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.

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)

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.

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

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.

Movie Review ~ Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981

2026-02-11T15:59:00.000-05:00

I was sure I had seen this movie, but apparently I was wrong because I just watched it the other day and recognized very little. Obviously I must have seen commercials, trailers or something.

What a riot! It is full of excitement and danger and adventure . . . all ridiculously overplayed. Loved it! The race is on to find the lost ark and everybody wants it -- even Hitler. But who will find it first?

You need something fun and silly to watch . . . watch this!

Academy Awards, USA 1982

Won Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Norman Reynolds Leslie Dilley Michael Ford
	Best Sound Bill Varney Steve Maslow Gregg Landaker Roy Charman
	Best Film Editing Michael Kahn
	Best Effects, Visual Effects Richard Edlund Kit West Bruce Nicholson Joe Johnston
Won Special Achievement Award	Ben Burtt Richard L. Anderson For sound effects editing.
Nominated Oscar	Best Picture Frank Marshall
	Best Director Steven Spielberg
	Best Cinematography Douglas Slocombe
	Best Music, Original Score John Williams

Journal Prompt ~ Something I hate . . .

2026-02-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

What is the one thing you hate doing every day?

Big List of Canadian Artists and Bands ~ 54-40

2026-02-10T17:48:00.000-05:00

I am sad to say that I don't often pay attention to, or even remember who, sang or played a particular song. What I do remember is whether I liked the song, or not.

I had to "google" 54-40 and before I realized I HAD heard it and I DID like their music!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (edited)

54-40 (often stylized 54•40) is a Canadian rock band from Tsawwassen, Delta, British Columbia. The band takes its name from the slogan "54-40 or Fight!", coined to express the unsuccessful expansionist agenda of James K. Polk's presidency, which was intent upon controlling a contested U.S.-Canada border area in the Oregon boundary dispute. 54-40 has had a successful career, with four of their albums being certified platinum in Canada. The band has been nominated for eight Juno Awards. Between 1996 and 2016, 54-40 were among the top 150 best-selling Canadian artists in Canada and among the top 50 best-selling Canadian bands in Canada.

Neil Osborne and Brad Merritt met in 1978 at South Delta High School in Tsawwassen, British Columbia. After studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Osborne returned home and formed the band 54-40 with Merritt and drummer Ian Franey. The band played their first gig in Coquitlam on December 8, 1980, the night John Lennon was killed. In 1981 they made their first recordings for the Mo-Da-Mu label, with four tracks appearing on the independent compilation LP Things Are Still Coming Ashore, which also featured music by Vancouver bands Animal Slaves and Junco Run. In June 1982, the band released the EP Selection. Shortly after the release of Selection, Franey left the band. Franey was replaced by Darryl Neudorf and Phil Comparelli was added on guitar, trumpet and vocals. The band recorded the album Set the Fire in 1983, releasing it in 1984. Neudorf, frustrated with the band's prolonged time in the studio and away from the road, left the band in 1985. He was replaced by Matt Johnson.

The band's self-titled second album, released in 1986 through Warner/Reprise Records, began to attract attention from radio and record buyers across Canada, with the singles "Baby Ran" and "I Go Blind" gaining significant college radio airplay. Dave Osborne (keyboards, harmonica), toured and recorded with the band from 1987 to 1993. The band's third album, Show Me, became their commercial breakthrough in Canada, with the hits "One Day in Your Life" and "One Gun".

Although the band was popular on college radio in the United States, they never had a commercial breakthrough, and Warner dropped 54-40 in 1990. In 1991, the band released the compilation album, Sweeter Things. Also during that year, the band signed a deal with Sony and released Dear Dear in 1992. It was the band's first album to be certified Gold in Canada and was certified Platinum in 1993. The band released Smilin' Buddha Cabaret in 1994 and Trusted by Millions in 1996, both of which would later be certified Platinum.

The band's song "I Go Blind" was covered in the mid-1990s by American band Hootie & the Blowfish, and the cover was featured on the first soundtrack to the TV series Friends. The song also appears on two compilations released by the band: 2000's Scattered, Smothered and Covered and 2003's The Best of Hootie & the Blowfish (1993 Thru 2003). Royalties from the Hootie and the Blowfish cover enabled the band to build their own recording studio in Vancouver.

Dave Genn, formerly of Matthew Good Band, joined 54-40 in 2003. In February 2005, it was announced that Comparelli left the band for personal reasons. That same year, 54-40 signed with True North Records.

In 2010, to celebrate the band's 30 years together and almost 25 years since their first commercial album The Green Album, the band went on a promotional concert tour with a two-set act. The first set was The Green Album from start to finish. The second set was one song from every album since, with the exception of Dear Dear where they played two songs. 54-40 also performed a new song from their upcoming record, Lost in the City, which was released on June 14, 2011.

In January 2016, the band released a greatest hits album titled La Difference: A History Unplugged. Tracks included "One Day In Your Life", "I Go Blind", and "Ocean Pearl". The album was released through eOne Music. The band then set out on a month-long theatre tour across Canada to support the album. In 2017 they played at Peachfest in Penticton.

In 2018 54-40 performed with fiddler Daniel Lapp, both locally and also as the opening band at Ottawa's CityFolk Festival.

Lead singer Neil Osborne began playing shows with his daughter, singer-songwriter Kandle, billing themselves as A Family Curse, self-described as "pure folk-art worked from found objects (something old, something new)." A Toronto show took place May 8, 2019 at the intimate and tiny 20-capacity Radical Road Brewing Co. The father-daughter duo played later that year on August 7, 2019 as part of Roy Thompson Hall's Live on the Patio series, also in Toronto. These shows were bookended by shows in Montréal, where Kandle resides, in February and August 2019.

54-40 played the legendary Horseshoe Tavern's 72nd anniversary party on December 6, 2019. Sam Cash, son of Toronto post-punk musician turned city politician Andrew Cash, opened the show.

Journal Prompt ~ Favourite Movie

2026-02-10T15:16:00.000-05:00

What was a recent movie you watched? What did you think of it?

It was absolutely adorable with an excellent a-ha moment at the end.

2026 Craft Room Organization Challenge #4

2026-02-10T09:27:00.001-05:00

If you are ready, here is Challenge #4 . . .

Tools and Adhesives

Gather together all of your tools and adhesives into a box and let's start S.P.A.C.E.ing them!

Sort:

One by one, put each item into piles: FAVOURITES, TRASH, TO SELL, STORE, DONATE.

Purge:

For the SELL pile: bag up and assign a price and your initials to tools/adhesives that you don't love/use anymore and put them in your garage sale box. Throw out the TRASH pile. Arrange pick-up or drop-off of the DONATE pile.

Assign:

Store your most used items in a basket or box or other system right on your desk, within easy reach. Divide the STORE items into categories that make sense to you: cutting tools, pens, punches, templates, etc.

Containerize:

This is the time to tidy up your tools. Tools need regular maintenance to keep them efficiently working. As you put your tools away in whatever container (drawers, shelves, boxes, baskets - always ensuring the container is clearly labelled) give them a little maintenance.

* scissors - sharpen your scissors using a small scissor sharpener, or have them professionally done. Carefully clean the blades (I like alcohol swabs to remove sticky adhesive).

* pens - test pens and throw out the ones that are dry or don't work well.

* craft knives - change the blades.

* trimmers - clean the deck of your trimmers with a damp cloth, and a little cleanser if necessary. Replace dull blades, or cut through fine sandpaper or aluminum foil.

* Work surface - clean ink, adhesive and paint from your self-healing mats.

* Punches - to prevent punches from sticking, punch through wax paper. Problem punches may need a little lubricating oil such as sewing machine oil, then punch through scrap paper several times to remove oily residue. Dull punches can be sharpened by punching through aluminum foil or fine grade sandpaper (both right side up and upside down).

* Stamps - stamps should be cleaned after each use, but if there is a build up of ink on your stamps, you should clean them with an alcohol free baby wipe, or paper towels moistened with a mild cleanser (ammonia free/bleach free) Use a soft toothbrush to remove ink stuck in the crevices of a design. Store stamps flat, rubber side down.

* Dies and Thin Cuts

* Clean and recalibrate electronic cutting systems

Equalize:

Once you have a system in place for your tools, putting them back in the same place every time will become a reflex, and you will never have to hunt for you scissors again! Take a couple of minutes at the end of each scrap session to put your tools away.

We have started a Facebook group as a place for us to share photos, accomplishments, encouragement, tips and tricks as we work through the Craft Room Organization Challenge.

Journal Prompt ~ Six Words

2026-02-09T11:14:00.000-05:00

Describe your life or current situation using exactly six words.

Cleaning the house without picking anything up.

Book Review ~ Uncle Tom's Cabin

2026-02-09T10:26:00.000-05:00

Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published in 1852 and had a profound effect on attitudes toward slavery in the U.S.

The title character is said to be based on the story of Reverend Josiah Henson. Henson was an author, abolitionist, and minister born into slavery in Maryland. He escaped to Upper Canada in 1830, and founded a settlement and school for fugitive slaves near Dresden, Ontario.

I purchased my copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin many years ago after visiting the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History in Dresden, Ontario.

Journal Prompt ~ Six Word Story

2026-02-06T23:03:00.000-05:00

Describe your life or current situation in a six word story.

Here is a famous example of a Six Word Story:

Finding happy place; cleaning my studio.

Skillet Endive

2026-02-06T14:01:00.000-05:00

Quantity : 4 servings
Preparation : 5 min Cooking : 30 min
60 calories/serving

Ingredients
4 Belgian endive (Witloof) 600 g
1 tbsp butter, unsalted 14 g
1 tbsp olive oil 15 mL
1/2 tsp sugar 2 g
1 pinch salt [optional] 0.2 g

Method
Prepare the Belgian endive: keep them whole.
Heat the butter and oil in a pan over low heat, then add the endive. Add the sugar and salt to taste, then cover and cook over very low heat, turning the heads of endive occasionally, until they are very tender and caramelized all over, about 30 min.
Remove the lid and cook over high heat just long enough to evaporate some of the excess liquid. Serve with the juices.

https://www.soscuisine.com/recipe/skillet-endive