Heather; At Home in The Townships

A closer look....

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Last night I had the idea of stringing buttons together. I haven't decided how I will use them yet. Tiebacks for curtains? Just hanging across the curtain rod? Undecided.

It was a close call for awhile but I didn't manage to kill my plants. Note to self: never leave them near a heater without allowing for extra watering!

The dresser-turned-kitchen island with original hardware. I would like to give it another coat of red paint, something with a bit more gloss to it for extra scrubability.

So where's all the snow?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:45:00 +0000

This picture was taken 10 days ago but things haven't changed much since. We have had the strangest winter. It's hard to remember specifics, but November seemed normal. And at some point, we did have a good snow. I remember snow suddenly sliding off the metal roof in a big avalanche twice. Somewhere around mid December, we started looking around and thinking "hmmm, this is strange". We had warmer than normal weather, only getting an inch or so of snow at a time that would later melt. We had days of rain.

By January, it was obvious that something was off. We were starting to get colder temps (-25C) but we weren't getting any snow. Some areas of Quebec have had snowstorms recently, but they seemed to have skipped over us. We've had our share of freezing rain. :/

Do you see that sad little snowman? Those speckles are pine needles that were picked up. We should have enough snow by now to make a decent snowman! Like, I said, the pic is from 10 days ago. We had some really cold weather that just sucked the moisture out of it and some really strong winds so it looks like it's leaning to one side. It's also gotten skinnier. But as of right now, it's still standing. Can't say it will be tomorrow morning, we're supposed to get about 10mm of rain today. They do occasionally announce snow in the weekly forecast, but by the time we get up to it, it disappears.

I don't know if we're just going to be short of snow for December and January, or if it will continue through the rest of the winter. All I know, is that things could get weird if we don't have the snow melt we're used to getting each spring. Ironically, THIS is the year I finally bought snow pants. I haven't shoveled the driveway yet, though Yen did once (it was only 5").

To compare, here's our yard in January 2011.
January 2010. More from January 2010.

Thrift Store Scores

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

My sister is having a baby and is due March 21st. Not the sister who already has two kids, but another, married sister, who's been wanting a baby forever. We'll all very happy and willing to help out however we can.

She seems to have gathered all the big important things you need when having a baby but is worried she doesn't have enough clothes yet. I've decided it's not really a big deal -she still has an upcoming baby shower!- and it's her thing she's decided to worry about. Because you need something to focus on. ;)

She said she's totally fine with secondhand clothes and that was all the encouragement I needed. I went to a thrift shop last Friday expecting them to have their $3/shopping bag sale. Sadly, it had just been discontinued BUT all the baby clothes were on sale for $.25 each. :) I got all these baby items for $7!

1 hat, 6 pairs of socks and 1 pair of bunny booties. They're laying on a receiving blanket (yes, those are squirrels!). I think some of the socks were freebies, otherwise the total doesn't add up.

5 onsies (4 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve)

5 sleepers. This one is velvety soft and cuddly, sized for 10lb babies.

Another cute little sleeper, also sized 10lbs (the others are larger)

I found 3 shirts. Sizing is very strange. This one is 6mths and it's the same size as the hippo shirt underneath it for 9mths.

It also has a pic of a little hippo on the bottom corner.

I found 8 pairs of pants, sized all the way from newborn to 1 year.

Overalls!

2 sweaters which may be a little large, but were so cute I had to get them. :) Both are hoodies and zip up the front.

And, as if the above doesn't put a smile on my face, I found this. It's a white sheet with a band of chicken scratch cross stitching, something I'd only just learned existed a couple days ago. I love when things like that happen! I plan on turning it into a curtain.

Then I also bought a mossy green knit scarf which I LOVE but forgot to take a picture of. I can't wait to give the baby clothes to my sister! I've already told her I found some more to add to her collection. I wouldn't want her to worry! ;) I plan on going out again to a different bag sale sometime. I'm sure by the time the baby comes she'll complain that she's drowning in clothes!

Best Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:38:00 +0000

I've mentioned before that the neighbours up the road have a dog? Yeah, a chocolate lab named Mocha. She's very free range and wanders the neighbourhood at will. It's happened quite often where I'm at home, minding my own business, only to be startled by a dark face at the window and grunting. Yes. She grunts. Sort of a whining grunt, but I'd still classify it as a grunt. It makes me jump every time.

And then IT starts. *whine whine whine* my best friend is here! I need to go outside now! PLEASE! So in the middle of all the jumping and yipping and grunting, I manage to open the door. Then there's the awkward moment where Mocha thinks she's being invited in. (Yen let her in one time and I was all WHOA GET THAT LARGE SMELLY -NOT OURS- DOG OUT OF HERE!)

I have to shoo them outside. It's -20C, I don't want to keep the door wide open while they touch noses!

They play a game of chicken.... who's going to run first? and in which direction?

One or the other is often left in the dust.

They play in the road for awhile. Don't worry, we get like 5 cars a day. And they don't actually play in the road, they just sort of wander across it.... a couple times.

After a couple of minutes, I'll whistle and Sylar comes running home. We have this game where he runs full tilt at the door and I open it at the last second. (I don't want to let all the heat out!) We're getting pretty good at it.

On those rare occasions we're outside together, he stands in the doorway whining to get back in. Then when he realizes we're staying out, he whines to come back out again. It's like he *wants* to enjoy winter, he just isn't dressed properly. And I'm not putting booties on him every time he has to go outside. It just isn't going to happen. Instead, we've gone into hibernation mode. Who needs the great outdoors?!

Mocha will wander around until she realizes that Sylar is back inside (sometimes he sneaks off while they're playing hide and seek). Then she'll whine at the door for a minute or two but we ignore her. She eventually goes home (or trots off into the woods) but will come back again. Sometimes as many as three times in a day. Sometimes it goes three weeks between visits.

There you have it. A whole post about dogs and I'm not even a dog person! I just, you know, had all these pictures on my camera so I thought I may as well blog about it. The pictures were on my camera to show Yen what I have to deal with. He thinks it's sweet. And before you ask, yes, our dog is fixed otherwise he wouldn't get to run around. That would be more than I'd want to handle!

2012 Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Surprised to see a list? No, probably not. But what will surprise you is that we've decided to keep it fairly low key this year! No kidding!

The big projects left to do around here:

build a garage
build a front porch
build a back deck
fix the basement (which right now has bare field stone walls and a dirt floor)
put in a new septic system/drainage field
do something with the driveway

... those are all things we WON'T be doing this year. Some aren't *so* bad (like building a deck) but they have to wait for other things to be done first (septic). They are all either pricey and/or labour intensive projects. After doing the roof, the siding, gutting the upstairs and God knows what else last summer (it's all a daze, I can't remember), we've decided we want to keep things simple this year. Use this time as a chance to catch up on old projects before starting something new, rest a little and grow our savings. :)

So, in 2012, here's what we hope to spend time on:

catching up on little projects that were left half finished (like trim/molding!)
doing the floors
new counter tops in the kitchen?
new back splash?
putting up the bathroom door (yeah, well, at least we finally have one.... it has to be cut down to size)
putting in a stairway railing
new lighting in the kitchen?
put up the ceiling in the backroom (ok, this has been on the list forever, I think this year it will get done!)
built in shelving in the backroom
make the house more kid friendly. I had my niece and nephew over last weekend and wow, this house is SO not the place for a 14 month old!
build a small shed in the backyard out of scrap lumber. We have bundles of cedar shingles to cover it with so it should be cheap and pretty.
spruce up the yard; get rid of junk, add some fun things, build a couple benches, fence the front yard?
spend more time in the garden. Previously, the garden was all mine, but this year I think Yen will help out more. I have plans to build some simple raised beds, cover the walkways to cut down on weeds, build more trellises, build some prettier garden gates etc.

Now some of these projects have the ability to become quite pricey. Like the floor. Yen thinks it will be a massively HUGE JOB. I think it will be reasonably large but doable. All we have to do is move out all the furniture, rent a sander and then layer on some linseed oil. ;) It's been a while since I read up on it, but with linseed (or other oils) you can do the house room by room without worrying about a "line" where you stop and start. Also, if you get a scratch later on (and of course we will) it's supposed to be easy enough to spot sand and reapply the oil. I plan on doing more research but it looks like that's the way we're going.

The counter and back splash could also be pricey, but I think we'll start looking this spring and if we see something we like that comes on sale, we'll get it, otherwise we'll wait. Same goes for new light fixtures.

As for the stairs, I've looked into the price of spindles and railings and am fully aware it can get expensive pretty quickly. I'm looking into some alternatives. I'm willing to spend full price on the railing but am thinking of going for simple spindles and banister. I have a board on Pinterest where I've been collecting ideas. :)

So, overall, not bad, right? Nothing is absolutely necessary, nothing requires major planning in advance. For a lot of these projects, we actually have the materials laying around. I want to really make our house a home, not just a construction zone. We both look forward to taking it easier this year. Maybe we'll even take a vacation this summer! I feel bad about how busy we were last summer and how I let the garden go. I just didn't have the energy to keep up with it. You know, I never did mention, but the big crop was potatoes. Ended up with 130lbs of them! Everything else was medium yield or a loss. I had problems with carrots the first year but must have had 25lbs or so last summer so that was a nice improvement.

Decluttering

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:32:00 +0000

For someone who's goal in life is to have simple, relaxed days, I've had quite the crazy month. I guess it started with the rush to get our bedroom finished then I jumped straight into making Christmas presents, having to spend time at the doctor's with my sister the week coming up to Christmas (she had a crazy infected spot and bandage had to be changed every day by the doctor with a wait time of a couple hours each day). Then it was Christmas, 2 days of rest, a visit to Montreal, spent the next day visiting Yen's Dad, the day after that visiting his brother, THEN I was sick for a week AND THEN we had my niece and nephew over for the weekend (while still a little sick, but that's ok, they're the ones who gave it to me :/).

And now, here we are Monday with a fresh start, a fairly healthy body and outlook, ready to attack the house for a full on decluttering. I did the same thing last year around this time. To me, decluttering just seems like a normal thing to do come January. By this point, our summer projects have wound down, Christmas has come and gone and now we're stuck inside because of the winter chill. Why not take advantage of it?

I will say, having a 5 year old and a 14 month old here really opened my eyes to what doesn't work. Some things are obviously dangerous (too many tools! too many splintery bits of wood!) while others are just annoying (why is my corded phone sitting on a low table?). And then some of it is just about convenience. One little girl I know LOVES to paint, LOVES to play with cars and would have LOVED to colour with oil pastels. Sadly, everything except the paints were "lost" in the guest room. Aka, the room of 'open the door and toss it in'.

So yes, I am in a house that is overwhelming full of things. And now that I finally, finally, FINALLY have the time and energy I will be tackling this space with enthusiasm. Yes, you read that right! I am so very happy to finally get the chance to do a real sort through and cleaning of this place. :) Expect amazing reports.... someday soon.

A Trip To Montreal!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:50:00 +0000

So now you can see why I didn't bother keeping up with posting the last week of December! ;) For my birthday last spring, my sister in Montreal gave 2 bus tickets so that we could visit her someday. Luckily, they're good for a year because this was the first chance we had to really get away. We toyed with the idea of going the week Yen had off in November but were in some serious need of down time (well, we were still working, but a lot of resting went on).

I am a planner. I like to arrange things, to dream about them, to know what to expect. Yen is more of a fly by the seat of your pants type person. It drives me crazy. First I had to wait to see if he would get the full week off between Christmas and New Years. Then I had to wait for him to find a kennel for Sylar. In the end, we only officially decided we were going on the evening of the 27th and left early the 29th! You can just imagine what that did to me! lol

The morning of the 29th we were up semi bright and early (for us). It was so incredibly cold. The type of weather you worry about getting frostbite. Also, earlier that week we had a lot of rain so all parking lots and driveways (and our dirt road) were glare ice. It made for some quick and careful scurrying as we tried to figure parking and get to the bus on time.

The bus ride itself was fairly relaxed and uneventful. As you get closer to Montreal the land flattens out. Look at that blue sky! Cold and clear!

Here's the view coming into the city over the Champlain Bridge. (Pardon the dirt and glare on the windows).

Part of the St Lawrence was icy.

....part was steamy

and the rest had icebergs.

We arrived at the bus station around noon where my sister met us. We took the metro and a bus back to her place to drop off our luggage then headed back out to the Eaton Centre. It was so cold (did I mention it was cold?) that we didn't want to spend any more time outside than necessary. And you know? All we had to do was hop on a bus a block from her apartment, make a quick dash from the street into the metro station and that was it. Yay for metro systems and underground cities!!! We had Lebanese food for lunch then spend some time at Indigo, the giant 2 story English bookstore. We don't have english bookstores around here, only french, so it was special. :) Also bought some items at an art supply store and browsed through so much more.

Then we headed back to the food court to try Bubble Tea. Omg. I'd heard about it online but never tried it (we don't have it around here). I've never laughed so hard in my life! I chose Pina Colada with tapioca. The tapioca beads are HUGE. I don't know if you're supposed to swallow them whole or chew on them but they have the snottiest texture ever. Mushy, gummy, chewy. Just plain wrong. I drank mine, and I don't regret buying it, but it wasn't totally awesome and something I'd get again. lol

After that long day, we picked up some food at a grocery store on the way home then spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and just relaxing.

The next day we headed down to Chinatown for lunch. We ate at a buffet restaurant that had "normal"/Americanized dishes but then also things like chicken feet and other things I couldn't identify. Yen ate things with eyes. I don't like it when they can see you eating them.

Then my sister hopped back on the Metro because she had to head to work. Yes, we were left alone in the big city in the middle of nowhere. We had a couple false starts where I couldn't figure out which direction we wanted to head (why put a large glowing map where there's no street signs showing where you are?!), then I chickened out and had to buy a hat. Yes. It was still cold.

But we started walking. And walking. You know what sucks about walking in the cold? When the person beside you won't stop talking about how cold it is. We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and cocoa then headed out again once we were warm.

And we arrived in the Old City. Here's the Notre-Dame Basilica. We took some pictures at the front then went around to the right, headed down to the St. Lawrence, went over a block or two then came back up on it's left.

Yen with Starbucks cups.

A non working because it's SO COLD fountain.

Statues at the front of the church.

I took a quick look at the sign on that gate and it said something something, seminary school, 1600 something something. Oh, here's a link. :)

Another view of the basilica.

The following are pictures from the walk to and from the river.

The Centaur Theatre. Look at those columns! They don't build things like that these days!

This is about as far as we got towards the river. It was getting dark and the wind was picking up. I know there was a pier and park overlooking the seaway but it was too cold to go looking for it. (Well, river is on the right.)

We sat in the lobby of Pointe a Calliere to warm up. It's a museum, but we didn't bother going for the tour. (It looked sort of boring).

Other pretty things. I love old buildings!

A window display at Noel Eternelle where the elves moved!

By the time we came back up around the Basilica the lights were on. So pretty!

Carriage rides!

We made our way home (didn't get lost!) and then ordered in pizza for supper. The next morning we stuck around my sister's place chatting then headed to the bus station for 2:30pm. So, it wasn't a very LONG visit, but we saw the sights, ate delicious food and had some fun. I would definitely go back again someday. And after wandering around in the cold that day, Yen agrees that planning is nice. Just think, we could have *planned* our route so that we could take a bus from the metro. We could have *planned* to visit the science museum (which was near where we were but it was too cold to really go exploring to look for it). So by using his enemy (the cold), I've converted Yen to planning. lol

Remember how I said I'd post every day in December?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:24:00 +0000

Well, I've decided to let that go and take a break for the rest of the month! I may post if something exciting happens, otherwise I'll see you in the New Year. :)

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:40:00 +0000

It's Christmas Eve, all the presents are wrapped and sitting in bags ready to go in the car tomorrow. We never have presents under our tree!

We are spending the day at my parent's. We're skipping the HUGE breakfast and will arrive mid morning to take part in gift opening. When we go out to my parent's we always stop for a Tim Horton's coffee (or in my case, cappuccino) to sip on the drive. With almost an hour in the car you really need something! I plan on snacking on leftover breakfast stuff when we get there. Dinner is at 1pm so I don't want to fill up on it.

Then we'll have a late dessert and long, lazy afternoon of snacking on home baked goodies. It's impossible to sample everything so I imagine we'll fill a dish to bring home. :)

I imagine games will be played, if it's not too chilly we usually fit in an afternoon walk. Nothing fancy, just hanging out and having fun. :)

I hope everyone has a very special, merry Christmas! :)

More Crafting Accomplishments

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:43:00 +0000

I sewed another pointy kitty, 3 balls (L loves tossing a ball back and forth!) and a dinosaur that I made up as I went along.

These are some of the boxes I plan on filling with gifts. They got a coat of primer and will get a coat of paint tomorrow morning. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!

I also have some clothespins I covered with scrap booking paper. Fun, simple and useful. I imagine that people can use them to close chip bags etc. :)

We plan on going out tomorrow to pick up some last minute items at the grocery store and might drop in at a craft sale. Maybe I can buy handmade items from other people to take the pressure off. ;)

I just skimmed my to do list from yesterday and I'm not doing that bad! Just need to paint the boxes, sew 3 more cloth baskets and maybe a couple more animals.

Christmas Prep List

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:02:00 +0000

It's time to get serious. We spent another day at the clinic and with travel time, picking up kids, and other quick errands it swallowed 6 hours of my day. 6 hours! I believe my parents and a couple siblings are coming to visit tomorrow while they're in town so that will also cut back on craft time. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've been able to help my sister and I'm happy to have family come over. It's just I'm really starting to see what limited time I have left to accomplish things. What I have to give is looking less and less impressive.

So, lists really make a difference at this point. They help me stay focused. I've been sitting around for a couple hours but instead of heading to bed, I feel ready to jump into something. So, tonight, tomorrow and Saturday I hope to:

sew 4 more cloth baskets for "the women"
sew two larger cloth baskets for the kids which will be filled with toys
sew a laptop cozy
sew a couple pointy kitties
sew a dinosaur or two if I can figure out a pattern
sew a couple cloth balls
prime and paint the 12 stacking boxes
cover clothespins
buy mixed nuts
package birdseed

We don't do a lot for Christmas and people have generally come to realize that I tend to make things each year. Homemade and second hand are acceptable. :) Well, last summer I happened to find 4 sets of round stacking (nested?) boxes. There are 3 per set and I got them for $1/set! Well, my mom and sisters have admired boxes like this in the past so I decided that for Christmas, I would give them a set, with something in each box. In the largest box I'm folding up 3 cloth baskets sewn in colours I believe they'll each like. In the middle, I was going to do something different for each of them but considering the amount of time I have left... ideas were: small stuffed toy, set of colourful clothespins, journal, dishtowels.... I think I can *possibly* manage the stuffed toy and clothespins. The smallest box on top will hold a dish of homemade fudge.

The men are getting The Most Awesomest Tape Measure in the World (really), some mixed nuts? and a small container of homemade fudge. (They are so hard to buy for so I didn't try very hard. Scratch that, I tried, but failed to think of something amazing). Two kids will get a basket filled with small stuffed toys: the pointy kitties, dinos, balls, and other misc things. They will possibly get a package of birdseed to make their own bird feeders to put on their balcony. The other two kids are older and harder to make things for. They will get a store bought game because I'm running out of time and energy. They won't be with us Christmas Day but will open their gifts later. Last year I pieced fleece blankets together and sewed their name on each.... so, it's not like they're NEVER had a homemade gift from us... just not this year!

I'm a little freaked out by my list but optimistic that I can get it (sort of) done in time. I'll probably be up late Christmas Eve doing final touches. I knew it was a risk leaving everything for the week before Christmas but I would have been perfectly fine if I didn't end up spending most of this week at the clinic for my sister! It will be fine though. It will be fine.

Cloth Baskets

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:42:00 +0000

More sewing happened today! :) I should have kept at it for longer, but I'm happy with the progress so far. A set of 3 baskets.

They fit one inside another.

Then I have two more and want to find a coordinating fabric to make a third to complete the set. I used this general idea from The Purl Bee for making them.

I've been wanting nice felt for ages and finally found some. In the red, I have .7m (possibly 90cm wide?) for $8. Then I have .25m of each of the other colours for a total of $7.50 (with these being 45cm wide). I have no idea of it's a "good" deal, but I'm happy to finally have it. I want to make Christmas decorations like these and these for our tree.

Tomorrow will include another trip to the doctors and another big day of crafting. It was lovely to have so much time at home today. I feel refreshed. :)

Another day lost...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:23:00 +0000

What am I saying, it's not lost, I got plenty of stuff done. I took my sister back to the clinic. She has an infected spot on her leg so has to go back daily for dressings to be changed.... That took an hour and a half (waiting!). Then we went to the fabric store (even though I was there yesterday....) and spent way too much time there! I bought 2 bags of "scrap" fabric for $2.50 each. I would say it's about the size of a kitchen garbage bag? And had random leftovers shoved into it, how exciting! I don't know what I'll do with all the bits and pieces but I found enough fleece to make Yen 5 pairs of pj pants. I also bought some nice felt, something I've been wanting forever. Then I bought 2 metres of nice white cotton but, turns out, I could have skipped it because I found enough pieces in my goody bags to cover what I needed it for. I think I'll keep the nice big piece to make curtains with. :) I have decided that I really need to make some nice things for myself, not just as gifts!

Then I got home just in time to see Yen for a couple minutes (literally) before he left for work. I've since spent the evening cleaning (the house hasn't been touched since last week), and now I'm cooking chicken (haven't cooked a decent meal since last Friday!) and I'm starting to feel better. If I can get a decent night's sleep tonight (something that hasn't happened since.... Saturday?) then I will feel wonderful tomorrow and accomplish many great things. I will be back on track. I still have to take my sister to the clinic again but I'm going to leave her there. ;) My parents will be passing by about the time she should be done and will pick her up. So once that's done I will have the rest of the day to myself. Ah!

A day lost...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:42:00 +0000

I was going to spend the WHOLE WEEK crafting up a storm, trying to catch up with Christmas gifts. Instead I ended up taking my sister to the doctors today and ended up waiting there forever. Came home hungry and exhausted, an empty shell of a person. (Though I did sneak some shopping in there while she was waiting and bought some lovely fabric to make MORE beautiful things with!) More running around tomorrow morning and then back to creating.

This is the perfect moment to have a picture showing the lovely material I found.... but I was so exhausted that I forgot to bring it in from the car. And it was too dark and rainy to go get it once I remembered. :/ I swear, I will have more interesting things to post about tomorrow. Oh, and my sister is fine now. :) So all in all, a good day.

Elfing it up

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:47:00 +0000

Three cloth baskets made and the pointy kitty jumped into some of the shots just for fun. :)

The baskets are reversible. They look so much better in person! Someday I'll read my 'how to take great pics' book. They could use a good ironing too!

Three made, 9 more to go! And various other things to make! I'll have more pics and tutorials/links later this week, no time to post now, Yen "needs" the computer. lol

One dinner down...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:41:00 +0000

one to go. Such a sigh of relief. People seemed to love the fudge (I saw at least one chocolate lover hug theirs) but were a little skeptical on the biscotti. "You eat this with coffee, right?", "I've never had biscotti before...." I think it might be a fail, in general, for the crowd, but that's ok. I really made it because I feel bad giving super sugary treats to Yen's diabetic sister (was born that way) and to his parents who are older. Funny story, his parents are divorced and I ALWAYS forget to ask who'll be there. It's always one OR the other, never both. I was SURE that this time it would be his dad but thank goodness I brought an extra card anyways because it was actually his mom. lol

So all in all, had a great day, ate lots of wonderful food and now we're home, in pjs, ready to watch a Christmas movie then go to bed early. It's lovely to have a relaxing evening after the last couple of elf days. Oh, and we ended up stopping at the store on the way and bought a fluffy soft stuffed dog for the baby. She loved it.

Homemade Biscotti and a Pointy Kitty

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:55:00 +0000

Our Christmas Dinner with Yen's family is tomorrow noon so of course I'm up til midnight doing last minute touches on gifts.

I spent the evening:
~baking biscotti, first time ever and I think it turned out ok! I used this recipe, omitted anise extract, doubled the batch then divided dough into three parts to flavour them: cinnamon, chocolate walnut, and cranberry almond.

~packaging, then wrapping biscotti and fudge. There are 8 bundles.

~sewing a pointy kitty then deciding it's not nice enough to give. I mean, it's ok, but it just doesn't scream 9 mth old baby, especially with those button eyes which I had to add so it didn't look so strange. And to be honest, besides baking, I'm not all that confident giving handmade gifts to Yen's family. We're just not *that* close. Instead, I will make a couple more in fun colours and give the whole family of them to my 5 year old niece. She's the one I saved the pattern for, I just thought it might work for the baby too....

So the biscotti pic above is actually showing the leftovers after the good stuff was wrapped. And here below is the fudge. I packaged some up to give Yen's family, then even gave 4 squares each per person in my family (you can see the little tupperwares in above pic). And I still have ALL THIS! Note that it's actually two layers and the bottom layer is packed in closer. It's delicious but sweet. I don't know what to do with it all. I guess I'll toss it in the freezer.... Oh, and they look a little odd because they're edge pieces.

I am soooooo tired.

Homemade Fudge

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:46:00 +0000

Forgive me if my thoughts are all over the place, I'm suffering from The Sugar Shakes. We have this family dinner to go to on Saturday. I never know what to get for Yen's family (and he never has a clue either) so a couple years ago during a poor year, I started baking goodies for them. They seemed to appreciate it so we just kept going with it. This year I decided to focus on just fudge. I'd been planning this for weeks. When we got the official call setting the time and date, I asked if I could bring anything and the answer was "No, just yourselves.... unless you have some of your fudge laying around....." WINK! She was happy to hear it was a possibility.

Half of Yen's family are chocolate LOVERS. The other half also seem to enjoy it, but are more relaxed about it, lol.

Clockwise starting at top left: peanut butter, pb+chocolate, chocolate walnut, mocha+choc.

I didn't want to just give a big pile of chocolate fudge, I have to spice it up a bit! I ended up with: chocolate, chocolate walnut, chocolate with a layer of mocha flavoured fudge on it, chocolate with a layer of peanut butter fudge and finally peanut butter fudge with peanuts. Normally, I would have just make a batch, taken a quick taste to make sure I didn't do anything crazy (like accidentally triple the salt or something) and that's it. But I made up the mocha and peanut butter fudge so I had to keep testing and testing it to see if it was "right". I still haven't decided what I think, I'm going to get Yen to try it. ("Do you think your family will like this?!")

This is a very secret recipe. I haven't even shared it with my sister in law. Some distant family in a far away land sells this fudge and they only let my mom have a copy of the recipe because she lives far away from them. I don't feel bad giving it out on the internet though because there are already similar types out there. lol

Chocolate Fudge

Melt over low heat:

2T butter

2/3c Carnation evaporated milk

1 2/3c white sugar

1/2t salt

Bring to a full rolling boil for 7 minutes *exactly*. (I boil it for approximately 7 mins and it seems to turn out ok...)

Take off heat and stir in:

2c mini marshmallows (mini melt faster)

1 1/2c semi sweet chocolate chips

1t vanilla

To jazz it up you can add different nuts, coconut, even add more marshmallows and chocolate chips once it's cooled a bit so they stay solid.

Pour into a pan lined with saran wrap or wax paper. Once it's set, you can lift the whole thing out and chop it with a big knife. It also suggests that you mark your cut lines on it before it completely sets but I didn't bother. Keep refrigerated. Freezing may cause discoloration.

*For the peanut butter fudge, I used white chocolate chips instead of semi sweet and added 2-3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter.

*For the mocha fudge, I used white chocolate chips again then mixed 1/2 tablespoon of instant coffee flakes with 1/2 tablespoon of hot water, then added it all to the mix.

They're in the fridge now. I'll update tomorrow with Yen's opinion and whether or not my variations set. Fingers crossed!

Bedroom progress pics

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:10:00 +0000

I refuse to call these 'after' shots but I figure if I don't show something soon, no one will believe that I've done anything. ;) If you want the really ugly before shot, here you go. Makes this look much nicer, don't you think? ;) Keep in mind that the last time we slept in this room, we had just our fat mattress on the floor. The fact that we have a BED to sleep on is amazing.

Here's the new doorway to the walk in closet. Not framed because I realized 2 minutes before we were ready to install trim that we don't actually own any finishing nails. Tomorrow, fingers crossed, I'll bring some home.

I spent a couple minutes this evening tossing things onto this shelf (made from old closet doors and random bits of wood). I hope to get the closet back to it's former glory. It was such a lovely space. There was no way around it though, it NEEDED the insulation, already we can feel the difference.

Eventually (once Yen loosens the drill so I can change bits-why put it so tight?!) I will put up cute little narrow shelves over my sewing corner. All these little buttons and beads will go in baby food jars that my sister is collecting for me. :)

And the paints too!

Um. So did I mention I haven't done a SINGLE THING YET for Christmas? Yeah, I've been focused on the house. I picked up 4 sets of nested (nesting? stacking?) boxes for the ladies and plan on covering them up somehow (paint? Mod podge? fabric?) and putting something in each of them. Something that I have yet to sew. Good lord I'm too tired to think about this right now! lol Tomorrow morning I will run errands then will spend the rest of the day and Friday making chocolates. Saturday we have a dinner with Yen's family (we've giving homemade chocolates!) and then the week after that, I will spend time sewing for my family. I have so many plans. Let's hope I succeed!

Oh, and then right after Christmas, we have tentative plans to visit my sister in Montreal.... looks like December is turning out to be a very busy month!

Oh Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:19:00 +0000

Well, it's not a designer tree. And I can't say that I have any particular attachment to it. But it's shiny and up, so, good enough. It's a little bit sad to decorate a tree all by yourself. I could have waited to do it with Yen, but it's not his thing. Wow, I sound like a real downer! I guess I'm just very, very tired. lol

I made the feather angel (peeking out from the dark on the right) when I was 5 years old.

The white angels were made by my mom.

I've decided that I will paint some of the silver and blue ornaments I have, and after Christmas I will stock up on twinkle lights. Orange and blue LED lights are not that Christmasy in my books. I'll stick with LED, but go for plain white or yellow. Also, I will switch over to a more green/red/gold colour palette and add in some natural materials, maybe pine cones or burlap ribbon.

I'm so grateful that the house is finally clear enough to set up a tree!

***Ok, it's the next morning and I have to admit, the tree looks nice with the snowy view behind it. :)

Bookshelves

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:30:00 +0000

Well, for the first time in YEARS! my books are finally put away. It will take awhile to really get them sorted so that they feel right, but here they are now. I have a little bit of everything: Janette Oke books from my Grandparents (representing years worth of birthdays and Christmas gifts! what can I say, I like the simple life), Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, Jean M Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear series, some Jude Devereaux, Judy Blume, Daniel Quinn, random books from my childhood, Anne of Green Gables (got the boxed set from an Aunt one year)... and of course, Harry Potter. :)

Some books are here to stay, while others sit on the shelf for a limited time only. I borrow books from the library quite often and prefer to only own reference books or books that I find comfort in reading over and over. We don't really have english book stores around here (a small one at the university that focuses on school books, a small Christian bookstore) so if I want new books, I order them online. Mostly I buy books at used book sales or the thrift shop for $1. The only Harry Potter book I bought brand new was the last one (had to!) the rest I've found second hand. If you look closely you can see I have multiples of some, but I'm still missing Order of the Phoenix. It will come. :) It's a fun game. I'm also gathering The Outlander series the same way.

I've had a very fruitful day when it comes to cleaning and rearranging but I'm still not ready to show off the bedroom yet. I will say that I am LOVING IT! And you know what? Last night when I got into bed, I wasn't cold! I didn't lay there freezing for half an hour waiting for the bed to warm up! I love seeing obvious improvements. :)

Closet Shelves

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:34:00 +0000

I'm happy with the way these have turned out. :) I'm not even sure what I'll put in here but just looking at the storage makes me smile. Still need to touch up the edge of the shelving. I'm thinking of putting something along each piece to cover the raw edge of the plywood.

Our bed is upstairs but I'm so exhausted I haven't moved anything else in yet. Tomorrow will be a big day.

Happy Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:09:00 +0000

Nothing much to report, but I vowed to post something each day. Working on cleaning the bedroom floor and hoping to place everything tomorrow. Pictures will probably have to wait until Monday. I'll get a late start because I'm babysitting tomorrow morning and the sun sets by 4:30pm. (I need sunshine to prove the wall colour is yellow!)

This is just a random pic that has nothing to do with the post, I added it for a little pizzazz. Wooden flowers that sit above the stove with a pretty morning rainbow beside. :)

No strike!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:19:00 +0000

There won't be a strike. Wednesday they were all called in for a meeting and another deal was offered. It's still not up to what they had originally hoped for but it met somewhere in the middle. It passed by a vote of 80%. People were getting scared about losing money before Christmas and figured it was close enough.

Of course, 25 (of 110) employees are now set to be laid off due to lack of work. They got their papers giving them a weeks' notice yesterday. Merry Christmas! Yen is fine so far and expects he'll be ok. There's a natural slump during the fall and then during the spring/early summer, they're all doing overtime to keep up! He expects it to even out after Christmas.

So. It's really not THAT bad. This is like a tiny blip on the radar. We've been through much worse (I was once laid off-along with 90% of coworkers- the end of a shift the Friday before Christmas. People cried it was so sudden. Besides feeling worried about money, I was elated. Telemarketing=worst job ever.) All we lost this time was 6 hours of pay because the silly company had their union meeting beside a really awesome sports bar. And a bunch of disgruntled employees headed over for a drink afterwards. My husband included. *roll eyes*

He was disappointed about the way so many of the guys weren't willing to go further with it. Especially seeing most have wives who work so you'd think they have more of a cushion. I explained to him that just because they're a two income family, doesn't mean they have extra money! In my experience, when there are two people working, they tend to find a way to spend all the money coming in. At least that's the way it was with Yen and I back when I had a paying job. (Paying jobs are actually nice when you think about it. Imagine, making money for what I do!)

False alarm on the freak out. All is well. (I held off a day in case there were repercussions of Yen not working after the union meeting! lol)

PS, guess what I'm doing now! Cleaning our bedroom! So that we can possibly move everything in tomorrow! Is that exciting or what?!

Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:16:00 +0000

Woke up to 5 inches of snow this morning and no electricity. I should have thought to set some water aside last night just in case! I was planning on taking my sister shopping so I just packed some clothes and headed over to her place for a shower. :) K thought it was hilarious when I showed up still in my pajamas (it's a college town, you can get away with a lot more than most places).

Scraping the car was fun. It started out as rain last night before switching to snow. Hence the lack of power. Just before pulling out of our driveway, a hydro truck stopped up the road.

According to the time flashing on my alarm clock, the power came back on within half an hour of it's arrival. It was off for a total of 4 hours and the temp dropped 2 degrees Celsius in the house. Not bad considering it was quite windy! I'd still feel better once we have a secondary heat source and don't depend on electricity for everything!

Doesn't it look so Christmasy?!