice idea to have a basket of slipper socks at the front door. I found a pattern that I could half way understand and so far I've made five pair. Now the girls both have their orders in........  I can feel the carpal tunnel flaring up again!

I talked with my friend Pam yesterday and in her kitchen she has the empty space over her cupboards like I have and I wanted to fill in the vacant space with "things" and Lord knows, I do have "some" things! So once I got my act together I found some "things" and scrubbed down the shelf with Extra Strength T.S.P cause I am kind of a germaphobic and grease and crap really turn my stomach. Well that took me a wee bit but finally it was clean enough to be healthy. Pam also has a plant on hers so I need to repot an ivy that I have and then arrange it up on high with some mini lights to add to the effect. Thanks Pam! I will post pictures later on. So when it rains, you just keep busy, no running yesterday but I may go out in a while and just endure the soaking.

Debbie wants pictures of the slippers so here they are.....nothing fancy......just a necessity with hard wood floors. Cozy toes are good!

Janes new "Cozee Toez"



Basket of  "Cozee Toez"



I have a hard time with getting the toe section the same size, some days I must crochet tighter than other days or maybe I just forget how many stitches I put on, as I am really bad at following a pattern as some people know. Sby the looks of the sky outside I will be picking up the hooks again today.....started a e-reader case last night, trying a little felting.......
well back to Nate Berkus.......oooooh.......Candice Olson........see ya later!

Getting back to "normal"

Well maybe that might be over doing it.....I doubt that I have ever been "normal" but lets just say we are moving into January, and the house is clean and clutter free. I've been going through my yarn baskets and decided that it would be a good idea to have a few slipper socks around for guests when they come over. I also need to make a couple of pair for the girls. Jane's are done and Kait has a request in for a purple pair. But first I will clean up the wool that I have......awfully tempting to buy more but not till I go to the Mainland and check out Michael's first. We have a few lovely yarn shops here, so it's not like there aren't options.

There is a rainfall warning on for the south coast but rain doesn't accumulate like snow so I'm not too concerned about it, as long as I have an hour here and there to get my run in I'm okay with staying in puttering around. Sue and I went for a quick run yesterday morning, a whole lotta downhill, which in turn means a whole lotta "uphill" coming back. But it was good, 10'celsuis, a wee bit warm for long sleeves, thank goodness I wore shorts! These hill runs should make my training for Vancouver's Half a little easier, but I think I'll work on my speed just so Susan isn't yelling at me at the end. She's thinking 1:48, I might just let her go at the end!

My daughter left yesterday and made it home in good time, the roads were clear and the sun was shining. So now it's down to the three of us for a few days and then the house will go back to being an empty nest again.

Our day at the beach, love these rocks! Love this new program for photos. Not new for others I know but it takes me awhile sometimes to get the hang of things! Have a great day!

First of the Year 2012

Wow! That seems so weird 2012! It doesn't seem that long ago when it was the 70's and I was in high school. I kind of like the sound of the year 2012, it has a nice ring to it. Today was a laze around the house day till about 1:00 when Jane and I decided to take a drive down to the harbour and marina, a few of the second hand stores were open and I was looking for a fireplace tool set, but to no avail, did see one but I thought better of the price tag since I could probably find a black iron one for a lot cheaper than the brass one.....so I will keep looking or just buy a new one at Home Sense next week. Oh yes..... I have a list! Nothing major but I'm still feeling the lack of variety. Some wall decor, baskets, plants, and some fabric and maybe........................a little yarn....................well maybe a few things....

Jane and I, at Bonneybrooke Esplanade Beach

Silhouette on the Beach

Oh yes, I'm loving living near the ocean......I hope you survived your New Year's without too many ill effects and your year is filled with happiness and many moments of  "ah"!