To a caring and loving home!!

Yes, my friends, the curio cabinet (from "The Queen's Cupboard") has arrived, yesterday to be exact, but I had a few things to do to it before I could write about it.  You remember what it looked like in the store (check out previous posts).  This is what it looked like when it found it's new, loving home.............................

And this is what it is looking like now that I have started to fuss around with it.  Doesn't mean that I will leave it like this but I had to rustle up a few things to make it feel welcome.................

For some reason it has taken on a bird theme and, notice the cloches?   Yes, they each have a birdie inside them also.

I finally decided to paint a mirror that I have had for over 30 years.  It has followed us all around to every new home we have lived in and this is how I repay it for all it's loyal service, but I LOVE it, I'm just surprised that I haven't done it before now.........................

Here is some artwork I have just framed.  I took cheap Dollar Store frames and painted them cream and gave them an aged look.  I think they make the prints look so sharp.  The first four are my son's paintings and the last one is my dear friend Laurie's (from:  http://laurie-whentheboughbreaks.blogspot.com/  ). I'm not that good at taking photos and can't seem to get them completely straight, but you'll get the idea.  At least when they are up on the wall they will be straight, LOL

Well, that's about it for now - just had to let you all see the beautiful curio cabinet.  After it had arrived I had to do a little work on it.  Unfortunately the door wouldn't close, probably because the dampness of the paint made the old wood swell, so this afternoon I spent about 3 hours sanding the top and bottom of the door and now it closes like a dream.

Finishing off with a new photo of my darling grandson that my son sent me today, can't wait to see him and my new little grand-daughter (when she arrives - just two more months for the latter) .............................

Have a great weekend.  Talk to you again soon.  Oh, and I cancelled my Etsy Account.  It wasn't doing anything for me and I decided not to put more money into it.  I think there is a knack to it, but it escapes me.  So, it will be the Craft Shows again this year.

All's well that ends well.

Well, this is going to be my most recent acquisition.  I can't wait for it to be refinished.

Still at the store

Pat, owner of "The Queen's Cupboard" has been encouraging me to buy this and of course I said if the price was right and if it were painted cream (LOL), I would consider it.   Obviously it wasn't difficult for Pat to agree to my terms so now I am waiting for it to be painted and delivered.  I had to move a few things around to accommodate it but I'm pretty sure it will fit in with all the other lovely pieces I have purchased from her.  Normally I would paint it myself but living in an apartment and it now being winter, doesn't lend itself to painting on such a large scale.  Also, Pat will do a better job than I in taping around the glass.


I'm typing this in WordPerfect at the moment because my internet is down and has been for over 24 hours.  I am not happy, in fact I am a little lost without being able to keep in contact with all my lovely friends.  When I got up yesterday my internet and phone were both out, then later in the afternoon the phone came back on so I thought, yippee, everything is back to normal, but no, the internet wasn't back on and a little while after that the phone service went AWOL again.  Later in the evening the phone came back on yet again, but still no internet and of course without a phone or internet how can you inform your Internet Provider of the problem.  Laurie (down the hall) did send off an e-mail on my behalf but it being the weekend, did they even see it yet?  Anyway, I now have a call in to my IP and the waiting time is upward of 2 hours to get a reply.


My son, Gareth and his sweet lady, Chelsie took me to the movies this afternoon.  We went to see the new Tom Hanks movie (mmmmmmm, he gets better as he gets older), "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close".  It was okay but not having researched it, didn't realize that it was about a young lad's search for answers for what happened on that most terrible day.  I thought it had more to do with the event.

"Oskar is convinced that his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can't beobserved, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father's closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him"  It was enjoyable.

This is a photograph of one of my son Dave's most recent pieces of art.  I love it - it fits in perfectly with my decor.

I acquired a few more bits and pieces to add to my Parisian theme.  I can always count on Pat for having something different with which to tempt me.

Bought some new coasters for myself and my son Gareth and Chelsie, his lady.  They were on sale and I didn't realize until I got them home how they also fit in with the rest of my junk treasures.

I've seen many postings of cloches and wasn't really aware of what they were or were used for.  The new kitchen store in the mall had some in their after Christmas sale and I thought it would be cute to own a couple, or three.  At present I'm kind of experimenting with them to find out how best to use them and at the moment I have little birds sitting inside them, poor little things, looks like they are imprisoned in Alcatraz!!

So all my dear blogging friends, what else can I use these for? They would hold about three normal sized cupcakes, so they are not very large, but the etched designs on them are so pretty.

I'm back on the Internet, oh how I missed it, but all is well - I think the problem was caused by the router for my wireless internet which could have been caused when the power went out in our apartment building recently, just for a minute, but perhaps enough to dislodge the connection?  I don't know because I know nothing of the weird and wonderful workings of computers.

Talk to you again soon, in the meantime, here is another adorable photo of my darling grandson.

Just over a week until Christmas

Last evening, my friend Laurie, a wonderful artist,  who lives down the hall from me, (from http://laurie-whentheboughbreaks.blogspot.com/), and I sneaked downstairs (I say sneaked, because I was in my housecoat and didn't want anyone to see me) to take some photographs of the Lobby which had been decorated so prettily by the supers of our building, mostly by Ruth, her hubby Ron did the heavy work.  Every year they go out of their way to make the entranceway so cheerful for us and our visitors, but then they are very dedicated and work very hard all year round so it's not surprising that they put a little extra effort in at Christmas time.  Thought you might like to see how welcoming our apartment building is....................

Yesterday I went for lunch with a new friend, Dawn.  Very nice and most interesting lady.  We ate at a reasonably new restaurant called "Embers" and I must say, the lunch was delightful.

Talking about friends, another lovely lady I know, Gloria, who lives in my apartment building, offered to make some cookies for me.  I have given up doing anything finicky like that because of my arthritic fingers (my excuse, LOL) so she whipped me up a batch, love her heart.  Thanks so much dear friend.  They really are good.  There are called "The Breakfast Club Cookie" (my darling daughter-in-law gave me the recipe when I was visiting this summer, and she's a good little baker) and here's the recipe just in case you want to make them for yourself.  Gloria said that the mix was a little dry, so perhaps add another egg and the almonds perhaps should be chopped up a little...............

THE BREAKFAST CLUB COOKIE

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup large flake rolled oats
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ tbsp. liquid honey
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup whole almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. flax seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberriesPreheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt until evenly blended. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and honey until smooth and creamy using an electric hand mixer on high speed, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat on medium low speed until just blended, about 15 seconds.
Gently fold in almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, raisins and cranberries.
Use a 1.5 oz. ice cream scoop to drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart. Flatten each cookie using the bottom of a glass and bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. These stay soft and chewy for days in an airtight container.

Later today a group of ladies from the Library and myself are picking up Chinese food and going to visit a colleague who recently has had surgery.  She's doing very well and we thought it would be a nice treat for her.  I haven't had Chinese food for ages so I'm really looking forward to it.  Talking about the Library ladies, I just took them a little something for Christmas. When I worked there, each department used to get a gift basket from the Board of Directors/Management and we all looked forward to them so much but the last year or so it has been downsized to a gift card for about $8 per person for a local coffee joint.  Personally, I would rather have had the gift basket so, I made one up for my department and took it over..................

I'm looking forward so much to one of my out-of-town sons coming to visit.  He should be here on the weekend and plans on staying for around ten days, at least until after Christmas.  We are going to have so much fun with my son who lives here and his girlfriend.  I would so love to be with my little grandson and his mum and dad, but I will be with them in spirit and will chat with them on the phone.  Nothing says Christmas like a little child opening a gift, the expressions, the oohs and aahs, so precious.

Here are a couple more of my little decorations, just to fill in some space, LOL

And my lovely white Christmas cactus coming along just fine.

'Til the next time, have a wonderful week and don't get too frazzled with all the shopping, baking, partying, etc.  Remember the real reason for Christmas and take time to reflect on that.  Without that, it would be just another day.

I've heard of Auckland, but, DORKLAND?

Well, it's official, I am a DORK.  I can't believe what I just did.  I decided to take a walk to the Mall to pick up some wrapping paper and some more ornaments to make some decorations and just as I was almost there, I realized I didn't have my purse with me, so that meant, no wallet, no credit cards, no debit card and no bus pass.  I was a little put out, to say the least.  I had to trudge all the way back home, dragging my shopping basket on wheels behind me, to warm up (it's -2 Celsius at the moment) and rest for a few minutes and do it all over again.  Just a little Senior moment I'm afraid, LOL  I don't think I have ever done that before.  Okay, I'm warm enough, so off I go again.

This time, it was fine.  I even met a lovely friend, Janis and she gave me a ride home.

On a more positve note, I put up my Christmas Tree.  This year I decided to change my colour scheme.  I had the same ornaments, etc. for the last six or seven years so decided it was time for a change.  I don't have a lot of room for a tree, being in an apartment, but I think this two and one half foot tree turned out pretty awesome.......

It looks really great in the evening with the lights blinking.  I guess you will have to take my word for it though, LOL  The angel on top was a gift from a dear friend, Nancy, quite a few years ago.  We worked together at the Library and a group of us would go out for dinner quite often, especially at Christmas time and this was the gift I received from her that one Christmas.  We still keep in touch but now it is Tuesday night at the movies, cheap night, LOL  I thought I would sell my old tree decorations at my last Craft Show this Saturday so I bagged them up all nice nice and will sell them for $1 per item.  Some of them cost quite a bit and came from our local Art Gallery.

I also made a little inside door decoration, just to add some holiday atmosphere, keeping with the same colours.......

I figured I should also take the time to start wrapping presents and also writing Christmas cards.  It's not that I don't like giving or receiving gifts and cards but wrapping and writing are not my favourite things.  I used to love to do this when I was a lot younger but now with all the aches and pains I find it a chore, so I guess it should mean more to the recipients because of the ordeal I have to go through, right???  LOL  I am kidding, honest.

At one of the craft shows I recently did I found a couple of gorgeous little gold framed mirrors.  My intention, of course, was to paint them cream but when I got them home I decided to leave them just the way they were.  They really are very attractive............

This one shows more detail, but unfortunately I am also featured in it!!!!

Well, I guess I had better get back to wrapping, but before I do, I would like to thank those of you who said they would pray for my friend who underwent surgery last Friday.  Thank you so much and happy to report that she is doing quite well.  Until next time, TTFN

Just adding this little bit - it's now 2.00 a.m. and I have just finished wrapping a few gifts.  That's less I have to do tomorrow, LOL but, I still haven't written out the cards and the overseas ones should have gone long ago, but they'll get there, they always do.  Goodnight.