Haunting houses

It seems like the worst is over.  The fever, sweats and dizziness have passed and all that is left is congestion and mild sore throat.  Mom is holding her own.  Or at least I think she is - poor thing can't really tell us what's wrong so we just guess and do the best we can. 

Yesterday a family friend arrived at the door with a pot of turkey soup, 2 dozen warm biscuits and a jar of strawberry jam.  What an angel!  Because yesterday was rough and it was awesome not to have to worry about food.

It's nice to have friends like that to look out for us.  It is also nice to get so many sweet comments from all of you.  Each one made me feel better!

I have been either in bed or on the sofa in jammies for 2 days.  Auntie told me this evening that its a good thing its so close to Halloween.......BECAUSE I COULD HAUNT HOUSES!!

LOL.  And sadly, she is correct!  I look like a witch.  Tomorrow I will actually get dressed and showered so not to scare the trick or treaters!

Happy Halloween.

All for One.......

...And the flu for all.   Yes, its official.  All three of us are now down.  Sore throats, fever, cold sweats, dizzy....

Its a little like the blind leading the blind here.  At least Auntie seems to be recovering a bit.  Luckily she had a head start.

Back to bed for now.

Vampires and a Demon Kettle

I did survive my snack-less evening.  It was rough but all your encouraging comments cracked me up.  

I'm not sure what was worse - being hungry or having to carry a little bottle of pee in my purse!  LOL   Well, I wasn't gonna strut through the lobby with it in my hand.   I double ziploc bagged it. 

Then, the Vampire with the needle tried to drain me.  After the 5th vial I suggested she might want to leave some for me! She thought this was hilarious and just kept on filling vials.

I didn't make it to the donut shop.  It was about 4 whole minutes away.  I hit the hospital coffee shop.  They had giant homemade chocolate chip cookies!!!!  I had one eaten before she counted out my change.  The second one disappeared in the parking lot!!  I know......pathetic.

Now - the demon kettle story.  Last night just we were all getting ready to go upstairs, I heard a noise in the kitchen.  Nobody had been in the kitchen all evening.   I thought it sounded familiar but it couldn't be.......    Maybe I was delirious from the hunger.......  Auntie heard it too but then again maybe she was delirious from the fever....... 

The electric kettle started to boil on its own...................... CREEPY.  Trust me, I wasn't long pulling that plug.  A little Halloween preview perhaps....

Auntie is feeling a little better tonight.  Mom goes to Adult Day Care tomorrow so she will be able to rest quietly all day.  That should help.

Thanks for all your comments.  I love reading them.

One down

Oh oh....One down.  The flu has arrived at our house.  So far its just Auntie down.  I am on a mission to make sure that neither Mom or I get sick too.

I'm going a little nuts with the disinfecting wipes.  Its probably futile but at least it feels like I'm doing what I can for prevention. 

Another twist to make the evening more fun (not) is that I am obsessed with thoughts of cookies.  You see, I have to go to get some blood work done at the hospital tomorrow so I have to fast for 12 hours.   I am a dedicated evening muncher!    I am struggling.

I know, I'm just torturing myself!  Don't they look good.  Tomorrow when I leave the lab on my way to work I'm stopping at the donut shop!! 

I started hooking in some of the background in my rug.  Corinne dyed this great background wool - I have used it before and I love it.  Dark blues, purples, grey, rose and greens.  It looks more interesting than a flat black.  Here is the latest progress pic.

Wish me luck not eating for the rest of the night.  Dancing with the Stars result show is coming on soon so that will distract me for an hour. 
:)

What a day

Today was one of those days you wish you could rewind and play over and over again.  The crunch of the leaves and a fresh breeze - a truly perfect Autumn day in Nova Scotia.

Look at how blue that sky is.......Awesome.

There doesn't seem to be alot of bright reds and oranges this year but the golds are vibrant and abumdant.  Here are a few more.

I hope your Sunday was golden!

Returning to normal

Well.......as normal as I ever was!  It has been a whirlwind week and I am happy to see the end of it. 

On top of all the upset, I  had doctors appointments for both Mom and myself that I didn't want to reschedule.  Its nice to finally sit down for a bit this weekend.  I even got to hook a little bit - finally!

I have been trying to practice the meditation for 10 minutes at bedtime but the past 2 nights it didn't go well.  That monkey mind thing was much stronger than my focus.  I'm not giving up.  Tonight I am going to download some soothing meditation music on my ipod and see if that might work. 

I have very little done on the Angel rug.  The pattern is called "Hanging Stars" and I have a few of the stars hooked and used a beige blend yarn for the rope but I hate it.  The more I looked at it the more I felt it needed some bling.  I managed a quick trip to Heidi's shop London-Wul yesturday just before she closed.  This is what I found

That should be "blingy" enough, don't ya think??   Its not a great picture but it is a thin metallic ribbon.  HOT!!
I pulled out the yarn from around one star so I could compare and I am pleased so far.

Much zippier than that boring old beige yarn.   I'm kind of all over the place with this rug.  I want to hook some of the background in along the way.  That way I won't get bored with just hooking background at the end.  So that meant I had to "nudge" Corinne towards the dye pots again.  I received a text from her this morning that she was going to get to it this weekend.  

Hopefully this will get me back excited about this rug again.   It feels good to get back to a more regular routine. 

You can't ring your own bell

First, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the comments and emails regarding my last post.  I am feeling less shell shocked and have been spending lots of time with Harold's family this week and we are doing OK.  I am considering doing a post about him later this week.

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming.   Last night was the Monkey Mind Meditation session.  It was a small but enthusiastic group.  There were just 3 of us - Corinne, myself, and another gal I hadn't seen in awhile.  It was really enjoyable.  We learned about the health benefits and the basics.  We also managed to do 3 short exercises, each using a different method.  I loved it.

I always thought that to meditate you had to completely clear your mind and I couldn't get it.  How can you completely clear your mind??  These people must know some secret trick??   DUH!  You can never clear your mind - the goal is to FOCUS your mind.   Now it makes so much more sense!! 

The instructor led us through the first exercise where we closed our eyes and focused just on our breathing.  After several minutes she dinged her meditiation bells to signal the exercise was over.  The other girl just about fainted as we weren't warned about the bell.   After we all laughed, Donna the instructor said the bell was a pleasing sound to signal the end of a meditation.   Of course I had to be a smart ass and say "Well, you can't ring your own bell!"    Good point eh!

One of my hopes was that this would be a good tool to help me wind down at night and fall asleep faster.  I thought I would try it last night at bedtime.  Well, I don't remember meditating for too long, as it must have worked.  I fell into lala land pretty quickly.  Not sure if it was the meditation or exhaustion.
(I had a couple of cool meditation images but blogger is not uploading tonight)

I haven't picked up my hook since Sunday and I miss it.  I think tomorrow night I will try to get back into the routine.

Unsure

I debated sharing this tonight however, I share almost everything else with you - so why not.   The planned posts this week about the new stove and meditation class will be postponed.

I came home after a 12 hour day at 8pm and within minutes received a call that a very special family friend passed away suddenly.  I immediately left and went to their home.  I feel like I got punched in the stomach.  I grew up with his children and spent lots of time sitting sharing laughs and stories with Harold over the years. 

A very sad night.

Weekend Update

Things have settled down abit today.  Typically we have a large meal on Sunday evening but being oven-less I needed a new plan.  We could have gone to a restaurant but since I shelled out a large wad of cash yesturday that wasn't in the budget, I decided on burgers at home!

And Auntie has settled down a little today.  (Well - a little)   This morning she started with "What does it look like?  What if I don't like it?  I should have gone to look at it?"   Arrrrgh,  WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE.................Its a large white metal box that gets hot!  Geez  OK, we live in a 100 year old house on the wrong side of the tracks ------ Its a friggin stove!    (Yeah - you can imagine my comments went over like a lead balloon!)   LOL


Last evening, after the dust settled I wanted to get going on my angel rug.  I wanted to do her dress in a deep rose color with soft pink accent.  I knew I had several pieces of rose colored wool upstairs in my stash.  Once I brought it downstairs in the bright light of the kitchen I discovered it was more of a brick red than a rosey wine color.  Dang it - that won't work. 

I sent a message to Corinne so I could raid her studio.  The message was something like - Call me - Emergency.   No response.  The nerve of her to go out on Saturday night and have fun!!!!  hehehehe   So I had no choice but to put the hooking away and blog-stalk all evening.  This morning she messages me back "WHATS WRONG?"    Then I had to laugh and tell her no major emergency - but I need wool!  Its OK - she has a sense of humour.

After my wool raid I could finally get hooking.   Here is my tiny bit of progress.

I certainly felt better once I was able to pull some strips.  The week ahead is a busy one.  Tomorrow is my loooong day at work when I have to stay late for a meeting and then both Mom and I have  appointments later in the week.  Plus there is the meditation workshop!  Woohoo   I will keep you updated!

Watch out.....She's in a TIZZY

I should preface this post by saying that I love Auntie more than anything but........
The weekend started OK.  Friday night I decided to go grocery shopping etc so that for the rest of the weekend I could relax and do whatever - hook, read etc.   So far so good.  Seemed like a good idea to bake beans on Saturday since it is damp and dreary out.  Got up this morning, got them ready and shoved them in the oven.

By lunch time I thought I would bake a few crescent rolls for a light lunch.  Set the timer - the timer dings - I open the door to the oven......................

RAW dough and a stone cold oven!  This isn't good.  And what's worse is this stove is barely 6 years old.   I gently break the news to Auntie.  Now she is a sweetie but in the past few years she is not really good at coping with the little twists life can throw you.  Everything is a MAJOR CRISIS.

Oh oh,  she is starting to go into a tizzy.  I feel a bit like I am watching a scene from the Exorcist with the spinning head!

 She has no ability to put things in perspective.  OK, seriously its just an oven! Eventually we track down a repair guy and he says its the computer board and costs almost as much as a new stove.  GEEZ!
Then he actually starts to suggest that maybe he can attach a homemade dial to the front and hot-wire it to the oven..........and she looked like she was considering it!  OMG.....  Its ironic how the oven was broken yet all I could think of was shoving her head in it!!!!  LOL

The hot-wire thing was the last straw.  I grabbed my keys, told him if he wanted this stove for parts he could make Auntie and offer while I was gone.   I was going to the Appliance store.   The new stove is being delivered on Monday. 

So for the rest of the weekend if we can't boil it, fry it or nuke it - we aren't eating it.  

And yes Julia, after all that I went for beer!

Wild and Wooly

Today that Nor'easter blew through.  Wild winds and rain started at noon. I'm sure the fall foliage took quite a beating.  I'm hoping it dries up a bit sometime this weekend as I still haven't managed to capture that perfect fall photo.

Now for the Wooly part - Today was the end of the week long Fibre Arts Festival in town.  I didn't get to take in any of the classes this year but did manage to take in the Fibre Market at noon.   Oooooh so much eye candy with lots of different vendors from quilters to knitters to hookers.   And you know how much I love to shop!

I did exercise considerable self control.  I bought a skein of hand dyed yarn from a vendor named "Little Frog Pond".  I loved her name as I have a "frog" thing.  It is a blend of greens.  I'm thinking Spring grass.  (Sorry no pictures but to be honest I'm too lazy tonight to take and download pics)

Then I met a lovely hooker from a nearby town.  She had some beautiful rugs on display.  She also was selling these little "bling bags".  Little sandwich bags filled with odds and ends like roving, yarns, silk ribbons - all color coordinated.    I bought one filled with pinks and rose colors and another with deep blues and purples.

I have started a new Angel rug - but just barely started.  I will show a photo soon.  I might even "bling" her up a little.

Monkey Mind

Today I received an email newletter from the new Spa downtown. The subject line read "Monkey Mind".

My first thought - "How Rude - they don't even know me" (OR maybe they do.....)  LOL 

I had never heard this expression before, so naturally my curiousity was peaked.  The email said
If these two words describe your mind's tendency to go from thought to thought, much like a monkey goes from branch to branch, then this lunch and learn may be of interest to you.  

If that doesn't describe the weird way my mind goes into overdrive, I don't know what does!  Apparently the session will be an introduction to meditation with workshops to follow.  It sounds interesting.  Corinne and I both registered.

When I called to register the lady told me you had to pay at the time of registration and the number of available seats was limited.  So I said I would be in on my lunch hour.  Great.   Well.....I stopped in on my way back to work and approached the 20 year old vacant looking Barbie Doll behind the counter.

"I'd like to register for the Wellness Session next Tuesday."   Huh??? she says.  So I explain again.  She is all confused looking and rifling papers on the desk and looking in the computer.  (Yes, I am getting antsy at this point).   "Where did you hear about it, she asks.   Ummmmm, from your newsletter!!!   Duh,  newsletter, really   OMG.......   Maybe I should go ask someone????    Geee, ya think.....

Clearly she doesn't have a monkey mind.  I think her tree is missing a few branches!  LOL  My Grandma had a saying: "Dumb as a stick".  I'm just saying!

Eventually I got us registered. (Yes, she had to go get help)   So hopefully next week this will be me.

The F Word

Brace yourself.......I'm gonna say it.......

FROST   (betcha thought I was gonna say something else)

This is what greeted me this morning on my windshield. (This is a google image - I was too annoyed at the sight to take a picture)

Here is another F word for you......Fabulous
I have been waiting for it to arrive before I mentioned it but last month I won the 10 minute hooking challenge over at Rug Hooking Daily.  The prize was a cute little felt organizer for wool worms and a 8 color swatch from April DeConicks Palette wools.  You can read about her palette dyeing at Red Jack Rugs.

Its Fabulous.  Almost too pretty to cut up.  Thank you April.

Here is one last F word for the day......Freaky

That is the only way to describe Florence Henderson's dance last night on Dancing with the Stars!   OK - Yes she is 76 years old and Yes she does look amazing   BUT......did you see it?   OMG.....

I do not want to see Mrs. Brady Dirty Dancing and doing some very disturbing pelvic grinds on the dance floor!!!  (or anywhere else I might add)

Oooooh Mrs. Brady.......What would Alice think??????

Gobble Gobble

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving.  It is a time to celebrate the bounty of the Harvest and enjoy it with family.  It is my favorite holiday of the year. 
There is no commercialism - decorations are generally from the earth - there is no crazy mad rush to shop for gifts that people don't need - All that matters is being with family and eating!

And that is what I did today - EAT and EAT some more.  I could hardly lift my over-stuffed butt off the sofa to make this post!  LOL

I usually try to make a special breakfast when it is a holiday so this morning we started with Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon.   Then the main event - Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, turnip and carrots in a brown sugar glaze and cranberry sauce.  Not the real kind - the yucky lumpy kind ------we like the jellied version in the can - you know the one that comes out in a big plop in the bowl.  LOL    Yes, we are real connoisseurs!    And of course, pumpkin pie.

Ugggh, I felt like a big lump when we were finished so I forced myself to go for a little walk around the local cemetery.  The sun was just starting to drop.   Here are a few photos.

I hope you all had a Thankful Day!

More pics from an autumn day

I would have like to have stopped a few more places to snap some pictures on my drive home but since it was the Friday of a long weekend, the traffic was horrendous.  This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and I think everyone left work early on Friday and were on the highway!  So randomly pulling over to the shoulder of the road to take random photos was like taking my life in my hands.  But here are a few.

I drove though the Annapolis Valley which is beautiful farm land and orchards everywhere.  I couldn't help but stop and snap this huge field of pumpkins.

And despite a significant detour out of my way, I couldn't help but stop in Mahone Bay.  This is one of the most beautiful little seaside towns you will ever find. 
Here are the famous 3 churches on the Bay

And a few more images around town

There are many quaint and unique little shops, but I really didn't wanted to be pushing my luck.  I was tired and it was time to head for home, so I wouldn't be fighting traffic in the dark.  But it was definately a nice way to end my trip.

Tomorrow I hope to finish binding a few projects while the Thanksgiving turkey cooks.

I'm back

It has been a long week but a great one.  Our conference was held at the Digby Pines Resort.  Click on the link to check it out - what a fabulous spot.  It was a beautiful property and the facilities and staff were top notch all week.

And the food.............AMAZING! Digby is famous for scallops  and there was no shortage of them this week. One evening we had a "strolling buffet" and cocktail party.  There were several food stations set up around the room.  There is no way I can list all the food but here is a sampling - smoked salmon, prime rib, wings and ribs, thai beef saute, and of course digby scallops in tecquila and lime cooked in front of us by the chef!  (That was just 1 night)  And the closing banquet last night ended with the best dessert - Baked Alaska - just perfect.

I just got back and am quite tired so here are just a few pictures I downloaded.  I will have more to show later. 

 This is the Resort entrance and front lawn.

I have missed all of your posts the past week, so I'm going to try and catch up with you all over the next day or so.
Oh, and thank you all for your recent comments. Things at home went fairly smoothly (or so I hear.)  But it was great to get your supportive comments and to hear that there are more worriers out there!

Getting my ducks in a row

The past few days have been all about getting my ducks in a row.  No easy feat around this place.

I have to travel this week for work.  I leave tomorrow mid morning until Friday evening.  Trying to get things organized so that things go as smoothly as possible for Auntie and Mom is somewhat like orchestrating a Broadway Musical!

I have little lists all over the place.  Oh, have I mentioned that I am a World Class Worry Wart?  I try and think of everything and make sure that there is some back-up for Auntie in the event of something not-nice happens.   And - as things usually go - both of my primary back-up people are out of town.  My Grandfather was Irish and he always said we had the Luck of the Irish and we had "shamrocks up our butts"!  Well I hate to tell Grandpa.....but I think my shamrock fell out!!!  LOL    Now, I'm sure that nothing major will happen but I will be a 5 hour drive away for 4 days.  This evening I did arrange for a relative to casually check in so I'm a little less crazy.

Maybe a martini will take my mind off it when I get to the Resort??

A bonus will be that at this years conference, the Geeks/Nerds (lol  sorry Corinne)  have been invited to participate in a Technology Conference that will run concurrent to ours.  So that means Corinne (Momz Wool) will be staying at the same hotel.  We never get to travel together for work so this will be fun.   (** I asked her permission before referring her to a geek in the blog.  Hehehe.)

And finally I got the 2 giveaway packages in the mail today.  If not, it would have been another week delayed, so that was good.  But while I was at the post office the lady at the counter told me the price and then asked me if I wanted to donate money to Mental Health.  Hmmmm, I told her that since I was half crazy most of the time, I would keep my money and we would call it even!   OMG  it seems like every day there is someone asking for a donation to something.  They are all great causes but I get a little tired of it everywhere you go.  There is always some sad looking kid at the end of the grocery line collecting for sports, or the Department Stores are asking you to round-up the total amount.   But I wasn't expecting it at the Post office!   I donate to several charities each year  but don't ask me everyday.

I have to go finish packing and I'm taking the camera so maybe I will have some pictures to post later this week.

Cottage Wrap-Up

The cottage is now closed up for the season.  Its winterized - the pump is disconnected and the pipes are drained.  I took a quick drive out this morning just to double check everything.  I grabbed the camera on my way out hoping that maybe I would catch some nice fall colors in the country. 

However with the unusually warm September the Fall colors are slow to develop this year, but since the camera was getting dusty I took a few snaps along the road anyway.

A little glimpse of Autumn along the Tyndal Road.

And the Winner is...........

This feels like a moment for a drum roll.  Thanks so much for all the lovely entries and comments on this giveaway.  The only downside is that everyone can't win something. 

I decided to give Millie a break from doing the drawing.  I didn't want to put too much pressure on her.  LOL  So I went to the trusty Random Generator.

The Winner is...... # 12  Rural Rambler

Congratulations - the Oak Leaves will be in the mail to you soon.  (It would make a great coaster for a wine glass....)  Please email me with your details.

WAIT -----   That was fun.   I should do it again.............

OK,  a last minute decision to draw a 2nd name.   The prize with be the 4th little mat I just finished this morning.    Here it is - size is approx 12 x 4 inches.

The Surprise Winner is ........# 19  - Dog Trot Farm.  

Congratulations Ladies.  I will put your mats in the mail as soon as I hear from you.    Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway.    Hooking the smaller pieces was fun so maybe I will do it again soon.

Kim