In My World

2026 Craft Space Organization Challenge #7

2026-03-09T12:30:00.000-04:00

So how did you make out with Challenge #6?

Are you ready for Challenge #7?

Embellishments are some of the easiest things to buy. Everything looks so good, and you really believe you NEED everything! Embellishments are also one of the supplies most affected by trends so careful consideration is really needed here.

It's also important to find a system that will help you store all of your embellishments in a way that won't overwhelm you, yet also is visible enough that you don't forget to USE them.

Let's S.P.A.C.E. them.

SORT:

As always, bring all of your embellishments together. Touch every piece that you have and ruthlessly sort through them, deciding what to KEEP, TOSS, SELL, DONATE.

PURGE:

Immediately throw out the TOSS pile. Bag up and assign a price and your initials to the SELL pile, and put them in the garage sale box. Set up a drop-off or pick-up of the DONATE pile.

ASSIGN:

Sort through the KEEP pile in a way that makes sense to you. Some ideas for sorting your embellishments:

1) by category (buttons, brads, alphabets, charms, etc.)
2) by colour
3) by manufacturer
4) by type (metal, acrylic), or
5) by theme

CONTAINERIZE:

Now that you've decided how to sort your embellishments, the next step is decided how to store them, and how to label them! Researching online will give you great ideas. Talk to other crafters about what ideas worked for them.

EQUALIZE:

Take a few minutes at the end of each scrapping session, when you return from a crop, or return from a shopping trip to put your embellishments away where they belong.

Please share a photo of your organized embellishments with us here.

Journal Prompt ~ Intelligent

2026-02-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

Who is the most intelligent person you know?

Journal Prompt ~ Holiday Traditions

2026-02-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite family holiday tradition?

Journal Prompt ~ You're an Animal

2026-02-25T20:09:00.000-05:00

If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be?

Movie Review ~ Fargo

2026-02-25T00:09:00.000-05:00

Why have I never watched this movie before? It is absolutely genius. I am in love with the characters. William H. Macy plays a car salesman with a get rich quick scheme who uses some serious larceny to try and raise the money . . . including arranging for his wife to be kidnapped. The only criminal more inept than Macy's character are the two lunatics he hires to carry out the kidnapping.

If it can go wrong, it definitely will. It doesn't help that the very pregnant sheriff played by Frances McDormand is persistent.

Watch this movie.

Academy Awards, USA 1997

Won Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Frances McDormand
Won Oscar	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Ethan Coen Joel Coen
Nominated Oscar	Best Picture Ethan Coen
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role William H. Macy
	Best Director Joel Coen
	Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
	Best Film Editing Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes) Joel Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)

Canadian Music ~ k-os

2026-02-24T22:59:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kevin Brereton (born 20 February 1972), better known by his stage name k-os, is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted.

k-os received his first musical exposure with the single "Musical Essence", released in 1995. After the release of his second single "Rise Like the Sun" in 1996, he withdrew from the industry because he was dissatisfied with his musical style. In 2002, he released his debut album titled Exit. He released his second album Joyful Rebellion in 2004, which received platinum status in Canada. A third album, Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, was released in 2006 and also went platinum. His fourth album, Yes!, was released in 2009 and went gold. His fifth album Black on Blonde was released in 2013. He released his sixth album, Can't Fly Without Gravity, in 2015.

k-os was born at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. He and his two younger brothers Joshua and Andrew Richard were raised by Trinidadian Jehovah's Witness parents. His father was a minister at two congregations in the Greater Toronto Area. k-os moved along with his family to Trinidad while he was in grade three. In Trinidad, k-os surrounded himself with music to deal with being away from Canada. He returned to Canada with his mother in his teen years, taking up residence in Whitby, Ontario, a town east of Toronto, while attending Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute. His father temporarily stayed behind in Trinidad to continue his work. His father worked as a computer engineer and became Director of Communications for BWIA, the national Trinidadian airline, while his mother owned a cosmetics company.

Growing up, k-os was a fan of artists and groups as diverse as New Order, Depeche Mode, Rx Bandits, Michael Jackson, Boogie Down Productions, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Beatles. He said that he was "insecure" in high school and he pursued his musical ambitions because after performing at an assembly in his high school gym he realized performing attracted people towards him and it made him feel "powerful and ... secure". In 1992, he attended Carleton University in Ottawa for one semester to please his father. He returned to Toronto and enrolled into York University. Being friends with Nigel Williams, a member of the band Pocket Dwellers, Nigel encouraged k-os to continue to develop his musical abilities when he was confronted with "difficult forays".

He is a longtime vegetarian and has promoted animal rights with PETA.

While attending York University, k-os gained his first exposure in the music industry in 1995 when he released the single "Musical Essence" with a music video financed by a VideoFACT grant. He dropped out of the university shortly afterwards. The single was produced with friends Clarence Gruff and Kevin Risto; currently, Risto is one half of the production duo known as Midi Mafia (produced the 50 Cent single "21 Questions"). After winning a MuchMusic Video Award for the single, k-os was noticed by NBA player John Salley, who became his manager. With the single gaining moderate success, k-os was invited to perform in the 1995 Hip-Hop Explosion Tour, with other Canadian acts such as Rascalz and Ghetto Concept. Salley and Raphael Saadiq began work with k-os on his planned debut Missing Links, eventually releasing his second single "Rise Like the Sun" in 1996. k-os suddenly withdrew from the music industry in 1996 after receiving an offer from BMG. k-os would later say that during this time he had already completed several albums but was dissatisfied with his music. He described his music as "pretentious and derivative," and stated at the time that he was "still trying to figure out who he was."

He continued to live with his manager Salley in Los Angeles. Soon after, Red1 of the Rascalz, whom k-os befriended at the 1995 Explosion Tour, invited him to move to Vancouver, British Columbia. There he contributed a verse and chorus lines to the Rascalz' Global Warning album, released in 1999. He had also been invited to contribute to Rascalz' groundbreaking single "Northern Touch", but was unable to participate due to other commitments. k-os returned to the music scene by performing at the North by Northeast music festival in 1999. He took stage with the Vancouver band Namedropper.

Inspired by Michael Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, The Beatles, The Roots and Stevie Wonder, k-os worked on a new debut album. He described his new musical focus on "doing stuff really obscure and making music for myself." He recorded a demo tape and began looking for a record company to sign with, eventually settling on Capitol Records. Later, the parent company EMI transferred his record deal to another label, Astralwerks, co-owned by Virgin Records, after some management and scheduling issues. After the transfer k-os was added to the roster of the Toronto-based artist management firm Chris Smith Management.

On 26 March 2002, k-os released his debut album Exit in Canada to critical acclaim. The United States release followed the next year on January 28, 2003. The album incorporated several music styles, and was described as a "carefully blended pastiche of hip-hop, soul, rock, R&B, and a touch of reggae" by Stylus Magazine. Billboard Magazine called the album "One of the finest hip-hop records Canada has ever produced." The first single and promotional track for the album was "Heaven Only Knows". Like the "Musical Essence" single, the video for "Heaven Only Knows" was sponsored by a VideoFACT grant. The second single, "Superstarr Pt. Zero", was then released, which won "Best Music Video" award at the 2003 Urban X-Posure Awards.

After the Canadian release of the album, k-os toured with India Arie across United States to promote his album. Despite receiving positive reviews, Exit sold only 40,000 albums in the U.S. and 27,000 in Canada according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album went on to win several music awards including the "Album Design of the Year" award at the Juno Awards of 2003. k-os won the "Best International Hip Hop Artist" award at the Source Awards the same year. k-os also appeared and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! In 2003, k-os collaborated with The Chemical Brothers on their single "Get Yourself High". The track was nominated for "Best Dance Recording" at the 2005 Grammy Awards. k-os said, on the show "profile" on mtv, that The Chemical Brothers sent him five tracks and he picked the one they wanted him to pick ("Get Yourself High") and he freestyled to it. In the same year, the song "Freeze" was featured in the songlist for SSX 3.

Despite suggesting that Exit might be his only album, k-os released his second album Joyful Rebellion on August 24, 2004. The album was well received and became platinum in Canada in February 2005. The album and the single, "Crabbuckit", were rated the most downloaded Hip Hop/Rap album and track on the iTunes Store in Canada upon their release. The album also earned the number two spot on Rolling Stone critic Karen Bliss's top ten album list for 2004, where she described the artist as a "destined superstar." The album maintained the same formula as Exit; k-os himself later described Joyful Rebellion as, to quote the Canadian Press, "a rant against the state of hip hop". The debut single, "B-Boy Stance", was followed by "Crabbuckit", "The Love Song" and "Man I Used to Be", each accompanied by a music video. The radio exclusive titles "Crucial" and "Dirty Water" were released shortly after. The single "Crabbuckit" went on to be nominated three times at the 2005 Canadian Radio Music Awards.

k-os was nominated four times at the 2004 Canadian Urban Music Awards and won two awards for the single "B-Boy Stance". In 2005, k-os received three Juno Awards for the album. In the same year, the single "Crabbuckit" won the "Best Pop Video" award out of four nominations while "Man I Used to Be" won "MuchVibe Best Rap Video", "Best Director" and "Best Cinematography" at the annual MuchMusic Video Awards. He won the "Best Songwriter" and "Fan Choice Award" at the 2005 Canadian Urban Music Awards. On November 15, 2005, k-os released the Publicity Stunt DVD. The DVD featured singles and concert footage dating back to 1998 and footage from the 2005 concert at the Molson Amphitheatre, Canada's highest attended Hip Hop concert.[20] According to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the DVD became platinum in February 2006 in Canada.

In a relatively quiet dispute, some lyrics from the single "B-Boy Stance" were interpreted as an insult on the Toronto-based rapper K'naan. In the single, k-os rapped "They took cameras to Africa for pictures to rhyme/Over; Oh, yes, the great pretenders", and "Religious entertainers who want to be life savers". K'naan interpreted the lyrics as being aimed at him filming the music video for the single Soobax in Kenya. Friends say that k-os was simply expressing ideas about the LoveMovement (his videproduction team) who shot the video in Kenya and ex manager Sol guy who was managing K'naan at the time. k-os has been said to believe that hip hop allows friends to express their ideas to each other via song. He was very puzzled by Knaan's personal 'public' angle on the lyrics of "B-Boy Stance" especially because his song Revolutionary Avocado came after Knaan's repeated efforts to collaborate with k-os. Later on k-os told younger brother Josh that he believed it was a way for K'naan to 'get attention' very close to the release date of his album and that Sol guy, who k-os left to be managed by Chris Smith Management, pit the two against each other.

K'naan responded in the song "Revolutionary Avocado" with the lyrics: "You the all-knowing with a beer bottle/Wishing you was Plato and me Aristotle?/...Suburban negro turned hip-hop hero/Is there a reason he really hates me, though?" Furthermore, K'naan stated in an interview that he thought "k-os was out of line". The two have since spoken and there is no conflict.

Early in 2006, k-os collaborated with the CBC Radio Orchestra to compose "Burning to Shine." A documentary produced by new media pioneer McLean Greaves chronicling the production and performance of the song aired on Canadian national television on February 2, 2006, and was titled after the song. k-os then traveled across Canada recording his third album, stopping mainly in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. In the proceeding summer, the first single from the upcoming album titled "ELEctrick Heat – the seekwiLL" was released. The single became the "#1 most downloaded Single of the Week" on iTunes. During the year, k-os also recorded a version of John Lennon's song "Jealous Guy" for the Make Some Noise campaign of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

Before the release of his third album, Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, k-os wrote derogatory comments on his Myspace page aimed at Jason Richards, a contributing writer at Toronto's NOW magazine, for his review of the album. k-os stated that he was angered by Richards referring to him in the review as a "crossover pop artist disguised as a true-school b-boy". He was also disillusioned when he remembered he had granted an interview to Richards when he was a teenager, and that they had similar small town Trinidadian upbringings. Nervousness about the experimental nature of Atlantis and the passive aggressiveness of Canadian media most likely led to his blow up. Part of the comment called Richards "a black man ... manipulated by his indie rock nerd bosses" and called on him to "eat a dick!" NOW says that k-os called Richards "a 'sambo' beholden to his 'white indie rock nerd bosses'" in October 2006. After receiving advice from a stress-management expert, k-os later removed the comments, stating in an interview that it was a "personal situation" between himself and Richards and he was angered because the two had previously "had many discussions on music".

k-os' comments also received attention from the lead vocalist of the band Danko Jones, who wrote to NOW magazine saying that k-os "had too much sunshine massaged up his ass". k-os responded to the letter, making sarcastic remarks discussing a band named "STANKO JONES", which referred to Danko Jones. He also remarked again upon Jason Richards, comparing him to the "Arnold Jackson" character played by Gary Coleman on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Jones stated in an interview that he thought k-os' comments were a "lame response", and that "a five-year-old could come up with something wittier". k-os and Danko shared a rehearsal space and often had in depth conversations during their breaks outside the rehearsal space. He was very disappointed that someone whom he considered a friend spoke out in the press before trying to contact him first.

On 10 October 2006, Atlantis: Hymns For Disco was released in Canada, with a global release scheduled on February 6, 2007. The album went platinum in Canada during December of the same year. Atlantis, written and produced by k-os, featured collaborations with artists including Sam Roberts, Buck 65, Kevin Drew, Justin Peroff, Sebastien Grainger, and Kamau. The album debuted as number one and number five on the "Digital Albums" and "Current Albums" Canadian charts, respectively. The album reached number five on Music World's top ten in its opening week. While the album continued to merge several musical genres, k-os described the album as being more vocal due to him becoming more comfortable with his singing voice. Atlantis was also described as "leaving behind the social commentaries and hip hop critique present on his last two albums". Subsequent singles are "Sunday Morning" and "Flypaper". ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown has used the chorus of "Sunday Morning" as an intro returning from commercial break the past two seasons. k-os was one of the top 3 nominees for the Juno Awards of 2007 with five nominations, but failed to win any.

In 2007, EMI Music Canada partnered with game developer Digital Chocolate to create Club K-OS, a custom mobile game that promoted k-os, his single "Sunday Morning" and links to purchase the song as a ringtone. The game was designed to boost k-os' profile beyond Canada with a planned rollout across Canadian U.S. and European carriers.

His fourth studio album, entitled Yes!, was released on April 14, 2009. Four singles were released from the album. They were "4, 3, 2, 1", "Burning Bridges", "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" and "Zambony".

k-os also held an online contest from 2008 to 2009 at Indaba Music in which he provided the public with 11 tracks from the album Yes! to be remixed. At the end of the contest, the most voted remixes of each song were selected to be on a remix album of Yes! entitled Yes It's Yours (Fan Remix Album), which is set to be released in the spring of 2009. The 11 contest winners were also awarded $1,000 each.

In April 2009, k-os began the Karma Tour across Canada. For this tour, no advance tickets were sold. Fans were simply asked to donate what they think the show was worth as they leave the venue.

In October 2009, k-os paired up with the Stephen Lewis Foundation and their campaign A Dare to Remember to raise money for HIV/AIDS affected families in Africa. The musician will return to his old job at The Bay and will help customers select toys in the store's toy department.

In November 2009, Need for Speed Nitro was released. k-os's song "Fun" was featured on the soundtrack, along with the likes of Taking Back Sunday, Rye Rye, Major Lazer, and others.

On 28 February 2010, k-os performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver. On 9 August 2010, k-os released a follow-up mixtape to Yes!, entitled The Anchorman Mixtape. Mainly recorded on his tour bus, it featured leftover tracks from Yes!, as well as new tracks.

On 4 October 2011, in Canada, Much Music released his 30 March 2011 MTV Unplugged concert recordings at the Masonic Temple in Toronto as "MuchMusic presents K-OS LIVE", that also includes a DVD of all the live performances. The CD portion of the release additionally included "Catch 22", "Faith Part 2" featuring Drake, and two versions of "Holy Cow".

On 30 October 2012, k-os announced via Facebook that the album release date would have to be pushed back due to "sample clearance issues". He went on to mention that a sample from Neil Young was taking longer than expected to clear. On 5 November 2012, k-os announced the release date for his double LP entitled, Black on Blonde via Twitter and Facebook. A 13 November 2012 pre-order via iTunes was also announced. The first single off the album "The Dog Is Mine" was released on iTunes on 18 September 2012. The follow-up single "Nyce 2 Know Ya" was released on iTunes on 9 October 2012, and peaked at number 47 on the Canadian Hot 100. On 29 January 2013, Black on Blonde was released and charted at number 16 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

k-os' latest album, Can't Fly Without Gravity, was released in September 2015.

He followed it up with mixtape Views From the Stix which was a surprise released on 20 May 2016, ahead of the Victoria Day holiday in Canada. The mixtape was produced when k-os visited his family's countryside home near Whitby, Ontario, about thirty minutes outside Toronto. The title is a direct reference to Views from the Six, the original title of Drake's album Views (2016).

In 2018, k-os released a new single titled "No Bucks" along with the music video.

On 29 May 2020, k-os released an EP called Boshido, a collaboration effort with producer Kaytranada. It contains a remix to "Crucial", previously released on Kaytranada's SoundCloud in 2013.

The alias "k-os", spelled with a lower case "k", was intended to be less aggressive than the pseudonyms of other rappers whose names were all upper case, such as KRS-One. It is an acronym for "Knowledge of Self", although in a later interview he said that it originally stood for "Kevin's Original Sound".

k-os' music incorporates a wide variety of music genres, including rap, funk, rock, and reggae. The lyrics frequently focus on promoting a "positive message" while at times expressing criticism of mainstream hip hop culture's obsession with money, fame and glorification of violence. A vocalist as well as a producer, k-os has written and produced the majority of his albums himself. k-os usually performs with a live band, which is traditionally uncommon in the hip hop genre. He sometimes plays guitar and keyboard both during live performances and in the studio.

From 1996 to 2016, K-os was the third best-selling Canadian hip-hop artist in Canada (behind Drake and Swollen Members). Complex ranked him #7 in their list of "Canadians Who Shaped Canadian Hip-Hop: Northern Touch To The 2000s". In 2010, both Global News and National Post ranked him #3 in their lists of best Canadian rappers.

Journal Prompt ~ Never Again

2026-02-24T15:44:00.000-05:00

What is one thing you will never do again?

2026 Craft Space Organization Challenge #6

2026-02-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for Challenge #6?

Let's talk about ribbons and fibres and washi tape.

There is no "right" way to store your ribbons, fibre and washi tape. The most important factor is that the system works for YOU. First, let's make some S.P.A.C.E.

SORT:

Gather together all of your ribbons, fiber and washi tape and sort them into piles: KEEP, TOSS, SELL, DONATE.

PURGE:

Throw out the TOSS pile. Immediately make arrangements for pick-up or drop-off of the DONATE pile. Bag up, and assign a price and your initials to the SELL pile, and immediately put these in your garage sale box.

ASSIGN:

Sort your KEEP pile into types/colours of fibre, ribbon and washi tape. If your ribbons are in a big wrinkled mess, take time now to give everything a pressing (careful with the heat, some synthetics may melt!).

CONTAINERIZE:

Consider the space that you have, and the way that you work. Here are some ideas that work for ribbons, washi tape and fibres:

1) on those little cardboard bobbins meant for embroidery floss

2) organized by colour in big clear glass jars on a shelf

3) wound and paper clipped and stored with their coordinating embellishments

4) Cropper Hopper mini embellishment boxes and sorted by colour

5) in small ziploc bags stored in a photo box, or on a big ring

6) in sports cards organizer pages, sorted by colour and in a binder

7) wound on index cards and stored in a photo box

EQUALIZE:

Take a few minutes at the end of each scrapping session, when you return from a crop, or return from a shopping trip to put your ribbons, washi tapes and fibres away where they belong.

Share your progress by posting photos in our Facebook group.

Canadian Book Review ~ The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies

2026-02-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

I think this may be the first book I've read by Robertson Davies.

The Cunning Man tells the story of Dr. Hullah and the remarkably eccentric denizens of St. Aiden's Parish in Toronto.

I liked it. It wasn't an easy read, full of big words and mysteries and satire. But I do think it is worth the read.

Journal Prompt ~ Favourite Book(s)

2026-02-23T09:42:00.000-05:00

What is your favourite book to read?

These are two of my favourite books.

Turnips and Rutabagas

2026-02-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

Selection

Buy 2 pounds for 4 servings. White turnips are sold in bunches with tops attached; tops should be young fresh and green. Rutabagas are marketed loose, without tops. Both turnips and rutabagas should be smooth and firm with few roots at the ends. Both should be heavy for their size. White turnips are milker than yellow rutabaga and cook in a shorter time.

Preparation

Turnips and rutabagas are cooked the same way. Scrub, peel and thinly as possible before cooking. Leave whole, cut into large pieces or dice.

Cooking

Cook, covered, in a small amount of boiling, salted water. Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the whole turnips and 15-20 minutes for sliced or diced turnips.

Serving

Season with salt, pepper, and butter or margarine. Or mash them with a little hot milk and season as above. (Most of my family like a bit of brown sugar stirred in.)

Raw

Thin strips of turnip are a good addition to the relish plate.

Journal Prompt ~ Little Memories

2026-02-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

Write about, think about, share if you wish, a few little memories from this week that made you smile that you might have otherwise forgotten.

Journal Prompt ~ Six Words

2026-02-19T20:32:00.000-05:00

Describe your life or current situation using exactly six words.

too much too fast too tired

160 Unusual Things to See in Ontario ~ Joy Gas Station

2026-02-19T14:13:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joy Gas Stations operated uniquely designed stations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 1930s for the Joy Oil Company Limited. The stations are examples of the Château style of architecture, a style that was promoted as a uniquely Canadian architectural form in the 1930s.

Of the 16 stations built in the Greater Toronto Area, only one station survives today, at Lake Shore Boulevard West and Windermere Avenue built in 1937. In April 2007, the City of Toronto moved part of the station from the site to a location across the street at Sir Casimir Gzowski Park. The station was restored at a cost of nearly $400,000 and was to be repurposed as an eatery and tourist information centre.

As of 2020, the station sits vacant and fenced off.

The Joy Gas Station at 1947 Bloor Street West was built in 1937 on the north-west corner of High Park. It was demolished in 1986 to make way for a commercial complex by developer Zenon Greszta, a development which sparked opposition by local residents. It had been designated as a historic building, but its protection expired in July 1986.

A station that existed on Kingston Road in Scarborough has been demolished.

A station at 910 Lake Shore Boulevard West was demolished in 1977 and replaced with the current Esso station.

A station in Scarborough was demolished in the 1990s.

Other locations included:

985 Danforth Avenue at Donlands Avenue

429 Roncesvalles Avenue

789 St. Clair Avenue West

317 Parliament Street

Queen Street East near Pape Avenue

3169 Yonge Street, north of Lawrence Avenue

Bedford Road and Davenport Road

Eglinton and Avenue Road (NW corner)

5675 Decarie Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec (circa 1944 to 1951), later demolished to make way for a drive-in branch of the Bank of Montreal (itself later closed)

Lake Shore Boulevard West and Stadium Road

Bloor Street West and Jane (NW corner)

Journal Prompt ~ Tanka

2026-02-18T16:43:00.000-05:00

I'm making a list

Errands I need to get done

Groceries I must buy

Chores I hope to accomplish

I haven't had breakfast yet

Movie Review ~ Frozen

2026-02-18T12:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Hubby and I took our two younger grandsons to see Frozen on New Year's Eve 2014 . Based on a fable by Hans Christian Andersen, Frozen is the story of a princess with a gift. The King and Queen soon realized that Elsa's gift could be dangerous. They sought the advice of some very interesting trolls who warned them that fear would be the princess' greatest threat. Elsa is locked away from the world and trained to control her powers by controlling her emotions. She learns to be afraid of her gift and that gift nearly destroys her kingdom. Her little sister Anna, a handsome ice-salesman named Kristoff, Sven the reindeer and (my one of my favourite characters) Olaf the snowman team up to help Elsa and save the kingdom from permanent winter.

In the end Elsa learns that her fear was the cause of the disaster and by letting go of the fear and relying on love she could control her gift and save her kingdom.

This movie is very well done and I have seen it several times since. The songs were really amazing.

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Winner Oscar	Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Chris Buck Jennifer Lee Peter Del Vecho
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Kristen Anderson-Lopez (music and lyrics) Robert Lopez (music and lyrics) Song: "Let It Go"

Journal Prompt ~ Useless Facts

2026-02-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

What is your favourite useless fact?

Canadian Music ~ Klaatu

2026-02-17T16:05:00.000-05:00

Klaatu was a Canadian rock group formed in 1973 by the duo of John Woloschuk and Dee Long. They named themselves after an ambassador, Klaatu, from an extraterrestrial confederation who visits Earth with his companion robot Gort in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. After recording two non-charting singles, the band added drummer Terry Draper to the line-up; this trio constituted Klaatu throughout the rest of the band's recording career.

In Canada, the band is notable for several hits, including "California Jam" (1974), "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (1976), and "Knee Deep in Love" (1980). In the U.S., "Calling Occupants" backed with "Sub-Rosa Subway", was a minor double-sided hit and their only chart entry, peaking at No. 62 in 1977.

Internationally, the group's pop-influenced style of progressive rock has led to them being known as the "Canadian Beatles".

Klaatu has variously been described by critics and journalists as progressive rock, psychedelic pop, pop rock, and space rock.

The band's combination of pop and progressive/art rock has often been compared to the Beatles, the guitar-rock of Queen, the electronic music of Wendy Carlos, the light pop sound of 10cc, and the orchestrated ballads of the Moody Blues and Electric Light Orchestra. British music magazine Shindig! praised the band's "otherworldly brand of progressive pop".

The band, initially a studio-only duo of Woloschuk and Long, released the singles "Anus of Uranus/Sub-Rosa Subway" and "Dr. Marvello/For You Girl" on GRT Records, in 1973, before being taken under the wing of Daffodil Records and its president Frank Davies. With Terry Draper added to the line-up, the singles "California Jam" and "True Life Hero" followed. These early singles credited Dee Long as a writer of several tunes; the others (including "Sub-Rosa Subway", "Dr. Marvello" and the hit single "California Jam") were credited to "Chip Dale," a collective pseudonym for Woloschuk and frequent co-writer Dino Tome. "California Jam" hit the Canadian Top 40, peaking at No. 36, and Klaatu, though they played no live dates, promoted their music by making a television appearance in Canada on the Keith Hampshire-hosted show Music Machine. By 1975, Davies, along with producer Terry Brown, landed the band a deal with Capitol Records in the United States.

Their first album, 3:47 EST (named Klaatu in the US as Capitol Records' executives found the original title too obscure), was released in September 1976, in North America. The band elected to include no photos, no individual musician credits, and no biographical information in the album package; all songs were simply listed as being written and published by "Klaatu." (Note that this collective writing credit covered songs earlier credited solely to Long or to the team of Woloschuk and Tome – even though Tome was not actually a member of Klaatu.) The album was met with moderately positive reviews, but by Christmas of that year, sales had stalled.

In 1977, an article published in the Providence Journal by journalist Steve Smith speculated that 3:47 EST could actually be a release by a secretly-reunited Beatles recording under a pseudonym, leading to widespread rumours. These rumours were fueled by a number of factors, including the fact that their album was released by Capitol Records (also the Beatles' label in North America), the lack of artist and producer credits or photographs in the album packaging, Klaatu's avoidance of public performances, and the fact that the group's vocal and musical style was reminiscent of the Beatles. In addition, Ringo Starr's 1974 album Goodnight Vienna had featured cover art with Starr appearing in place of the character Klaatu from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. The album as a whole had a Beatlesque sound. Subsequent to the Beatles rumour, the songs "Sub-Rosa Subway" and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" became minor hits for Klaatu in 1977. "Calling Occupants" was covered by the Carpenters that same year, becoming a Top 40 hit worldwide.

While all this was happening, Klaatu were in England, recording their second album. They were somewhat aware of the situation with regard to the rumours, but did not take them entirely seriously – possibly because NME famously published an article on the Beatles-as-Klaatu theory under the title "Deaf Idiot Journalist Starts Beatle Rumour." Meanwhile, Capitol Records tried to take advantage of the rumours by issuing ambiguously worded statements that failed to make the band's identity entirely clear. The rumour was disproved when Dwight Douglas, program director at WWDC in Washington, D.C., checked the records at the U.S. Copyright Office and uncovered the band members' real names.

The band's second album Hope, released in 1977, included orchestral contributions by the London Symphony Orchestra. Sir Army Suit, their third album, is notable for the track "Silly Boys", which contains the entire lyrical portion of their single "Anus of Uranus" – a song later re-recorded as "Anus of Uranus" for their first album – backwards-masked interspersed between the "Silly Boys" lyrics. For both these releases, the band continued their policy of not including any individual names of band members in the credits, nor did they play any live shows or make any public appearances to promote these albums.

In 1977, Al Guest and Jean Mathieson of Rainbow Animation were commissioned by Capitol Records to create an animated music video of the song "A Routine Day". This video ran on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and subsequently played as a short in Los Angeles on the same bill as Animal House.

Following that, Guest and Mathieson got permission from Capitol Records to create a vehicle for Klaatu's songs. They wrote and directed a half-hour television special they titled Happy New Year Planet Earth, hoping that it would get yearly broadcasts as an alternative to Christmas specials. New Year's Eve was Mathieson's birthday. Again the group Klaatu was photographed and rotoscoped, with an astronaut wraparound created to connect the six Klaatu songs. Although the project was completed, Guest and Mathieson were dropped by their Canadian film investment group and wound up financing it themselves. They never released it.

In 2005, the group permitted the film to be screened in its uncompleted state at the KlaatuKon convention in Toronto. The unfinished animations were later released as part of the 2013 Sir Army Suit bonus disc.

Upon the release of their fourth studio album, Endangered Species, in 1980, the band for the first time included their individual names in the album package, and the songs were now credited to their individual writers. (Subsequent re-issues of earlier Klaatu material, as well as newly published Klaatu sheet music, also gave credit to the actual songwriters of each track, rather than a collective credit.)

Although forced by Capitol to record Endangered Species in Los Angeles using established studio musicians to shore up the group's commercial chances, Klaatu continued to refuse to perform live. The album was a critical and commercial flop. The album's poor showing resulted in Capitol Records dropping the group. Now lacking a record label, Long and Draper temporarily formed a classic rock cover band with Freddy Coutts, John Jones, and John Bojicic, called FUNN, who played extensively around Toronto.

Klaatu was eventually signed by Capitol's Canadian division, EMI Canada, and released their final album, Magentalane, in 1981. This album saw the group returning to their brand of Beatles-influenced pop/rock. As a contractual obligation to Capitol-EMI in Canada, the band was forced to play their first-ever live dates and tour most of Canada to promote Magentalane. From November 1981, the group expanded to a sextet, enlisting Gary McCracken (drums), Mike Gingrich (bass) and Gerald O'Brien (keyboards) for live performances. However, in April 1982, Dee Long – never fond of performing live, by most accounts – quit the group. Although Woloschuk and Draper carried on performing for a few more months, with Terry Watkinson replacing O'Brien and Marty Morin replacing McCracken, Klaatu officially disbanded in August of the same year.

The trio very briefly reunited in 1988 at George Martin's AIR Studios in London with John Jones to record a single, "Woman," though no one was particularly happy with the results as the song was written by someone outside of the band (Paul Vincent Gunia) for the German television series Tatort. Initially Long had wanted to merely use the Klaatu name, but could not get the rest of the band's approval without their involvement. The single was released only in West Germany and did not chart, making it an extremely rare item in the Klaatu catalogue; Draper confirmed that the song was considered for a few rarities compilations, but all three band members had agreed to not include the track.

A second reunion had been attempted in 1991 to tie together with a proposed compilation release, but plans fell through after a disagreement with their distributor, BEI0.

The three former members of Klaatu reunited on May 7, 2005, for a brief performance at Toronto's KlaatuKon. The set list consisted of "At the End of the Rainbow," "I Don't Wanna Go Home," "Cherie," "Magentalane," "All Good Things," and "Little Neutrino".

Klaatu's albums were released on CD format rather late, and until the 2000s several companies, including Capitol Records, released the albums with rearranged track orders. Finally, Bullseye Records, with the help of the band members themselves, released the albums in their original track listings. Bullseye also released a tribute album to Klaatu, Around the Universe in Eighty Minutes.

In 2005, Bullseye Records released a two-CD collection entitled Sun Set, which compiled a number of rarities, demos, rare early singles, and the original version of Hope which had been delivered to Capitol Records, including the complete contributions made by the London Symphony Orchestra, which had largely been removed from the original mix. The set also included a 40-page booklet including interviews with all of the former members of the band.

Bullseye Records of Canada also released Raarities in 2005, originally only in a vinyl LP format. Most of the material on the record consists of alternate mixes and single versions. A CD version, titled Solology, included the Raarities LP as well as concert recordings, and was released in March 2009.

On March 15, 2011, Klaatu announced the creation of their new record label, Klaatunes Records. The band also created an official website to go along with the new label. The label's premiere was a re-release of Solology. The band remastered their first three albums 3:47 EST, Hope and Sir Army Suit.

On May 15, 2025, Terry Draper died from leukemia at the age of 73.

Book Review ~ Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

2026-02-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

Is there anyone out there who has never read Charlotte's Web?

This children's classic is a wonderful read for every age. It is the story of a runt pig named Wilbur who is being raised for slaughter. A little spider named Charlotte begins spinning words and phrases in her web that make Wilbur so special that the farmer decides to keep him.

Charlotte’s Web is not only a story about friendship, but also about a story about words and the difference they can make in someone's life. When fall arrives Charlotte knows her life is nearly done. She gives Wilbur her egg sac to look after.

The last lines of the book . . .

"Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."

Journal Prompt ~ Who Knows You the Best?

2026-02-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

Who knows you the best?

2026 Craft Space Organization Challenge #5

2026-02-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

Challenge #5 - Stickers, die cuts, rub ons, and swaps

Stickers, die cuts, and rub-ons are some of the hardest things to organize because the different sizes and shapes pose many challenges. Rub-ons present their own challenges because if they aren't stored properly, they stick to each other and then they are useless.

It's time to make S.P.A.C.E.

SORT:

Time to be ruthless. Consider if you are really going to use these items. If you bought a whole sheet of die cuts just to use one or two tags, why are you hanging on to the whole sheet? Those stickers you bought in 1999 were adorable then, but definitely not your style now, are they? So, sort into piles: TRASH, SELL, DONATE, TO KEEP

PURGE:

Throw out the TRASH pile. Bag up, and assign a price and your initials to the SELL pile and put them directly into the garage sale box. Make immediate arrangements to rid yourself of the DONATE items.

ASSIGN:

The KEEP items need to be divided into categories that make sense to you: by colour, by manufacturer, theme, size, or type.

CONTAINERIZE:

Here is an article about storing stickers, die cuts and rub-ons:

EQUALIZE:

Take a few minutes at the end of each scrap session and whenever you return from a crop or a shopping trip to put your stickers, rub-ons and die cuts where they belong.

SWAPS

While you are busy sorting your stickers you should also sort any swaps you’ve been holding on to. Many of us have fallen victim to the lure of scrapbook swaps among local and online groups. All the hours, material, creativity, and postage costs make these items difficult to purge. But let's face it . . . not everything is YOUR style, you are NEVER going to use some of it.

It's time to make more S.P.A.C.E.

SORT:

Keep only what you love. If the colour or style does not make you smile, it must go. Keep only what is significant to you - don't keep the soccer page swap items if your kids are into hockey and dance. Sort into: KEEP, TRASH, SELL, DONATE

PURGE:

Pack up the DONATE pile and give it to a beginner scrapbooker who might appreciate these items. Throw out the TRASH pile. Bag up and assign a price and your initials to the SELL items and put them directly into the garage sale box.

ASSIGN:

Sort your KEEP items into categories, theme, holiday, colour, whatever makes sense to you.

CONTAINERIZE:

Store your keepers in page protectors by theme in binders, or get them into giant ziplocs to create page kits for your next cropping session.

EQUALIZE:

Next time a swap arrives in the mail, take a few minutes to toss or give away what you know you'll never use, create a page kit for your next cropping session, or put in a page protector in your swap binder for storage.

At one point in my scrapbooking life I participated in a ridiculous number of swaps. Not any more . . .

When you are done, please share a photo to our Facebook group showing your storage system.

Journal Prompt ~ Tanka

2026-02-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

Autumn is coming

With warm sun and cool breezes

The perfect season

My favourite time of year

Leaves begin changing colour

Recipe ~ A Bagel Bar

2026-02-13T10:36:00.000-05:00

Coming up with new, fun yet inexpensive ideas for meals at Windswept Cottage is becoming a challenge thanks to all the creative women I hang out with. I spotted this idea for a Bagel Bar and wanted to make sure to save it somewhere I could find it again . . . so here it is . . .

I think it is scathingly brilliant . . .

160 Unusual Things to See in Ontario ~ Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

2026-02-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Hanlan's Point, the most westerly of the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Begun in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes, and one of Toronto's oldest buildings. The lighthouse is perhaps best known for the demise of its first keeper, German-born John Paul Radelmüller, whose 1815 murder forms the basis of Toronto's most enduring ghost story. Recent research has verified many aspects of the traditional tale of his death and identified the soldiers charged with but ultimately acquitted of the crime.

Authorized in 1803 with two other lighthouses by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, construction of the Gibraltar Point lighthouse did not begin until 1808. It was built to a height of 52 feet (16 m) and extended to 82 feet (25 m) in 1832. The diameter ranges from about 7 metres (23 ft) at the base to about 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) at the top. The base is made from stone quarried in Queenston and the extension from Kingston stone. The lighthouse construction and maintenance was paid for through a harbour fee levied upon all boats entering the harbour. When completed in August 1809, the lighthouse was located 25 feet (7.6 m) from the shore. Since then, sand has built up over time so that it now stands about 100 metres (110 yd) inland.

When opened, the lighthouse was accompanied by the lighthouse keeper's cottage. It was a squared-log house clad in clapboard. It was two-stories, having two rooms on the first floor and sleeping space in the attic above. When ships approached, the lighthouse keeper would run up a flag to notify the Toronto harbour master. The cottage no longer exists, demolished in 1950.

The tower light was initially an oak and glass cage, illuminated by candles. The tower switched to sperm oil from 1832 and switched to coal in 1863. The original lamp structure was wood and replaced with steel in 1878. An electric light was installed in 1916-17 and updated in 1945. In 1958, Metro Parks took over operations and made renovations in 1961-62. Currently unused, the lighthouse is occasionally open for public tours, including on the annual Doors Open Toronto weekend.

Since the decommissioning of the lighthouse, smaller automated lighthouses (two located at Humber Bay Park in the west and Bluffer's Park to the east), Toronto Harbour Light, as well as floating bell or light buoys, navigational masts have been used to replace the lighthouse to provide navigational aid along Toronto's waterfront and Toronto Harbour.

A local legend is that the lighthouse is haunted by its first keeper John Paul Radelmüller (often rendered incorrectly as Rademiller, Radenmuller, Radan Muller etc.), who was murdered in 1815.

According to local lore, soldiers from Fort York visited Radelmüller on the evening of January 2, 1815, in search of his bootlegged beer. But they had too much to drink and a dispute broke out, culminating in the keeper's murder. The dispute may have been about the keeper's bootleg being watered down. The inebriated soldiers, so it is claimed, tried to conceal their crime by chopping apart the corpse and hiding the remains. In 1893, then-keeper George Durnan searched for the corpse and found part of a jawbone and coffin fragments near the lighthouse, though it was impossible to definitively prove they were linked to Radelmüller. The veracity of the legend of the murder has long been questioned. As prominent Toronto historian Mike Filey wrote, when it came to the truth of the story of the keeper's demise, "Your guess is as good as mine."

Recent scholarship has revealed more about Radelmüller's life and death. Born circa 1763 in Anspach, Germany, Radelmüller worked as a servant of royalty for twenty years, in the households of the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, accompanying the latter to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1799. Arriving at York in 1804, Radelmüller was appointed as keeper of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on July 24, 1809.

Radelmüller indeed suffered a violent death on January 2, 1815, aged approximately fifty-two, according to the most recent and definitive study of his murder, which confirmed the basic truth of many aspects of the popular legend. Eamonn O'Keeffe also identified the two soldiers charged with (but acquitted of) Radelmüller's murder as John Henry and John Blueman, both Irishmen of the Glengarry Light Infantry, a regiment that saw heavy action in the War of 1812.

While research has verified much of the traditional tale, O'Keeffe cast doubt on some of the more dramatic elements of the story. Contrary to claims that the keeper's corpse was hacked to pieces and hidden, contemporary evidence suggests that Radelmüller's body was not mutilated, but was found after his death by the lighthouse's fourth keeper George Durnan and his Uncle Joe while he was a young man, and his father was the keeper. He related to John Robertson that he and his uncle had discovered bone fragments, most notably a jawbone, and fragments of a coffin 500 ft (150 m) west of the lighthouse, he believed they belonged to the late Radelmüller.

Lighthouse keepers

John Paul Radelmüller 1809-1815

William Halloway 1816-1831

James Durnan 1832-1854

George Durnan 1854-1908

Captain Patrick J. McSherry 1905-1912

Blake Matthews 1912-1917

G.F. Eaton 1917-1918

F.C. Allan 1918-1944

Mrs. Ladder 1944-1955

Mrs. Dedie Dodds 1955-1958

Mr. Terry Jesty 1958-1998

Mr. Manuel Cappel 1999 - today[

Journal Prompt ~ Extra Time

2026-02-12T10:47:00.000-05:00

Today's Journal Prompt: Extra Time

If you magically had an extra hour today, what would you spend it doing?

That is such an easy question. If I magically could have an extra hour today I would either take a nap, watch TV or scratch 2-3 more tasks from my Dreaded To Do List.

Scrapbooking is on my Dreaded To Do List.