WPSH - My Final Enteries

Thank you to Eileen at A Bracelet of Days for organizing & hosting the Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt. Eileen will have the link in for  everyone, tomorrow, April 1st.  A Bracelet of Days

In the end I did get all the finds for the list - some I really like, some I'm just OK with, but that's the point, it was fun, it was interesting, it was challenging, some things need a think outside the box so to speak - all the things a scavenger hunt should be, in my opinion.

This is my entries for the 2018/2019 Winter SPH

1. At the end of the day - a week ago the flooding across the farmer's field

2. Pool of light - a wax pool of light - my annual New Year's Eve burning of the previous year, in candle light

3. Fastener - during the winter all the fire hydrants are fastened with tall orange markers so the fire department can find in the snow drifts.

4. Nail - one of my fur girls with her nails out!

5. A group activity - the entire village comes out for the Christmas Farmer's Parade of Lights

6. Water dispenser - for those that cannot get to the store before it closes, a through the wall water dispenser.

7. Horse - a new Christmas ornament for the horse tree

8. Chocolate - Christmas treat

9. Peel/peeling - originally to enhance, stone stuck on plain cement steps, peeling/falling off & now very dangerous

10. Holly -fake as the only live holly bush in the neighbourhood is buried under 2 feet of snow

11. Dressed for the season - shrubs get dressed for season to protect the drying winter winds & salt spray from the roads

12. Glitter - Mr Man's Christmas card, I made for him

13. An instruction - this still annoys & makes me laugh at the same time - "shooting children" isn't the best translation

14. A crossing place - the crosswalk marks along with the "braille" crossing indications.

15. Flight - The stamp, paper & diecuts from a recent workshop entitled "take flight"

16. A measurement - a total of 7 tapes found in the junk drawer clean out

17. Orange - nothing more to be said

18. A natural feature - the river through our village

19. A carved object - A Nativity Set

20. A method of communication - how the community is notified of upcoming workshops & events "The Community Board" at the library

Alt A. A keyring  - it's a hologram cat face

Alt B. Show and tell - something you made -bookmarks with a set of new to me diecuts

And that is as they say, a wrap ...

Take Three Thursday - Rewarding Behaviour

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 1 - 3 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? 

See what others have noticed this week:
Melissa at Daily Life - Bits & Pieces
Karen at Random Reflections

This week what I've noticed is all the reward cards I seemed to have accumulated over the last few years. Of all the reward cards, there are only 3 I use regularly.

The optimum card is used when I shop for food at a particular brand of stores, it's also used at their drugstore.  The rewards are in dollars that you can redeem in full or partial.  I tend to save until Christmas & then use when I a shop for Christmas & New Year treats.  For every $100 spent, you earn $10 in rewards.

The second rewards card that I used this week is a brand new one for Tim Hortons.  They brought this out to compete with McDonald's reward card, which is one I use a lot of,  as Tim Hortons is quickly loosing market share.  You purchase 7 coffee/tea & get your 8th one free.  The McDonalds reward card is paper & you collect 7 stickers to get the 8th free.  This card gets turned in to collect your free drink, that's why I don't have one to show at the moment.

The third rewards card I used this week is for the fur girls food.  The rewards are harder to achieve.  For every 10 bags of a particular brand & size that I buy, I would get the 11th bag free.  The bag size lasts for about 2 months, so over the year I may just squeeze the 10 bags in, as I buy two types; Digestive & Oral, but thankfully the points carry over.

All of these cards reward me for buying & shopping as I normally do, nothing special, very few restrictions, so that I truly do feel rewarded for my brand & store loyalty.

What reward cards do you use?

Me On A Monday - March 25th

Good morning everyone - this is The Return to Work Edition of Me On A Monday.

  After much back & forth, I have been lured enticed convinced to a short term contract position as an Office Manager at a wellness clinic.   I did not want to commit to anything too long, until I see how this owner is.  I've worked with him before but on a limited basis. He's a no nonsense kind of person.  This is a new clinic so there's potential.

Spring did arrive & there has been some more melt & the remnants of winter can not leave fast enough for me.  Winter, here's your hat, what's your hurry?!!  Also, it's time to tap the sugar maple trees for maple syrup.

We are into the last days of the Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt.  I must say that this winter because of  weather extremes (OMG am I still moaning on about winter?) I did not get out to capture some of the photos I had in mind for the search.  No matter, I feel all in all OK with my finds.  Some harder to find, some easy but that's the fun of any photo scavenger search.  I've taken great "poetic license"  on some of my finds ... I'm sure I will be forgiven.

                                      This is my #6 Water Dispenser
Thank you again to Eileen for organizing.  Last link in is I believe scheduled for Sunday March 31st but be sure to check that out at Eileen's site, I've been known to get my dates wrong before:  A Bracelet of Days 
                                                          In the shopping cart this week were things Mr Man found & wanted for our fur kids. One is a toy, battery operated which Sooty seems to have the most fun with it. Smoke is yeah, so? ... it's a plastic cape that has a "tail" wiggle underneath, back & forth in varying patterns.

...the other item is a emery board scratching post to help with filing down their nails.  So far, in spite of cat nip applied, both girls have ignored.  We have been having the girls' nails done every 5 weeks by professionals that come into our home, but after each visit the fur girls are quite upset, hissing & spitting at each other.  Honestly it's like living with Edith & Mary Crawley!

Still the most favourite toy is a box ...

 
Reading several books at once, two I'm finishing up the last few chapters in:  An American Marriage; The List (another Louise Penny mystery).  I really enjoyed The List - it explained for me in very simple form, some of the struggles between anglophone & francophone in Canada, especially Quebec; At Home In Mitford, the first in a series.

Mr Man & I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.  I liked Jude Law as Dumbledore.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, free of any beasts that burden you.
 

Take Three Thursday - A Spring 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 1 - 3 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?  

When I woke Tuesday morning, it was to a snow storm!  I nearly wept with despair.  But Spring arrived yesterday in this part of the world.  Yeah!  Welcome! I'm SOOOO happy to see you! 

Taking a look back at three earlier Springs:

2016

2017

2018

You can see off to the right hand side of the photos, that the three cedar sisters are still wearing their winter wraps.  This year's wraps are in near tatters from the wind storms.  The little white pillars in all photos are my rose huts keeping those tender David Austin roses protected - the wraps & huts usually come off mid April.    When I look at the previous years photos, I feel very blessed that the view has not changed - Mr Man calls this our Million Dollar View - no subdivision building going on.
 

Spring 2019 - the photo is somewhat the same scene but a different angle.  The photo was taken from inside as it's still too icy, at this time. in the back garden to walk about for photos.

Me On A Monday - March 18th

 


Not a lot going on in this part of the world for me.  I think I'm still feeling a little over whelmed by the senseless terrorist attack in New Zealand last Friday.  I think it now makes all people  feel un-safe in their place of worship.  I have far too many feelings & not enough words to say anything more.

 
I finally finished reading "The Book of Forgiving" by Desmond Tutu & his daughter, Mpho Tutu.  It's the book our Bishop recommended for Lenten study.  I did not enjoy. It's just not a style of writing that I found engaging.  I personally found the book, "The Magic of Forgiveness" a better read & more inspiring.  A friend loaned me her copy of the book "The Shack" -  a novel about forgiveness.  It was made into a move, which is currently playing on the movie network. I'll get started on that later this week, both the reading of & watching of.

Nothing in the shopping cart this week of note, other than food.  I was quite taken back by the final total in this week's shop -WOW there has been a sharp increase in food prices, especially fresh veg & fruit.  My friend with two young hollowed legged boys (14 & 16) says she might have to do a schedule where they eat every other day because of the rising costs of food.  I am spending much more time price matching with the flyers we get every Thursday night in the paper.  I pick two of all the different grocery stores because driving around to get the best deal or to save a few cents on some items is defeated by the cost of gas. So I pick just two & usually it's the same two; Zehrs & No Frills.  

I am looking forward to celebrating the arrival of Spring this Wednesday (5:58pm).  Last week we had temperatures above 0 for several days which resulted in a lot of ice & snow melt, but then quite suddenly on Friday the temperatures dropped & again everything is covered in a thick layer of ice.  Makes walking very dangerous.

 I hope that everyone has a very good week,with something to look forward to that will spark joy & a sense of love ...
 

Wind Up To Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt

A reminder that we are in the last few weeks of finding things for the Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt, December 1st - March 31st.  In case you missed it I've included the list below.  Find one, find all, we hope you join in.

Eileen, our talented creator of this list,  has the initial post & link ups here:  Bracelet of Day: WPSH

2018/2019 Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt List

1. At the end of the day
2. Pool of light
3. Fastener
4. Nail
5. A group activity
6. Water dispenser
7. Horse
8. Chocolate
9. Peel/peeling
10. Holly
11. Dressed for the season
12. Glitter
13. An instruction
14. A crossing place
15. Flight
16. A measurement
17. Orange
18. A natural feature
19. A carved object
20. A method of communication

If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute one or both of the subjects below.

Alt A. A keyring  
Alt B. Show and tell - something you made 

Take Three Thursday - Lucky Green

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 1 - 3 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? 

See what others have noticed this week:
Melissa at Daily Life - Bits & Pieces
 

On an errand into town I noticed that several businesses in a little section of an outdoor mall, were decked out for St Patrick's Day (Saturday). As far as I know there's no Irish blood in my immediate birth family, but still all the fun activities planned for Saturday include everyone - so I guess we all become Irish on March 17th.  

These St Patrick's Day decorations were stuffed in what's left of Christmas decorations!

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time—a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."

“You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.” 

"May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night."

Me On A Monday - March 11th

Greetings & Good Morning All.



My New Motto: "my body is a temple, ancient, crumbing & probably haunted"  Since that bout of inflammation of the piriformis muscle,  I don't think I've ever ached so much.

Source: Internet

Learning:  when I'm on my own computer in the crafting area, one of my cats likes to sit on my lap.  She has a habit of putting her paws on the keys & if I'm not careful, she'll change things for me.  Her favourite is to change the keyboard language.  Sometimes mid type, I'm keying in a foreign language (usually French).  Smoke recently had two paws on the keyboard & changed the font size.  It took me several Google searches to find (1) what happened (2) the fix because it was not the usual return to font size.  She thinks this is funny.

Miss Innocent Sleeps The Sleep Of The Cat

In The Shopping Cart:  Mr Man had to for business go to the city where my favourite scrapping store is & so I went along.  I lucked out because they were having a stamp & die cut garage sale.  I scored big time.  I bought a Stampin Up stamp set that has never been used, from the 2017 Christmas catalogue at $24.00; I picked up for $3.00!  I also picked up a couple of other word stamp sets for $1.00 each.  

Watching:  I saw two movies at home on the "movie on demand" channel we have available.  I saw Mary Queen of Scots with Saoirse Ronan  & I saw The Favourite.  I did not enjoy either & I really felt like it was time I'll never get back. 

Soruce: Internet

Reading:  I've just started to read  Dear Leader.  It's the second book that Lady Ella has reviewed on citizens of North Korea escaping.  The first was The Girl With Seven Names.  I am finding  Dear Leader  an easier read as it flows a little better.  The seven named girl was a bit stiff & for me had some gaps.  Still I think it's a good way to keep our selves informed about our world at large & what people live through.

I leave you with a photo of the back garden as it was Sunday afternoon, after the freezing rain/rain,  before a snow storm, arriving Monday.

"OK Mother Nature, now it's not winter, now it's just harassment!"