Me On A Monday - February 26th

Happy Monday - Make Monday the day of your triumph, stay brave, strong, and reach success! 

Last week this part of Ontario had flash flooding & since the ground is still quite frozen there was no way the earth, soil, could absorb.  Plus the milder weather allowed partial melting of the ice in the rivers to break up & all the rain created fast moving water - combine the two & it spells disaster.  Many bridges were damaged & roads closed as the ice (thick as 1-2 feet in some spots) jammed up against the bridge tresses or over flowed on to the roads.  Luckily we are on higher ground from the river that runs through our little village, although there was some flooding on the road.

Taken In The Conservation Park

Currently I am:

Thankful For: The help of another customer at my favourite scrapping store.  I asked about an "embossing buddy" & the lady behind the counter had no idea, but the lovely other customer lady walked up to me & said she was sorry for eavesdropping but she thinks she knew what I'm looking for & handed me an embossing buddy.  This kind lady & I had quite a chat about stamping, she's been a stamper for about 15 years.  She gave me lots of helpful & useful information about stamping.  She told me that for heat embossing you really did need a heat gun, a hair dryer would not get hot enough quick enough.  

An embossing buddy is a little sack of anti static material that you brush/rub over the area you will be stamping & heat embossing, it prevents the embossing powder from sticking to anything other than the ink of your stamp.

Embossing Heat Gun

Learning:  I am venturing on my own at home, to heat embossing.  I had a 55% off coupon & I was able to use to purchase a heat embossing gun.  Rather than purchase way too many embossing powder colours, I have bought clear & that way my ink colour will stand out.  I have watched several of Jennifer McGuire's uTube videos on heat embossing.  It's a difficult thing to practice with two very helpful cats wanting to be part of the process.

Reading:  The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.  It's an easy read.  The author, Margareta Magnusson,  certainly does not seemed too pleased that some of her grandchildren don't write thank you notes.  

I have only 1 book left on my Winter Reading List to get through, This Was A Man by Jeffry Archer, I think I am 2nd on the wait list.  So far my favourite read from the Winter List has been The Keeper of Lost Things.  I am putting together a Spring Reading List.  

Making:  I have made about 4 cards for some upcoming birthdays in the next month.  I am a slow punching, stamping creator but definitely having some fun with the creative outlet.  I continue to attend the monthly card making workshops hosted by a Stampin Up demonstrator but we make the cards she pre-assembles for us, so not always birthday cards. 

Watching:  More of the Winter Olympic ice skating.  I always get quite tearful when watching these athletes compete - they all train so much for these few minutes, their lives are so focused & to know you can do a particular jump or movement but fail at the Olympic moment, so heart breaking for them. 

Source: Internet - Canada's Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir; Gold Ice Dance

Pondering:  As February wraps up I am giving some Focus (OWL) to my last thoughts on my Angel Card of the month; Release & Surrender.  This card has built on January's card which had me Focusing on Friendships/Relationships.  Releasing the one friendship that could not be saved, Surrendering to the verse "to everything there is a season ..."

Looking Forward:   March's Angel Card is about courage. 

Trying:  After watching 3-4 episodes of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals, I am trying his suggestion of boiling the mini potatoes with cloves of unpeeled garlic, which you peel after the boil, the squish both the potatoes & garlic & then roast ... I'll let you know how it turns out.  

Disappointed (some what):  I am not a good candidate for hypnosis.  Apparently I did not relax enough & I was reluctant to give up the control ... I'll say no more about that!

Source: Internet

"Be brave enough to live life creatively"  Alan Alda

Take Three Thursday - A Throw Back

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in. What have you noticed this week?  

Have a look at what others have noticed this week:    
Maggie at Farmers Wife Day by Day
Ruth At This West London Life 
Karen at Random Reflections 
Melissa at Daily Life-Bits & Pieces 

This Thursday I noticed as I was digging through some old photo files from the days of Helena's Pairs.   These are three of my favourite fences.

Me on A Monday - February 19th

Good Morning.  Hope everyone is doing well.  It's a holiday Monday here in Ontario, Alberta & Saskatchewan & New Brunswick - Family Day.  Last Monday it was Family Day in BC.  You would think that all of Canada would celebrate the day together.

Currently I Am:

Reading:  just finished The New Mrs Clifton.  I did not like the characters, I would not invite any of them for tea.

Watching:  a bonded pair of coyotes that live in the wood lot on the edge of the farmer's field up the hill from us.  In the last two previous springs, this pair have raised 2-3 pups each year.  Their early, 4am, morning calling is quite wild & spine tingling.  I must say they look like a very healthy pair.  Sometimes, as was this day, they are bold enough to be about in the late morning.  Lucky us.

Doing:  we had a friend for dinner, he's Mr Man's friend since kindergarten which ties to,

Making:  I made the men a meatloaf, with mashed potatoes, gravy & for all of us roasted carrots, brussel sprouts, parsnips, & broccoli. I had a soy product for my protein item.  I made my traditional Christmas trifle which I did not make this Christmas because it was too much sweet treats to have.  Thankfully there is left overs of everything.  I should have taken photos as I made everything up for the WPSH; in the making.

Listening To:  spa music at bedtime as a method of relaxing before sleep along with deep"belly" breathing  There's no sounds of water on this CD, which I do enjoy when I am awake but at bed time it makes me want to/need to get up - I'll say no more ...

Gifting:  Mr Man bought me this wrap shawl & scarf. 

Planning:  for an adventure to break the winter doldrums.

"Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you.  Live today with gusto."  Dale Carnegie

Take Three Thursday - Snow Hats

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in. What have you noticed this week?  

Have a look at what others have noticed this week:  
Karen at Random Reflections 
Maggie at Farmers Wife Day by Day

My three this Thursday are what looks like hats - it's how the snow & ice fall & stay on top of items in the garden.  Just add a feather or pom pom & it's a classic winter hat.

A Day Of Love

Happy Valentine's Day

I want to believe: "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage" ... Lao Tzu

I made this card at the Stampin Up workshop last Sunday.  It was made with a die cut, ink blotting, glitter, stamping & love.  In a time where there seems to be so much anger, I like that the world pauses to celebrate love, it gives me the hope that faith in love wins.


And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13

Me On A Monday - February 12th

Greetings to all & a big wave hello.  Thank you for all the well wishes.

Wellness, it's my latest Focus along with my Angel card of Release & Surrender. This mutant cold has really taken a lot out of me & I cannot believe I have not shaken it as yet.  I did go to work last week but each shift took a lot out of me & I was in bed each night by 8:00pm.

There has been a lot of these used;

I have drank a lot of this:

On February 2nd our local groundhog, Wiarton Willie predicted 6 more weeks of winter!  Mr Man has used these quite a lot since February 2nd:

our snow blower

 

one of our snow shovels

We have seen this vehicle a lot over the last 10 days.  The snow plow photo is also for the WPSH - Men At Work:

I am preparing for Lent with the kick off on Tuesday of pancakes for dinner.  I can only imagine for many the dilemeia of giving up chocolate for Lent, but what to do with Valentine's chocolate?

The only way to treat the common cold is with contempt ... William Osler


 ... and the Four Horsemen of the Common Cold are a persistent running nose, a cough that tickles endlessly, chills that cannot warm & eyes that water without tears! ... M-L.


 

Take Three Thursday - Snow Prints

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in. What have you noticed this week?  

Have a look at what others have noticed this week: Karen at Random Reflections 
Maggie at Farmers Wife Day by Day

I am still recovering from my malady, so I haven't had a lot of wandering about outside.  But what I have noticed this week on my few jaunts to the mail box & back are prints made in snow.  There has been a lot of freshly fallen snow in the last week, & today as I write this post, we are having another day of snow fall - an all day event making the morning & evening compute difficult for those driving.  Thankfully I don't have to drive in it & this week Mr Man is working from home.  So nothing but admiration for the beauty of the snow, this week!

Birds

Dog

Mine

 

I'm Phoning In Sick

I am fighting since last Wednesday what can only be described as a really bad cold, a case of flu  the plague!  I hope to be back soon.

Source: Internet