A Funny For Friday

Yesterday when I arrived home, I decided I couldn't stand it anymore! When I opened the kennel door and the little stinker emerged, I thought I would pass out from the toxic fumes that found their way to my nose. The smell that wafted from the inside of the small dark cavern was nothing short of putrid. Brie basically smelled like sweaty feet or stinky cheese, whichever appeals to you more :o(

For those of you who are new, Brie is my ten pound miniature Dachshund. Yes, only ten pounds of dog really CAN produce this much stench! LOL! Needless to say, when DH got home, it was bath time for the princess.

While I was working at the computer, DH was right across the hall in the bathroom bathing our little girl. All of a sudden I hear, "She stinks so bad that even the shampoo won't lather!" I thought hmmmm....maybe it was because her coat had become too greasy so I let it go. A few minutes later he yells, "The shampoo is STILL not lathering!" At this point I thought I had better go and investigate.

When I walked into the bathroom, DH finally clued in to his problem. In his haste, he had grabbed 'his' bottle of HAIR GEL! Well no wonder it wasn't lathering! From the looks of the bottle, he had used about half of it too. ROFL! Needless to say, Brie smelled 'really' good and had a nice hairdo to boot ;o)

In The Pink

There's only one word that can sum it up and that would be...SUCCESS!!!! Yes, the Pink Party was a HUGE success :o) I was so worried that it would not live up to my expectations. But I would have to say that the party not only met those expectations but it also surpassed them!

After the invitations went out -

there ended up being fourteen guests plus myself. By the time everyone arrived, the house was all decorated and the events were ready to go. DH surprised me by bringing home three bouquets of pink flowers; lilies, tulips and my all time favourite alstroemerias -

The 'sweet buffet' was ready to go and I'm sure mouths were watering when they all spied it -

Mom helped a great deal and made both pink ribbon cakes. One was chocolate with dark frosting and the other was cherry chip with a lighter frosting -

My ribbon cookie cutter arrived at the last minute and Faith Ann saved the day and got all the cookies done -

I also used her recipe for the strawberry lemonade that she fashioned from our Ruby Tuesday's drink that we had on our Bangor, Maine trip last year :o)

As if we didn't have enough already, A arrived with another plate full of cookies -

Would you believe it if I said there were only three ingredients? I bet you can't guess what they are ;o)

I'm sorry I can't push this food through the monitor so you'll have to trust me when I say it was goooooood! LOL!

For the afternoon, I had three games planned. One was a Breast Cancer Trivia game that the Canadian Cancer Society provided in the pink party kit. There were some questions that even I didn't know the answer to! I designed a Pink Party Word Scramble for the second game but the third one was my favourite -

This game is loosely based on the Dove Game (you can find it on their site) but I customized it for the party :o) Each person had to take a card, read the question and then answer it. Sounds easy doesn't it? Not for some. LOL! Poor Faith Ann got the hardest one of all but I have to say that I'm proud of her lewd construction worker imitation ;o) The winners from each game walked away with a prize.

Apparently I did not have the control over the party like I thought I did because at one point I was ambushed with gifts! This was definitely 'not' expected! My first surprise was from Faith Ann and Katie. They handed over this lovely basket filled with tissue paper roses and some yummy looking cross stitch fabric. Upon opening one of the dozen roses, this is what I found inside -

ROFL! I think they are secretly trying to sabotage me ;o) Watch out Karen because I've got enough eggs to last awhile now!

The second surprise was from Shannon. She had secretly mailed her gifts to Faith Ann's house. In the first package I unwrapped this is what I found -

I absolutely LOVE it! Shannon does lovely finishing work. When she combined that with a bunny, she managed to make the perfect gift :o) My dear friend didn't stop there though...

Yes, that's right, I know Shannon's getting a good laugh out of this picture right now ;o) Well...I got back at her though...through Flat Shannon -

GOTCHA!

My third surprise came from my own mother. I knew Mom had been working on this quilt but I never thought she would have it done by the party and I NEVER expected that she would give it over to me -

I can't even begin to tell you how gorgeous this is! The colors are so beautiful together and Mom even stitched a ribbon in each of the snowballs -

Here is a picture of all my goodies -

I have some very dear and thoughtful friends :o) But...they didn't go away empty handed though! I put together a goodie bag for each guest, although one item was one day late arriving :o( To anyone that was at the party and reading my Blog, you can see what you were missing and it will be on its way to you soon -

A few weeks ago I asked my MIL to find an autograph mat for me and she didn't disappoint :o) While I had everyone in one spot, I got them to leave a little message for me. When I get it framed, I'll be inserting our group picture -

This is the lovely group shot that I got -

Sorry ladies but there were no arguments about it being published ;o)

I've had nothing but great feedback from the party. It was designed to be fun, full of laughter but at the same time it was used as a learning tool. Would I do it again? Definitely! Would I recommend that other breast cancer survivors try it? Yes, but only if you're prepared.

The reason I say this is because, to me, it's a process. I know I have not been around to post but I've needed the time to think. This was a big step for me and one that didn't come about lightly. It's like closing a chapter of my life and starting a brand new one. I'm still not sure just how I feel about it yet but I'm slowly coming back around. I'm WAY behind on Blogs and emails so please be patient and forgive me if I don't leave comments this week. I'm definitely reading though :o)

I want to thank all my friends and family for their participation, thoughtfulness and support. You guys are THE BEST!

Christmas In February?

Maybe not but that's what it felt like the other night! On Tuesday I headed in to town to do some errands and I picked up the mail before I left. There was a parcel notice in the mailbox but it said I couldn't pick the parcel up until after 5 pm. Drat! While I was in town, I met up with DH and gave him the notice so that he could pick up the parcel on his way home from work. Good thing I did because when he walked in the door with this HUGE box, I almost fell over ;o)

When I saw the box, I immediately knew who it was from...my friend J :o) J lives in British Columbia and we've been friends for...well...I'd say at least ten years. We met through our love of model horses. Anything horses really. LOL! J's like my model horse dealer because she's the only one that will fuel my addiction and this was definitely one of those times!

As you can see, there was 'a lot' in that box -

The model horses I'm talking about are called Breyers. I've been collecting them since I got my first model back in 1986. At one time I probably had close to 500 but over the last few years, I've sold a lot of them off. I just didn't have the room for them anymore! LOL! But once in awhile, J brings out the kid in me ;o) All the red boxes you see are Christmas ornaments made by Breyer and I'd say I have enough to decorate a six foot tree. Someday, DH and I are going to have to get a bigger house so we can have multiple trees.

Anyway, THANK YOU J and I'll be firing an email off to you soon :o)

Yesterday I went to the specialist for the abscess on my tooth. When I left in the morning, it was swollen but the pain was gone. By the afternoon, the swelling was down to about 1/4 of what it was but it was 'bright' red with a white dot. Hmmmm. Dr. B was wonderful and very informative. I brought my x-rays from my dentist and they did another set there. Well...come to find out that there was this little white spot on the x-ray and between the two pictures of the same area, it had moved. Huh? It turns out it was a piece of cement from the root canal and it was floating around, trying to make its way out. That may be the white dot I am seeing.

Since I've been back on the antibiotics, the swelling and the pain are doing much better but we're not sure if this will be a reoccurring problem :oS Dr. B gave me four choices. One, to wait a month and see if it heals (my immune system is not the best). Two, he could go back through the root canal and try to see if there were any ends off the root that didn't get killed off. Three, he could go in through my gum and that would mean surgery. And four, he could take the tooth out. Well as you can see, since I am quite the chicken shit, I chose option one ;o)

Tomorrow afternoon is the Pink Party and I'm starting to panic, hoping that I will have everything ready. My enthusiasm is coming back so I hope it goes as well as I picture in my mind. I hope I'm not expecting too much. The house is in order except the dishes in the kitchen but that won't take too long tomorrow morning. One thing I am disappointed in is that one item did not arrive for the goodie bags :o( I guess I'll just have to give those out later on. When I recoup, I promise to post a summary and lots of pictures :o)

Rural Renos - Stage Two

I have to say that I was a 'very' bad girl this past Friday... Let's just say that the living room has been 'rearranged' and finally been put back together ;o) Was it worth it? Most definitely! But if you asked that same question to my body, it would be screaming..."Let me die! Let me die!"

When we bought this house, it was almost head to toe FULL of wallpaper and borders! The living room was the most striking with 'vinyl' wallpaper -

Do you see the darker brown towards the top of the ceiling in the picture below -

No, that is NOT paint. It's the layer of glue that was left behind when we peeled that wallpaper off the walls! It was like the walls had sprouted fuzzy hair all over. LOL!

Once our transformations were complete, the living room looked like this -

Very basic but at least it was looking much better ;o) Over the years, some color has been added and we've also put our own touches in the room.

So, as we did in the extra bedroom, we laid down the Autumn Oak laminate flooring to replace the carpet. Again, one of 'the' best decisions we have made lately! Let me take you on a tour :o) This is where you enter the living room from the kitchen -

That's our front door and we added the two rugs.

As you pan right you see -

That's my Angel of Grace on the wall :o)

If you continue going right you'll come to DH's chair and Brie's bed -

Yes, those are stairs going up to it ;o) What would a princess be without a set of steps up to her bed? LOL!

Another right turn shows the wall with the television -

On the other side of this wall is our garage.

Turn right again and our couch, my stitching space, comes into view -

DH and I just bought the area rug you see. I love the colors but it doesn't go with our present couch. Hopefully at some point, this will be fixed. Both of them together are a little too busy for my taste ;o) On the other side of the half wall is the kitchen. DH really hates the wooden spindles and they will be taken down at some point.

Finally, you come back to the living room entrance -

That's my Quiltmaker hanging on that wall :o)

It's still not exactly like the image we have in our heads but it will do for now. As they say, it's a work in progress and we're doing the best with what we have :o)

Next up will be our bedroom but DH has promised not to start that until after the party. Our new bed is being delivered tomorrow and there will be some interesting changes take place ;o)

Fob Bobs

I think I'm hooked! This might not be a good thing either ;o) LOL! A day after I created my breast cancer fob, I bobbed into my bead supplies and I made another one -

This time I used silver and clear beads with an angel charm. My only problem is, I have very few charms right now and no close resource for more :o( I might have to do my best to convince DH to go for a day trip...

Yesterday, DH and I took Brie and we went out to the lake to see my parents. It was my mom's birthday. I won't say how old she is because I know she reads my Blog ;o) We had a nice visit and Brie got some Grammy and Grampy time.

My abscess has gotten worse and I'm counting down the days until Thursday when I get to see the specialist. I gave my dentist a week to get the referral over to the specialist before I called to see about getting an appointment. Only I came to find out that my referral was not there and I believe it was never even sent. I was NOT happy! Grrrr! Needless to say, my dentist faxed the referral right over and I was able to get an appointment for this Thursday, late afternoon. Just to get in and 'see' the specialist will cost $140! Oye! I really hope our dental insurance will cover this. As much as I want this fixed, I'm quite nervous to find out how it will be done. Remember, dentist are NOT my favourite people :o(

Our local paper, The Daily Gleaner, published my Ahhhhh.....Nuts? post in The Letters To The Editor section but they butchered it :o( I knew they were going to have to edit it because it was too long but they took the most important parts out and I'm quite perturbed. So much for freedom of speech and being able to voice your opinions >:o(

Lights Out!

That's what happened Wednesday night shortly after 9 pm :o( Can you guess how many hours our power was out????

A storm moved in on Wednesday morning, starting with snow. Around lunch time, the ice pellets started coming down and then by supper time it was pouring rain. As evening drew near, the colder it became and therefore the freezing rain started :o( I didn't think much of it and even when we looked out the windows, there wasn't any heavy ice forming on the trees or power lines.

Shortly before 9 pm, the power started going on and off, about four times. On the fifth time, it stayed off. Luckily I have a laptop so my battery automatically kicked in :o) DH yelled from the bedroom that I shouldn't use up all my battery power just in case this was a long lasting power outage. Good thing I listened to him ;o)

During the night, I kept rolling over and looking at the clock to see if the power had come back on but there was just blackness looking back at me. Around 4 am, Brie came tip toeing down the hall to our bedroom so we put her in the bed with us. Needless to say, DH and I didn't get much sleep from that point on. LOL!

Yesterday morning, we hit the twelve hour mark at 9 am and still no power. No phone either! I was dressed in layers of two so I could keep warm ;o) The only source of heat that we have in the house is electric so we were starting to worry that if this went on for another twelve hours, we might have to drain the pipes, pack up the furry kids and head somewhere warm. Having candles everywhere can only do so much ;o)

It's amazing how much we do rely on power and how we think of it as a normal every day thing. I can't tell you how many times I went into a room and automatically went for the light switch ;o) You're pretty limited with things you can do as well. Since I had no television, radio, stove, microwave, or water, I decided to use the time to be creative! I dug out my beading supplies and this is what I came up with -

This is my first attempt at a fob and I'm really happy with it. It's actually going to be a gift for someone. A long overdue thank you :oS

When the phone rang I nearly jumped out of my skin but at least I knew the phone lines were back up! LOL! At 10 am, I finally gave in and called the power company. They said their estimated time for our area would be around noon time. I watched power truck after power truck going by. The word was there were around 10,000 customers without power.

Around 12:10 pm, the furnace kicked on so I knew our power was back up and running. Woohoo! So in total, it was fifteen hours. We consider ourselves lucky though because there were some that weren't going to get it back until midnight! Yikes! Needless to say, I was never so happy to flush a toilet. LOL!

I will leave you with a picture I took last week of some ice coming out of the down spout from the eaves trough -

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rural Renos - Stage One

As promised, I have some pictures of the renovations we did in the extra bedroom :o) Unfortunately I don't have a good before picture but let me tell you this, it was one of the 'few' decent rooms in the house when we bought it! Originally the walls were a neutral color and the carpet was blue. It also had two closets. In the first picture below, that door is where you walk into the room and now the walls are a pale yellow. Behind the blue Tickle Trunk, was where the extra closet used to be -

A number of years ago, DH took that closet out and used it to expand my computer/craft room area :o) If you remember those pictures, it's an alcove that now holds all my storage bins and my shelves full of horses, much to DH's chagrin. LOL!

The next picture pans over a bit to show the remaining closet (the door still needs to be put back on) and my super duper organizational skills ;o) Just to the right of the closet is one of two windows in the room -

This is the farthest corner of the room and you can see one of my prized Bev Doolittle prints and a horse painting that my Gram had done for me :o) Sorry there is no bed -

Finally, we zip around to the right side of the room where the second window sits. This used to be an octagon window :oP We have one dresser and DH's desk with his computer. You can also see my cabinet 'full' of miniature horses -

I also wanted to show you a picture of the laminate flooring -

The color is a 'bit' washed out but hopefully you can get the idea from the room pictures. It's called Autumn Oak and it goes really well with some of our furniture and the wood accents in the house.

So there you go! That's Stage One of our renovations. When we get the living room back to rights, I'll take you through that one and believe me, this was a HUGE transformation from when we first moved in ;o)

She's A Mutant!

Alright, nobody told me that Stargazer had tentacles! Right now she looks like an octopus -

LOL! Yes, I finally got in some more stitching time :o) This is my progress as of last night. I'm quite pleased with the amount that I did get done. As much as I would like to have a finish already, I have been very faithful to her. Nothing has strayed me so far. Nothing from Nashville, that's for sure. Whew! No wait! Okay, I just lied :oS DH is buying me The Garden Chair by The Cat's Whiskers -

But I won't be starting it right away. As you can see, that 'is' in writing ;o)

I've been working hard on the Pink Party and things are coming together quite nicely :o) Of course it looks like someone barfed up pink all over my craft room. LOL! The goodie bags are filling up, the menu has been decided upon and I've gotten some decorations. Now to find someone with some hot air to blow up the balloons...I wonder if DH will be around ;o) I will post lots of pictures for you to see but it will have to wait until after the party. There are a few that read my Blog that are coming and I don't want to unveil any surprises... Drat! That reminds me, I never got a picture of the invitations that I made.

Now I shouldn't tease DH too much because the poor man has been working hard. He was away all week and between last weekend and this past one, he was able to put in the laminate flooring in the living room :o) It's going to look great for the party! I know there are some of you anxiously waiting for pictures of our renovations and I will be posting those of the extra bedroom later this week so keep your eyes peeled ;o)

Since my appointment was cancelled today because of the snow, I'm going to sit back with a good movie and stitch some more on Stargazer. Stay warm everyone!

You Make My Day Too :o)

To my astonishing surprise, Iris AND Jennifer have given me the You Make My Day Award!


I can't tell you how much this means to me :o) Over the past year and a half my writing has evolved and gone in a much different direction than I expected. Because of this, it has become another creative outlet for me and this provides some of the peace in my life.

It means a lot to me when I hear that people enjoy reading my Blog and trust me, I read each and every comment that is left for me :o) I know I have posted some pretty crazy things but it's just humour and mostly for my sanity. To me, laughter is the best medicine one can have.

I know the rules state that I have to give this award to ten more people but honestly, I don't think I can narrow it down. I read approximately 40 Blogs and each is enjoyed for a very different reason.

So to those Blogs that I 'haunt' on a regular basis (or try to), I want to let you know that you make my day too, whether you know it or not :o)