The first snows are here.

Well, it was inevitable... it's not like it was never going to happen... but, I still don't like it.  What am I talking about?  Snow, of course.  I just don't care for it, never have and never will.  It affects my life so much, it cramps my style.  As I don't drive, I cannot get around as easily as I would be able to in the other Seasons.  I guess I had better get used to it, because it probably will be here for the next six or seven months!!  It's not like this yet, but it soon will be....

So, I had better find myself lots of projects to keep me busy during these coming cold months.  Not much to show you this posting.  I guess I have been rather lazy.

This little magazine rack I repainted and this is now it turned out.

 It's now for sale in my Boutique.

Here are a couple of sconces I refinished.  I think they turned out quite nicely, just waiting for someone with great taste to buy them.....

I picked up this little footstool, considered leaving it as a retro piece but then decided that it would look so much better with a "redo".

I love the finished look.  It's already sold - yesterday.

And that's about it - I have a few other items that I must get cracking and finish and will probably feature them in my next posting.

As usual, I shall finish with a couple of photos of my darling grandkids.  It never ceases to amaze me how blessed I am to have them in my life and as usual, am looking forward to my next trip to see them.

My son Dave was playing around with his camera...

And here are the darlings all ready to go out for Hallowe'en.

This is Katherine at Day Care with her adorable friends, Savannah and Cameron.

 And, last but not least, Katherine looking studious.

That's it for me this time my friends, I know, not much of interest - I will try and make up for it with my next one.  In the meantime, please take care and look after yourselves.  'Til we meet again.

Hugs, 

"This is where I leave you."

Helena, Janis and myself went to see "This is where I leave you".  We were prepared for another one of those silly comedies but were very surprised when it turned out to be quite funny.  I would recommend that you go and see this one.

"The Altman family doesn't get along, and they haven't all been together in years. But when the patriarch dies, the whole clan is expected to fulfill his final wish and sit Shiva for him for an entire week. Now newly divorced, newly jobless Judd Altman has to travel home to face his dysfunctional family, including his hot-to-trot psychiatrist mom, his sarcastic older brother, his unhappy sister and his too-perfect younger brother in an effort to see if family bonds will prevent them from killing one another."

The Cast consisted of many familiar faces.

Jason Bateman as Judd Altman, one of the four combative siblings of the Altman family and the protagonist. He is married to Quinn, whom he recently caught cheating on him with his boss.

Tina Fey as Wendy Altman, one of the four siblings; a responsible mother who is married to Barry and has 2 kids. She is the ex-girlfriend of her childhood friend Horry.

Adam Driver as Phillip Altman, one of the four siblings; the playboy of the family who is nothing like his father. He is the baby of the family who has grown into perhaps the most troubled of the lot.

Rose Byrne as Penny Moore, Judd's high school crush.

Corey Stoll as Paul Altman, one of the four siblings; the no-nonsense brother who is responsible for the family business. He is married to Annie.

Kathryn Hahn as Annie Altman (changed from Alice), Paul's wife. She and Paul have been trying to have a baby for a long time.

Connie Britton as Tracy, Phillip's girlfriend.

Timothy Olyphant as Horry, Wendy's ex-boyfriend, who still lives with his mother across the street from the Altman family home due to a brain injury he suffered when he and Wendy were dating.

Abigail Spencer as Quinn (changed from Jen in the novel), Judd's estranged wife, whom Judd left after discovering her affair with Wade.

Dax Shepard as Wade Boulanger, a shock jock radio personality and Judd's former boss, whom Judd discovered having an affair with Quinn.

Jane Fonda as Hillary Altman, the oversexed widowed mother of Judd, Phillip, Wendy and Paul. She is a celebrity psychologist, having written a highly-successful guide to raising children.

Aaron Lazar as Barry Weissman, Wendy's husband.

Ben Schwartz as "Boner", the family’s young rabbi, who tries to bring a cool, modern edge to their faith’s longstanding traditions of mourning.

Cade Lappin as Cole Altman

Debra Monk as Linda, the Altmans' neighbor, mother of Horry, and Hillary's best friend and confidant.

Will Swenson as the Altmans' father, who makes a brief appearance in a flashback.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

I have worked on a few items since my last post.  I turned this rather fragile old child's/doll's chair from this.....

To this......

Painted and shabbied a couple of small occastional tables....

Unfortunately I forgot to take "before" pictures....

And turned this, whatever it was.....

into this cute pet feeding station.....

And lastly, painted and shabbied an older style spice rack...

All of these items will be for sale in my Boutique and talking about my Boutique, this is the new sign we all purchased together to go on the outside of the old warehouse where we sell our wares.

My stinking cold is finally on the way out, almost four weeks.  It really put a bit of a dampner on my visit to see the grandkids, but it's certainly heaps better than it was.

As usual, I will leave you with a few photos of my favourite grandkids (I only have two, LOL) and I hope that you will continue to stay healthy and happy.

Until next time...

Hugs, 

The Captive and Visiting the Grandkids

Another visit come and gone, 14 hours on the Greyhound Bus there and another 14 hours home.  It's a long trip, but worth every uncomfortable minute.

Whilst I was visiting the grandkids (and their mum and dad of course), I was invited to spend the evening with their day care provider, a delightful lady named Anna, and have dinner with her family.  After dinner we took in this movie, see what you think of it.

This is a Canadian thriller, directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Mireille Enos and Ryan Reynolds.  You may remember Mireille from "The Killing", a series of three distinct stories which revolved around a single murder.

The captive is essentially an abduction thriller, set over time span of eight years. Mireille Enos and Ryan Reynolds play the parents, whose daughter is kidnapped one day outside of coffee shop. The agonising search for leads on the identity of the kidnapper is set over a period of 8 years. Scott Speedman and Rosario Dawson provide strong support as the lead police officers assigned to the case. The audience is already aware of the identity of the kidnapper which allows us to empathise more with the parents and police officers involved.

There are frequent time shifts within the movie, centring around events just after the abduction, six years after the incident and finally eight years, leading to the film’s climax. Some reviewers have criticized this, as there was no indication, the audience is left to work out what has happened.

The main conflict which fleshes out the middle part of the movie are the themes of guilt, the distraught mother blames her husband for the abduction and in turn he blames him self.  I enjoyed this movie, they can't all be terrific but I think it was worth the price of entry.

As usual, I had a great time visiting and as usual, it went by way too fast.  Each time I try to stay a little longer.  Rhys is now in school full-time, in SK and seems to love it, Katherine still has a way to go before she starts JK.  Unfortunately both Niki and I came down with terrible colds (or was it flu) which put a little bit of a dampner on things, especially as my other son who lives in Toronto came to visit for a few days so I had to make an effort to at least go out with him a few times.  I'm still not over it two weeks later.

Just one little project to show you this time, gosh, I have been lazy, LOL  This is a rather unique shaped shelf.  Someone is going to love it for their knick-knacks.  I did it in grey and shabbied it.

It was another busy day at my little shop, The Church Street Boutique and this time I decided to give away one of my hand-crafted pendant necklaces with each purchase.  Everyone was delighted but some were reluctant to accept as they were already getting some great deals, but that's what we are all about, great deals and making people happy.

Not much to blog about this time taking into account my trip and my cold.

Here are a couple of photos of the darlings, they are always a joy to see.....

Rhys's first day at SK

Sweet Katherine

Rhys drying off

Katherine, finding Daddy amusing

And that's it for now my friends.  I hope you are all healthy and life is treating you well.  Until next time, take care....

Hugs, 

Trees galore.

I have a very special friend who blogs almost daily.  I am amazed at how easily she can produce an interesting "read" with no real effort.  Most of her blogs are from her wonderful memories of her childhood, her parents and the beautiful area where she grew up.  Each and every one is filled with so many interesting tidbits, recipes accompanied by photos, especially if she had just baked using her mother's tried and proved favourite recipes.  Ah, I do envy her ability to bring all this to life on a regular basis.  I wish I had half her talent and could blog as often but that is not the case.

This blog of mine is to show you what I have been up to since the last time we came together and to be honest, there really isn't too much to show you.  I have been commissioned by two separate ladies to create button trees.

The first lady had purchased one of my trees and liked it so much that she wanted me to paint one for her, in red and black, to give to a friend who was coming to Canada for a visit.  So, this beauty will end up in Ireland.  I hope it makes it in one piece.

This one wasn't too difficult to create, afterall, I have made about eight others in different colours, but the next commission was a little more scarey.  I lady I had recently met, who seemed to like a lot of my "creations" and had purchased quite a few in one visit to my Boutique, asked me if I would like to take on a project..... to create two larger canvases with trees and, wait for it, antique buttons.  She had quite a large amount of gorgeous buttons which she had saved over the years and after purchasing two of my smaller button trees, she thought it would be an unique idea if I could put her precious buttons to good use and create two larger button trees.  Afterall, what good was it to have all these beauties if you couldn't see them and admire them.

Well, I sure was honoured that she would make that request of me but also quite nervous because I normally don't take on requests.  Anyway, she brought over her buttons and left it up to me how I would do this.  After some research and trial runs, these are what I ended up with....

Gave the canvases a wash of different colours

in the hope that they would fit on any

wall, no matter what colour.

Sketched in the trees and then sponge painted

the foliage so that some of the green would

show through once the buttons were placed.

Painted the trunks,  trying to give them some texture.

Then placed and glued the buttons on the canvases,

being very careful to balance the colours and styles

of the buttons between the two canvases.

I must say that I was very pleased with the final

outcome.  I just hope she will be too.

I found a cute little telephone table and changed it from this...

To this....

It sold immediately.

How about a little loonie piggy bank?  From this....

To this....

Just one more item, a very simple item really but fun to do.....

A kitchen paper towel holder from this...

To this...

That's about if, apart from recycling old picture frames to give them a new lease on life.

Well, that's it for now.  Please stay healthy and happy and I'll catch up with you again soon.  A couple of photos of my darling grands.

Hugs,