Party like it's 1999

Oh I'm having a wild night!  Instead of partying like it's 1999, I'm partying like I'M 99

I'm still sick.  Achey, coughing, whining, full blown man cold sick.  This is my New Year's Eve outfit.........Jammie's, wool socks and a blankie

I hope you are all out living it up, having a wild party night with friends.  I was just wondering if I should make a New Years resolution and then I found this

Seems about right.  Lol.  For now I think I'll just flip through Deanne Fitzpatrick's new book and hope I get a little hooking inspiration for 2017  Happy New Year Everyone 

The holiday recap

All the hustle and bustle is over for another year.  I have meant to post for days but haven't managed to get it done, so lucky for you it will be a brief recap.  Auntie and I celebrated together - church Christmas Eve and then a small gathering of friends at her house.  I returned early Christmas morning to prep our dinner and Abby was kind enough to run upstairs and wake auntie by jumping on her head.  Luckily auntie woke up filled with Christmas spirit.  Lol The next few days seemed to be all about eating.  So much food and so many cookies and treats delivered.   

I've been enjoying my days off since by puttering around the house, organizing closets etc.  This morning I felt a little icky - scratchy throat, cough - so I decided to take down the tree and put the decorations away.  Everything is now packed up except my little ceramic Christmas trees which I love, so I'll keep up a little longer.   It feels good to get the house straightened around.   However as the day progressed I felt worse.   Now it's a full blown man-cold

This was one Christmas gift I am not happy to receive

Kitchen crazy

The last couple of days I've been in crazy panic mode to get stuff done.   The main task has been getting cookie tins filled for certain people.   I'm like a psychotic Martha Stewart.  Or a damn Keebler elf

Tah dah........ Birds nests, shortbreads, gingerbreads, cherry cookies

 

   

 

  Hopefully all my little old neighbor ladies will be pleased.  

Next on the list - wrapping!  My least favourite thing (next to binding rugs)

Pre-Winter Chill

The calendar claims it's still Fall but it sure feels like winter here!  A frigid blast of winter weather has left us with a couple of days with temps in the minus 30's.  Yes, I said minus.......  This mornings weather online

 

Look at the "feels like" temp........Brrrrrrrr

Not much happening today outside.   Abby and I stayed in and cleaned for awhile.  But eventually she would have to go out so being the stylish pup she is, we dressed in the trendy (and super warm) LL Bean Field Jacket

Admittedly not very feminine, but very practical and warm for the East Coast winters.  She doesn't normally mind the cold.  She loves to run and play in the snow, but not today.  There was some whining and lifting of the paws.  We didn't walk today, just in and out!

Thought I'd just add this.....just in case.   I might have to break out the onesie pj's tonight.   Yes I have a pair. Lol.  Stay warm

Oh Deer...

I travelled to the family holiday cookie exchange today.  It was a perfect travel day, although the rest of the week is sounding like a winter mess.  Not only were there guests inside but also some visitors in the backyard.

Three beautiful deer were visiting.  Later in the afternoon one was right up on the deck admiring the cookies through the window.  Great to see family and come home with a random sampling of sweets.

These were my contribution - coconut birds nests.  Later this week I'll make some shortbreads for the sweet neighbor ladies across the street 

I'm still behind on Christmas but I did get some things done Saturday.  There's no point stressing, it will get done.  I only have to work 4 more days and then I'm on vacation until the New Year!   I've been starting to feel the urge to hook again so maybe between Christmas and New Years I might actually put something on the frame.   Guess I'll end this quick update with a picture of Abby practicing yoga

Lol. Geez she looks long all stretched out like that.  She had a new bone and was completely focused like that for about an hour.  Well, the countdown is on now

All Aboard.....

I'm not sure how it happened but this year I'm all over this Christmas Season!  If you've followed for awhile you know I have tended towards more "Grinchy-ness" for the holidays.  Not this year - I'm all aboard the Christmas train 🎄.   I decorated my place last weekend and this weekend I decorated aunties place and it was surprisingly enjoyable.  Here's her tree (much bigger than my little one)

I did a good chunk of shopping this weekend too and bought all the baking supplies for a cookie marathon soon.   Last night I cuddled in with some hot chocolate and watched one of my favorite movies "It's A Wonderful Life"

I never get tired of it and have to watch it at least once (ok, maybe twice) over the holidays.   Years ago, before Mom got sick, she used to say "oh no, not again!"  Lol  And the little princess is looking "holiday chic" too

She looks very calm there but in fact we had a 10 minute wrestling session to get her in that sweater.   But it was worth it - Isn't she sweet?

Weekend nesting

Ahh, such a relaxing and productive weekend!  Our first winter nor'easter storm arrived today.   Cold, windy, rain and then snow that is sticking.  Not enough  to shovel, just enough to blanket the ground.   Loving that new fireplace today!  It was just enough to get me blasting the Christmas music and dragging out the decorations

The stocking are hung a little early but I just felt like getting the house holiday-ready.   (Note to me: I need to remember to hide the extension cords before I take pictures).  And I even got my tree up

Abby is being fairly well behaved with it so far, except  for the gold flowers on the bottom.  She really wants to have them.  We are working on it.   The rest of the weekend consisted of binge watching Gilmore Girls.  

Oh, it was worth the wait of all those years waiting for that final season.  I so missed Luke and Lorelau.  I even managed to resist watching the last 5 minutes first so I could finally discover those famous "last 4 words".    WOW, I think we need another season to explore THAT cliffhanger.   Hope you all had a great weekend and my American friends are still enjoying thanksgiving leftovers.  

Abby and the renovation

I'm happy to report Miss Abby is acting more like her frisky self today.  She was much more playful, although playtime is shorter she still brought me a toy to throw many times today. 

You know she's serious when she delivers the toy butt-first.  Poor rabbit.  Lol.  I'm so relieved she is getting better.  And special thanks to a sweet reader Carolyn who emailed me Saturday morning with her experience with this and poodles.  Seems HGE is most common in miniature poodles.  (Of course). It helped a lot and I'm so grateful she took the time to reach out.     Now, the renovation of the living room is as done as it's going to get before Christmas.   This was my best friend - the rented steamer

It helped a lot with getting that gawd-awful wallpaper off of the wood panelling.

I think I'll be finding little scraps of wallpaper for months.   What a flipping mess!

Then it was time to fix a few spots with drywall compound, sand and then time to prime.

The task of filling in all those lines with primer was sooooooo tedious and the first coat just got sucked into that old wood so it needed a second coat of primer.  I should add here that my attention span for projects is about 3 days.  This took 6 days!  Ugh, and then painting out the woodwork was worse but I kept going. Finally the color was applied, furniture moved back and then the fireplace arrived!   I assembled it this morning.   

And after 2 years of living here I finally hung my funky martini painting.  There is still trim that need another coat of white but that will wait.  Now I'll just kick back and enjoy the room as it is for awhile. Now all I need to do is find a spot for the Christmas tree.   Maybe next weekend it will go up.  

Sick baby

I had planned on updated you on the progress of the renovation but that will wait.  Poor little Miss Abby is sick.   I came home Wednesday from work and the den(her room) was covered in a mess, bloody diarrhea and then there was another pool of just blood on the other side.   I freaked out.  It was a significant amount of blood.  I thought she was dying!  I grabbed her and we raced to the Vet Clinic.  After a series of tests everything was fine except she had a fever.  We worried there might be an obstruction inside but X-rays were clear.  Thank God!  It seems it is some kind of gastrointestinal infection.  We came home with 3 prescriptions and some special canned food.  

I put one of my old flannel sheets in the dryer to warm it up and she curled up.  Yes, I know......spoiled.  She seemed better yesterday but then it happened again this morning and at noon, but less blood (but still a lot). The Vet told me to give the meds another day and just feed her a minimal amount for a bit.  But if she gets worse to bring her back.   So far tonight she's OK, just sookie and clingy.

She scared me to death!   I know some of you saw this on Facebook so I thought I'd do a quick update.  Thanks for your concern. 

About the girl

A dear follower Kelley brought something terrible to my attention.....I finally blogged after a long absence and completely ignored Miss Abby.   I'm a bad mother.     Well, Miss Abby is certainly happy to have me home more.  "Please throw the toy a thousand times Mom"

 And she feels since I've been gone, I should be extra generous with treats and bones.  Clearly one bone at a time is unacceptable.  She needs two at a time

Lots of extra walks are also important lately.  She's even pulling less on the leash (but she still attempts to eat anything she finds on these walks).  But she just so darn cute

Just back from the groomers and another walk and it's time for a little nap.  "Don't forget to fluff my pillows Mom"

Hyperactive

So it seems I have having some difficulty winding down since my extra work is done.  I thought I would just relax and veg out for a few weeks.   It's been the opposite.  I have been just going nuts with project after project.   I cleaned the siding on the house, painted window frames, dug out all the flower beds and added new topsoil, purged and organized the garage and basement, reorganized the closets and drawers, rearranged my bedroom.........you get the picture.   Ugh!!   I'm definitely in winter nesting mode.  I've been watching all those home improvement shows and getting the urge to do something to the house again.  One room I haven't really done anything to is the living room, where I spend most of my time.  So I used some of my extra pay to buy a new small electric fireplace for this room.   I think it will make it cozier.  Here's a pic, it should arrive in a week or two

I mentioned to a friend that I was contemplating re- doing the living room.  They convinced me to wait until after the holidays.  I didn't need another big project right now.    Well......I don't know what happened  this afternoon. I just lost my mind and started ripping off wallpaper.

So there is no turning back now!    So I have to ask you......what kind of IDIOT tears apart their only entertaining room a mere few weeks before the holidays??  Honestly I don't know what I was thinking.  Perhaps I was thinking I'm sick of looking at this drywall patch for the last 2 years

Yes, I said 2 years........sigh This wallpaper is a pain in the ass to even get the top paper layer off.  It won't come off in nice big strips, just little scraps.  I'll borrow my neighbors steamer on the weekend and finish.  Then I know I'll have to fix lots of sections of the walls before I can even apply the primer.    This was a really stupid idea.

I'm still standing

Hi guys!  I'm still here. It's been a wild couple of months but as of tonight I can start getting back to normal.  My "special project" at work is done.  I am the chief electoral officer for our town, a task I have done for the past 20 years.  I thought I had seen it all until this election, which was held yesterday.  I  have NEVER been involved with anything like this one. It was the most vicious, controversial mess I've ever seen.  At times it made the US presidential race seem like child's play.  I was insulted, threatened and spit on.  Many other staff were threatened as well.   On top of this I was working day and night for weeks, including weekends.   I'm exhausted but I survived and managed to come out unscathed.  I may have worn out my "big girl panties" because I had to wear them a lot.  Lol    But we have a brand new Mayor and 5 new councillors so I'm hopeful the wounds created recently in town can heal.   I arrived at work yesterday at 6:30am with my team and we didn't leave until midnight.  I then had to pick up Abby at the neighbors, who graciously babysat her for the day.  Today I've just tried to rest up a bit and regroup.   Thanks to those of you who checked up on me.  I'm baaaaaack 😄

Knock knock......

Is anybody still here??  I sure hope so.  I never intended to stay away so long but life gets in the way.  So lately I have been working on what amounts to basically 2 full time jobs.  Beside my regular full time job, every 4 years I serve as the Election Official for our town.  So I have been doing all that work evenings and weekends.   5 weeks of it left and then I can breathe again.  It's has been so busy and hectic I am starting to crumble.  So many legislative deadlines and short timelines.  My brain is at capacity.   If you've been reading my drivel for awhile you know I'm kind of particular.  So I take my job seriously.  I have delivered 5 past elections to the town with NO legal challenges and under budget so I put a lot of pressure on myself to deliver again. I've had so much on my mind that when I'm done work for the night I just turn off and can't think anymore.  The other day I was walking through the parking lot at my office in the morning and I had to look down to make sure I had gotten dressed and wasn't still wearing my pyjama pants.  TRUE STORY,   That's when I knew things were bad. Lol.  So that day day I asked my boss to meet with me at the end of the day.  We had a great talk and we worked together to prioritize some things etc.  That was the first night I slept well in weeks.  It just helped to talk it through and help me feel a little more in control.   I thought tonight I should do a quick post because some of you were beginning to worry.  (I loved that part).  So I'm OK but just a little brain dead.    It might take me awhile longer before I get back to visiting you but I will do my best soon.   Abby says hi too

Sweet rain drops

Sometimes circumstances make us feel differently than we could have imagined.  Case in point - you've rarely heard me say what I said multiple times today.........."Yay, it's raining!"   And it's supposed to rain all weekend and I'm happy about it. 

  I regularly hear my sweet California friend Kim from the blog Field of Dreams http://fieldofmydreams.blogspot.ca/ talk about wishing for rain.  I never really appreciated her perspective because we are usually complaining about too much rain in the summer.  Not this summer.  It has been major drought conditions with wild fires popping up across the province.  My lawn is patchy brown and actually crunches when you walk on it.  I have faithfully watered my flowers though because I paid too much money to let them die.  So here I sit, listening to rain drops and ignoring the fact that my hair is huge and frizzy.  I don't care.  It's Friday and it's raining and it's all good 

A few finds

Yesterday we had an Artisans Market downtown.  I planned to stay away because I am beyond broke and have no self control but a friend convinced me to go with her.  I made 2 tiny purchases so that wasn't too bad.  I could not resist the little pottery tea bag holder.  Isn't it cute?

There was another potter who had sweet little cups with a dent for your thumb.  It felt so great in your hand but I couldn't spend $20 for a small cup, especially since I would likely break it within a month.  But it did feel great in the hand. There was also a lady with handmade hardwood spoons of all sizes.  They also felt great in the hand.  I don't know about you but I'm so tactile, I have to hold and feel all those types of things.  But I passed.  (So impressed with my self control)  But I weakened when I passed the Bear Claw table, dipped in cinnamon sugar. Yummmmmm

Later in the day a coworker called me and said the house next to her was being sold and the family had a bunch of stuff to give away.  So I scored a project for next summer.  This will be painted and become a bench to hold flower pots, I think. 

I think it will look cute against the side of my garage with some colourful pots.  That's all this weekend. It flew by too fast