Friday is Almost Always a Good Day...

I was done at work by 12:30 and had a nice leisurely lunch....I fried myself an egg, some of lastnights mashed potatoes and then plopped the egg on some ham on toast. Yummo! Did the crossword...but it was the friday one and that one is usually really hard. Made some phone calls. Picked Joe up and am home now. I also did a load of laundry because I want to wear my new blouse tomorrow and it had lots of creases in it from coming out of the box at the store.

I totally scored at GARAGE yesterday!!! They were giving us 50% off the already really great sale price! I got a pair of jeans, an oatmeal coloured tanktop, a long sleeved ribbed T in brown, AND an oatmeal zippered hoodie cardigan....for $54!! Tax included!!!! The tanktop was more expensive than the jeans!!! So cool. I also got a grey short sleeved blouse that has a belt at the waist. It is super long and flares out a bit at the bottom....that was at Sirens, and I got a cute halter vest at H & M, I love that store!! Urban Behaviour had some really cool sweaters but a bit pricey yet....lots of time to wait.... It was a fun day! Ray liked the deals AND the outfits.

My stampin' order came in yesterday, making a good day even better. You're so subtle about those tips Amanda! I can't think of any right now..... so many techniques, so little time.....

Have a great weekend.....

I Hope You're Sitting Down....

....yeah...it's finally me!
I just took some time to see what all of you have been up to. Good times!

I've fallen off the face of the earth for a while but have returned. It's been a bit chaotic with work and play, and then trying to synchronize everyone's schedules. Having no computer was a bit of a problem too.

Our new modem seems to be the answer to the slowness and our access to the information highway has been restored....at the proper speed limit. We no longer go to the library to check our email and blogs. But you kind of get out of the habit of heading downstairs for the computer and it might take a while to restore that!

I'll try not to bore you with my past couple of weeks.....so just imagine a list of a 100 things here and we'll call it square. Saves me typing, and saves you reading!

I've been preparing the sanctuary for Advent. I was interim worship visual coordinator....which basically means, I decorated for Christmas. I hung up the banner that was chosen, changed the liturgical colour banners behind the pulpit from green to purple, made a background for the advent words to go on, hung up the stained glass panels(laminated black bristol board and tissue paper), set up the advent candles, filled two urns with dogwood and artificial pine (janitor's dream), and hung wreaths and handmade stars(some from dogwood and some from grape vine....way cool!) in the windows. I should take some pictures!!!! Ooooh neat idea.....one of these days!!


Oh yeah...the furnaces are installed and up and running. Woohoo! It will take a little figuring to get the thermostats set properly....it's been way too hot in the fellowship hall. Time to tinker I guess.


Tomorrow I am going shopping. I finished all my thursday work at church already and cleaned my potties at home today and am on the last load of laundry, tea towels for church. I'm so excited! I haven't felt this caught up in a long time. (Content sigh!)

Ray is in London with Craig at a concert, which Craig needs to attend and review for his music class. It's going to be a really good show....can't wait to hear how it was. Two friends from school went along, since they still needed to find a concert to attend and now have a ride. It's a classical music trio, piano, clarinet and bassoon, at a church in London, where the music director is debuting the new baby grand piano! He has played for Orchestra London, and his trio has played on CBC a number of times. They have a couple of cd's out too...and are giving this concert for free. I wish I was there....but Ray decided to pick Craig up at school after Reach For the Top, eat in London and just kill time at a nearby mall, and then go to the concert at 7:30.

So...Joe and I were home alone. We had left overs shepherd's pie for supper and only had to warm it up in the oven. Yeah! So....I shall go and make some lunches now and then Joe and I will watch a show....I think maybe Smallville is on. Even if it's a rerun....we haven't seen any of them.

Thanks...my sweet and faithful readers. It is special to be missed....you're funny Karen. Love you all so much!!!

I'm SUCH a Techie!!!

You can't unplug things and plug them back in just any old way..you know!! I have conquered the slow internet by installing the new modem that came yesterday, right after we got that phone call... "Yep, yer right...it is really slow..."

I should go and put some food on...Just wanted to say hi!

Sort of Like Monday....

...but not really. There was no cardmaking today and I had a coffee with a friend instead which was really nice. Change is good, but I missed my creative outlet....

Ray is home today too...a perk for civil servants...nice to get some things done around the house. Afterall there are now two canoes AND a car to house in the garage for the winter. We'll have to see how we work that out! It'll be fun to clean up and organize the garage in the meantime. I feel like before and after pictures are in order!!

I am at the library again while we continue to be plagued by monumentally slow internet access. We are in the process of having our system tested by the powers that be at Bell. We shall wait and see what comes out of that....probably a "Yep, you're right...that's really slow!" So...til then we wait.

Yesterday we visited the inlaws for birthdays and that was really nice. I asked someone to open for me for the afternoon service back at home so that I could slip out. People are always more than happy to facilitate this for our family. It was a nice time to be together. The boys always enjoy seeing their cousins and this week there was an extra one, as Ray's sister Cathy and her hubby have become foster parents. A cute little kid! But it makes you sad for what goes on in the world that we are so often insulated from in our circles.

Not much on the schedule this week. I think work will begin on the new furnaces at church...we have been having coffee in the fellowshiphall with our wintercoats on during Thursday mornings and last night at the service it was 16 degrees in there. Lovely! I guess there aren't too many people nodding off at that temperature.... (We had a really great service in Chatham too, the three churches there combine each evening and the place was full, and it was neat to see whole families with kids and teenagers present....) Good to worship together...

Meeting tonight, and then tomorrow is little lamb time and then there is some cleaning to do here and there and then it will be thursday and friday before you know it. I like the routine, and when it slows down i get some more things done around the house or at least keep up with things at a less demanding pace. So that's it for today.....hope you are all well....love ya!

Not Quite Home

Today I'm writing from terminal number five at the library. It's not quite the same as writing at home, most likely because there is no laundry running in the background. Yeah, that must be it. The whole family is sitting in a row beside me, so that's unusual too! My family is using half the terminals. There are even more computers here than at Randall's!!

Today I learned that my sisterinlaw's mom has passed away and I haven't gotten a hold of them to send my condolences yet. I shall try when I get home. ALso there is some carrot trouble on the wind...well actually it is on the ground...but it is never fun to hear "less-than-great-news". So we're all thinking of you guys and girls.

Thanks for your nice comments about my studio space.... It is a fun place to spend time in but I'm not in there ALL time. I do cook for my family and make lunches, and of course...do laundry! We don't run out of clean undies often, but socks...now that's another story and I think we must make a run to Walmart one of these days. (We got new undies when school started, I realize that borders on too much information for some of you people.)

Craig went to work with Ray today, as did many Grade nine students across the province, or is that nation? He decided that since he comes with me every Sunday, that he would go with Ray today, and he had the time of his life. Such fun....at the office of tax audit! He had to take an oath of secrecy, so i can just imagine what his report will look like. "Um...I'm not allowed to share that information." and still get an A+. Sweet.... Ray's boss had him look up some capital tax stuff that had to do with filling out the tax return for a Jedi knight. Craig had to look up the classifications of a Jedi's assets and how they would be taxed...that was kind of fun, and had Craig go through the process of what Ray does on a grand scale all day long. Paging through the tax act....all 2500 pages of it! I guess that wouldn't blow away on a windy day!

So there's not much going on except that we can't do much on the computer at home. We had it checked out and it is still slower than cold molasses, and you can't send emails, check facebook and you can hardly leave comments on anyone's blog....it's devastating. I've been doing some real reading though....amazing how much time you can spend here...But tonight only one little halfhour. (i'm reading a book by Charles Martin....wow, can that guy write!)

So if you feel like you are getting the silent treatment....it's not personal, it's technological.
Love you much, Tetcy

Just Call Me Marge....

So this is a long awaited picture of my studio space. We'll get to the Marge part in a minute. This is just where the pictures decided to upload. Some of you know that I share my space with Ray and it is actually part of the shop which is just off the laundry room. It is not terribly romantic but it is mine. I love the pegboard all around me because I have everything I need right at my finger tips. It also doesn't seem to be a place given to inspiration but most of that happens while I am working elsewhere I love it when an idea hits you or the Spirit nudges you in a certain direction and off you go. One year at Christmas time I had a table set up in the tv room and I spent a lot of time with my family that year!!! We would watch hockey "together" and everything.... Anyway...this is where I create. Sometimes I encroach on Ray's space, and when needed he overflows into mine....it works really well. I'll just describe it a bit. On the very near left here is my funky pink bag and it is what I use to bring my stamps to our cardmaking group on Mondays....it all just fits in there(look for it in the next picture). Next to that is a container with Ziploc bags containing my scraps of patterned paper. The bag with green scraps in on the front....one for each colour family: greens, blues, pinks, browns, and white and vanilla paper. The tall ladder looking thing is for my stamp pads. I found it at a yard sale and it was a stable for collectible ponies.... Then we have my wooden storage thingies from IKEA....for my fibres, punches, hammer, some sewing things, heavy charms, erc.... The little wooden shelf thingy on the table has bottles of flowers, hardware like hinges, and bottles of glitter, and ink refills, and one of my favourite things is a weekly pill organizer that I keep my brads in, one day for each colour. My adhesives hang beside there and under them are little packages of brads in miriads of colours. That lime green thing is sooooooo handy. It is lined with pockets both outside and inside and I keep my tools in there and my acrylic blocks, piercing pad, and mini- cutting mat. The big mat for my rotary cutter hangs on the wall, along with my 6"x12" quilting ruler which I use for everything!!! In front of me you see a shelf that has all my stamps on top of it. Underneath is a blue and red container that houses all my acrylic stamps, each set comes in a square plastic envelope. These have a self stick backing and you stick them to the clear acrylic blocks to use. There is a collection of relatively new scrapbook magazines laying flat....for inspiration. Beside this shelf is my blue binder full of alphabets....I don't think you can see it but it's there. I also store almost all my paper here in those 12 x 12 organizer sleeves. Way cool!! I got a set at that yardsale in the scrapbooking store for $8! SCOOP!!! Laying at my work square is some blue cardstock and off to the right side is a shop towel (Klaas would be proud!) that is soooo fabulous for cleaning stamps. I lay it on a margarine lid and pour some water from the bottle to wet it and clean the stamps.

And that's about it. This picture shows the shelf beside me and I keep my scrapbooks on this shelf. On the top shelf I keep a box of premade cards that I use when I don't have time to make a nice card...or want to copy an exsisting one. I have started scanning my finished ones and keeping them in a section in my alphabet binder. There's a container of envelopes and unboxed stamps beside there and some binders and catalogues laying horizontally.
Below that, the funky pink bag again....
And in front of the tall unit.....you can see the most recent addition...a half IKEA shelving unit...originally purchased for the laundry room and I got stuck with only two corner posts which I cut in half so that I had four and made this half unit out of it. Perfect for my paper cutter, and some storage boxes. I also use a number of fabrics in my cardmaking and scrapbooking and I keep those down there. With one sample hanging out from under the lid to differentiate between solid and sheer fabrics.... On the bottom shelf, below the pink bag are some quilt tops that I have made and need to finish....those wooden box looking things are antique drawers that I bought at a yardsale ones and need a few more steps to being refinished. The hardware on them was just exquisite. I still have it all...just needs to be finished. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a project like that. My favourite ugly yellow velour sweater is hanging over my stool and it keeps me warm and toasty. I decided that I didn't need to show Ray's side....so this is where I sit and now you know too. Ray laughed when I staightened it out before I took the picture.....funny thing is....he'd need to do the same if I was going to photograph his side. :):)

Now for the Marge part.....

When I read a blog, I always hear your voice reading it out loud in my mind....kind of like narrating. So if you do the same, just imagine me sounding like Marge Simpson. I know I signed off as Arnie in my last post. I am running the risk of being labelled as "high maintenance".

I have a head cold with much swelling and run off in the sinus area. Yes, Karen, I feel your pain! And I have laringitis....It's hard to sing while I am working these days and so I have taken to whistling. SO have a good laugh....I had a good snooze this afternoon after I got home from work. I put on my jammy pants, warmed up my hot bags, and curled up in bed with my book. After a half hour of that, I took of my glasses, tossed the book, and had a nice nap until Joey came home. You know one of those great naps...where you sleep about a half hour and feel like you slept the day away...so restful. Not one of those sleep for three hours and feel like you got run over by a truck. Because not all naps are were created equal.

I've been away for a spell. So much goes on around here. I just came off a three day painting job. We painted a 3 bedroom apartment from top to bottom. The tenants had done some painting of their own and to clean that up is not always easy. We had to switch the trim colour from navy to white... I'm particularly thankful for tinted primer. It saved us a lot of work!!! I painted with my friend Helina, and we had a ball. Our friend Carol, who we are working for ended up staffing the realtor's office and was kept away. So we played lots of tunes. I especially loved her roadtrip CD, made my her daughters out West for their trip out East. Of all the artists on that CD, Andrea Bocelli and Nana Moskourri??! were the best. Yes...Nana Moskourri!! How random is that! I remember that my folks had a record of hers!!!! Its just that she sings in spanish and the sound is so much like latin jazz...soooo....I'm really not weird...it's just cool music.

The wild and woolly weekend was way fun. I'm so glad I had that day off the other day!! We picked up our new canoe in Acton on Saturday afternoon after hockey and the bazaar. The weather was fine on the way there and the colours were still quite lovely eventhough many trees are bare already. No snow yet though! On the way home it became very windy, or maybe it had been windy all day and you just notice it more when there is a canoe bucking on top of your car! Just on the other side of Guelph it blew off the car and it is only because we have a centre strap that it actually stayed on the car. The fitted foam blocks are probably still blowing somewhere down the median. I know that everything seems more extreme at night....but cars and transports zooming by you 110kms per hour on the side of the 401 is soooooo much faster than when you are in the car going with the flow. Fortunately we had spare blocks in the trunk, just in case the one size fit the new canoe's gunwhales better than our regular ones. Good thing! So we managed to secure the boat back on the car and continued on our way. We stopped at the next service stop to check everything again and were able to make it all the way home. Yippee another adventure!! A family had rented the church for a supper so I went and cleaned there when I got home and Ray picked me up when he was done at hockey.

Which brings us to today. This post kind of covers two days...but since you end up only commenting on one I decided to just publish them as one continuous thought....

Work today was good. I was home at 11! I started at 7:45 since I was ready to rumble and got to walk Joe to the bus stop. I got to meet a mom whose kids also get on there. She starts work at 8:00 and lives out of town. Her little sweeties would have to get on the bus at 7:00!!!! So since she works just down the street she uses this stop...

So there you have it. The good old nutshell. Laundry is totally caught up. I know you were wondering....

Love ya!! It's good to be back!