TURNING A NEW PAGE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND I'M SO BLESSED TO HAVE YOU AS BLOGGER FRIENDS. MY LIFE HAS BEEN ENRICHED BY YOUR BEAUTIFUL AND POSITIVE COMMENTS. THANKS YOU ALL.

Because our lives are so filled with busyness everyday an the fact that we have to work early in the morning, our New Year Eve is always low key. We usually sit together with a bowl of chips and some dip and a bottle of good wine and watch a movie . We used to watch the satire show Air Farce on New Year's Eve every year but now the show has been cancelled.  Boo-Hoo-Hoo. It was so funny.

It's time to turn a new page on the calendar to begin a new year and today I just received one of the two Hooking book that I ordered from Amazon .com, with still one more to come.  The Rug Hooker's BIBLE. So, I'll be turning those pages as well.

The envelop was torn open at one end, no doubt with the sheer volume of Christmas mail at this time of year, it's understandable that it got rough treatment. The book was in perfect condition though. The other book I purchased which has been shipped is Hooked Rug Landscapes. I had also ordered Pictorials but it was not available to be shipped to Canada from the seller.  Another time perhaps.

Today I signed in for Sunnie's, Grandmother's Treasure Trunk Creative Challenge on Rug Hooking Daily. The challenge is to design and hook a rug with this theme, within a time frame and it is also subject to a wide array of interpretations. The rug can be any size or shape and it has to have two shades of brown and one or more words in it. It's always fun to see the wide variety of interpretation to this challenge.  Just what we need to chase those hookers blocks away.  Now I'm racking my brain to come up with  a treasure that my grandmother could have had in her treasure trunk.

It's a great way to stretch beyond what we normally would hook. Do you think that I perhaps should have my head examined.  JB

HOOKER'S BLOCK TURNS TO BLUES

I've been looking at my rug Childhood Memories rug on the frame, there is a bit of time to hook but for some reason, I'm not in the mood. So what do I do?

 I feel guilty and play with my wool to marry some blues. I started with a piece of bright blue and added some other colors.

The  before and after picture of the mauve  wool

The before and after picture of light textured wool

 Here again the before and after of red plaid and gray

The  B&A picture the beige piece.  The other pieces started as white. The blue were still too dark so I simmered the pieces again and some of the dye was removed and more clean water was added with soap and simmered again.                                  

The turquoise wool was simmered and some dye removed and the some yellow dye was added and it became this very bright green. I'll have to tone it down with onion skins but for now it is in my basket.

So after all that hard work I thought that a casual bowl of home made turkey soup with lots of vegetables and some crackers would satisfy me. I added a turkey sandwich and a cup of King Cole tea  to complete the meal. 

 Now I'm off to town to do some banking, Thanks for your visit. I love it when you leave your comments.  I hope that the sun is shining brightly where ever you are today.  JB

STILL IN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

As I mentioned before, it's becoming more difficult finding some down time to blog but this evening I am making some time or more like, I'm stealing some time from somewhere to blog. The weather has been not so friendly lately and today was no exception. It's been snowing and the wind is blowing and at night time, it's still snowing.

Christmas is only a memory now and the wallet a bit thinner but that's OK. This year I had a difficult time choosing gifts for everyone. So I gave gift cards and money,  and I did bought some other small gifts. So everyone are going to choose how they will spend their money.

This year wasn't the same as it used to be. We all missed Nicole and Christine, her husband Joe, My son Vaughan and my oldest granddaughter Jordyn. Hopefully they will all be with us with a new grandson.

 My grandson S, sporting new pajamas and new hat playing his cool musical instrument.

   Here's a close up shot of a Kalimba which has it's origin from Africa. If you look at the numbers , you can see the number 1 on the right and the 2 on the left, the 3 on the right and so on and so forth. A neat little thumb piano.

Here is my other grandson, L.  assembling his catapult.

Here is my youngest granddaughter N. proudly sporting all her missing baby theeths.

                              My daughter Jackie, the artist, sorting out the puzzle.

The finished puzzle.

My granddaughter M. sitting with her Papa, my son in law. He's getting my husband's Mac Book all set up for internet hookup while M. is working like a pro on her school home economic sewing project.

 I gave a lot of my wine for Christmas gifts. I bought lots of smaller gifts for the present games that the kids loves so much and the highlight of the game was a penguin and a sheep candy dispenser. You guessed it, they pooped candy. The kids and the adults love to play the Yankee swap game usually after the Christmas dinner. Sorry, no pictures of the pooping penguin and sheep.

                                                         Some of my gifts  (notice the clay  heart ornament in the little box)

A poinsettia that I received from our part time employee.

                                                               A rooster calendar

                                            A Holstein cow ornament


Every year I tell my kids, don't buy anything for us as we are older and don't need anything. As long as every one is happy, we're happy. They don't listen and this year I got a nice pair of warm sinfully soft pair of pajamas and a puzzle, a rooster calendar, lavender bath salt, a clay heart ornament, an electric blending whisk and chopper attachment, a pair of heavy duty looper that can cut a 3" branch. It has telescopic handles so I can reach high,  a large pink poinsettia, a cow tree ornament. So you see I have things to relax in and things to work with, and some  decorations,  a good balance.

                         My husband showing off his jacket from the Penk boys, employees.

 My husband got a Black and Decker Bread Machine, a pair of insulated work gloves, a pair of wool work socks, slippers and a small  13" Mac Book laptop and a jacket.

I leave my tree up until the Epiphany, the feast day when the three kings comes to visit Jesus in the manger and that is the time our church also takes down the Christmas decorations. I just love to look at my nativity scene and trying imagine how it was for Mary to travel the long journey just before giving birth to our Savior. How uncomfortable she must have been traveling the rough roads and terrains by donkey even if she got to sit in the wagon along the way. I can't imagine...

After supper I cleaned the turkey meat off the bones and boiled the bones to make a yummy turkey soup base for days like this.

Time is flowing like sand as I get older. The faster it flows the faster I'll see my new little guy in the new year.   Happy Blogging everyone and thanks for dropping in.  JB

8 DAYS LATER

I been away from blogging for over a week already and it seems like only a few days. How times vanishes so quickly, never to be seen again. I did get some much needed sleep and feel so much more relaxed.

Today I picked up the mail and was pleasantly surprised to receive a nice home made gift from one of my good blogger friend Kim from  My Field of Dreams.  It was two beautiful little wooden Christmas trees with each a star on the top. How sweet of her to think of me in this special way. Thank you dear Kim.

It has been a really busy time again for me since I blogged last.  Like everyone else, we've had more than our share of rain. Although our farm was spared this time we came close to having some water in our barn.
The water was all around us and we were stranded again as the two lanes going to the main road were flooded and blocked. I was too busy to take pictures.

Last Monday it was raining so hard and we spend most of the day at a Dairy Farm Meeting on Cost Analysis and by evening the water started rising fast. One of our farmer friend who was at the meeting with us got flooded badly and had a few feet of water in his barns. There was some flash flooding in his area. He lost about 3/4 of his bale silage that just floated away, water got into his milking equipment and all the bedding got wet as well a lot of the feed.

Needless to say that we rallied to help them out on Wednesday. We spend most of the day at their farm cleaning up and in all there were about 20 people there to help. The next day we had another meeting at our house for a good part of the day about the Cost of production again and then still barn work to do. I wasn't thinking of shopping for Christmas at this point.

My basement got flooded too but I had managed to put most stuff up on my plastic lawn chairs to keep them dry. Some of the small maple branches that my husband had put in the basement got wet on the bottom crates and also some of his potatoes.

In the mean time we've been to several Christmas parties from different organizations but this Sunday I had to finally clean and sanitize my basement. My job is still not finished but the wet wood and potatoes have been removed and the floor and chimney have been cleaned as well and the smell of wet wood is gone, thank goodness.

That black thing on my pie is not a fly . I just noticed it on my blog picture and had to go check my pies and thought that someone must have poked a small hole in my pie but was assured that no one touched my pies.... But from the first pie photo it looks like a fly. It's too cold for flies anyway at this time of year. lol

Today, I did some banking and baking. I got  my meat pies done and sampled one at supper and I made my Moca cakes. So at least I got a little done. I'll bake again tomorrow afternoon and wrap some small presents for our traditional present game that everyone just love. I love traditions.

I'll try  not to be  away so long from now on but I know that I won't be blogging every day and also I won't be able to comment every day either because of the time it takes. Thanks so much everyone for your faithfulness.  JB

TAKING A LITTLE SABBATICAL FROM BLOGGING

I'm not getting anything done since every day I'm reading more and more blogs and leaving comments and it's all so time consuming.
Don't get me wrong, I adore blogging and reading my followers comments. You make me laugh and you support me and I'm so thankful for having you as my blogger friends.  Don't worry, I won't sign off, just not going to blog every day because of time constraint. I'll blog when I just can't help myself and hope that you will still be there to read my posts.

I haven't touched my Childhood Memories rug because by the time I'm done reading everyone comments, on followers blogs it way past my bed time.

This morning after I came home from the barn, I got my camera and went in the pasture to take a photo of the eagle's nest in the tall pine. I couldn't get a close-up shot as I need a stronger lens for that. I hope that some day soon, I'll get one, they're not cheap though... Maybe I'll ask for one for Christmas.

I zoomed in on the eagle's nest which is getting bigger every years. Actually, it's huge. This nest is about 5 years old.  Every spring they add more building material to it  to repair and freshen it for their new babies.   They chose  an old pine tree in the lane by the barn that doesn't have too much top branches. It must be for a better view of their territory.

Here's is another view from the same place, only I took this photo without the zoom to show you the size of the nest in relation to tall pines and  the fences down below. I hope to get a shot of the eagles soon  but with the cold weather, I don't go about taking too many photos in the cold.
I hope that you enjoyed visiting and that you too take a bit of a rest from blogging if it get out of hand especially during the Holidays.  Thanks for always being there for me. Hugs to everyone.  JB

TOO MANY DAYS WITHOUT MY BEAUTY SLEEP...

This afternoon, I decided that I would get some Christmas shopping done. Right after lunch, with tea in hand, I checked my blog reader, and Rug Hooking Daily then I showered and quickly blew dry my hair and fluffed them up a bit to make them appear thicker than they are. I used a little bit of liner around my eyes, no makeup or lipstick, just trying to look half  presentable in public in case I meet someone I knew.

I find that when I take off my glasses to put on some eye liner I have the hardest time to see what I'm doing, it's awful.

When I was younger, I would roll my eyes at the OLD LADIES who smeared eye liner to make themselves look prettier only to make a mess of their application. Now it's my turn. Why am I telling you this? Well I haven't slept much lately. For one thing I go to bed late and get up early and wake up several time during the night so I don't get a restful sleep. Now I have noticed bags under my eyes that really make me older than I am...

I was ready to leave the house. I went in the office to put my computer to sleep when I noticed that I still hadn't dealt with  my pass port renewal application. So I thought that I would take care of that first and then go shopping for a bit down town instead of at the mall. I stopped at the photographer and got my pass port photo taken and of course he asked me to remove my glasses and to have serious expression.

Although it was very busy in the shop, the photographer had my pass port photos taken within a reasonable amount of time. A little wait and he gave me my passport photos. I put on my glasses and took a look at my picture. Oh... Lord..., I couldn't believe how terrible I looked. I had to look twice. I told him that I looked just like a criminal. He laugh and said, I have a whole computer full of photos of people that looks like criminals. I paid him my $20.00 and thank him and wish him Merry Christmas.

I went further down the street to the pass port office and gave them my pass port application and my old  pass port. In no time I  was done because my application was already filled.
It's neat how they punch tiny holes right through the passport to void it.

Anyway, while in the Pass Port office, I got a call from my son who needed a vehicle to get to the bank because the truck was gone. So another change of plan. I drove up the hill and I picked up some nuts and raisins at the bulk store and stopped to gas up on my way home and came home without shopping for gifts. But that's one more thing done that I had procrastinated to do. So I'm happy.  JB  

GETTING IT DONE ONE CARD AT A TIME

It's 11:08 PM and I'm still addressing Christmas cards and I'm about 3/4 done. Every year my list keeps growing longer and longer. It takes a lot of time because I write a little note in each one. The farthest one I'm sending goes to India to my Save a Family Plan sponsored family and to Scotland to my daughter. I got some going right across Canada and the farthest in the US is going to California.  My circle of friends keep growing and I'm so glad that I can keep in touch with a card every Christmas. I also love receiving Christmas cards of course. It's one of my seasonal little pleasure. I have no special place to display them other than on my piano or the long table behind the love seat.

Here is the pile already addressed. I counted them  and there are already 42 with many more to add to the pile. I'm thinking of the poor mail delivery people who has to carry extra weight in their satchel at this colder time of year.
Thanks everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment and welcome to my new followers, Gayle and Avery and thanks for looking at my blog.  JB

LITTLE OLE BARGAIN HUNTER ME

Yep, that's me all right, bargain hunter Mamoo. Last week or the week before, I can't seem to remember so I guess it's no use to worry about it because it doesn't matter, I bought a big bag of Christmas cards at Value Village. I think that I paid something like $2.99
I could see some religious cards in the tightly packed plastic bag and since they are harder to find in the stores than the commercial one, I grabbed them but never bother to check them when I got home and put them in my desk drawer with the other cards since I was late for work.

Since I've been receiving some Christmas cards already and I usually receive a lot every year I thought that I better check my stock and I was surprised to see how many Religious Christmas cards I got in the bargain. I like to keep Christ into Christmas so this is perfect. Now I better get my address book out and start addressing those Christmas cards without delay. I still have some non religious cards for some friends who are not the religious type or are non Christian.

Now here is a very practical gift that my daughter sent her dad last Christmas, to encourage him to wipe his boots before coming into the house. It works great with mud or snow. I have it by the front door where my husband put it last year. It's available at Lee Valley garden centers.  I love it especially when it snows.It keeps the snow outdoors.  Thanks Christine.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.  JB

BLOGGER'S BLOCK & REPORTS

I'm having a bloggers' block at the moment. It's been a busy day cleaning the milking parlor  and gutters, doing some banking in town and across the river and some grocery and caring for sick calves, rushing home to make supper answering emails and checking my blog, etc, etc.

I'm blessed with another follower and I was trying to see who it was and I think it's Grandma Yellow Hair. Welcome and thanks for following my blog Maggie. If I'm wrong, will the new follower please send me a comment so I can properly acknowledge you.

I was checking  on my big Christmas cactus this afternoon in my sunroom and I think that it either got too much day light or not enough because there are only a handful of buds on it. Actually there is one bloom in the back.

 It was started from a small segment that had broken off from my daughter Jackie's plant and now it's so huge that I have a hard time finding a suitable place for it in the sunroom. It has always bloomed in profusion before. Maybe it needs to be repotted. The small segment that I stuck in my geranium pot  from this plant has bloomed.
 Here's a picture of the huge plant. It is supposed to bloom a creamy color.

And now it's Report time.

Report on Christmas shopping            :  nil
Report on Christmas baking                :  nil
Report on sending Christmas cards      : nil
Report on cleaning the house               : acceptable
Report on decorating for Christmas      : almost ready
Report on having wine for Christmas   : lots
Report on getting small gifts for the present game: nil
Report on my sick calves  :  They all still have scours from Corona virus and it will have to run its course. They are taking their bottle of water with medicine and a bottle and a quarter of milk as of supper time.  It takes roughly 10 days or so for the virus to run it's course. In the mean time I'm doing all I can for them.

Thanks for your loyalty at reading my blog.  I hope that you all have a good night sleep.  JB

I'M REGISTERED FOR A RETREAT

 I got an email from my daughter and she wanted to know if I was interested in going to the MARITIME FIBER ART RETREAT at the ATLANTICA HOTEL  & MARINA OAK ISLAND RESORT in Nova Scotia, near Mahone Bay on April 1-3, 2010.


She went with a friend last year and had a blast. She brought her spinning wheel and spinned to her heart content. There were over 100 fiber art people there doing their things.

So I registered and will be going with my hooking stuff and I hope to meet some of my bloggers  and / or my Rug Hooking Daily online friends there.  I have booked a room and so far I'm alone.   My daughter has  previously booked a room with her friend but we will be traveling together...

 The hotel registration  number is 1-800-565-5075
 The notice was sent by Sharon sad@ns.sympatico.ca

I was wondering if anyone has been there or are planning on going.

On a sour note, some of my calves have scours and I have no idea how it has spread through my nursery. They have been treated with a vaccine for scours at birth and I usually get one or two with scours around the 11th day. I give them some medicine and it usually works real fast for the majority of them. This time the virus seems  a bit stronger. Several are starting to drink some milk again and seem to be getting better.
 I was going to move them to clean pens but will wait until they get better so their little pens stays clean longer.

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your comments.  JB

PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCH

As you know, I got help from the grandkids putting up the tree but I discovered two totes of ornaments that were left  when we had to go to the barn for the routine chores. We had supper and they were picked up by their mom.

There were clear plastic totes all over the livingroom and I just finished  putting everything away this evening.  I put some lights in my Hoya plants  just for some ambiance. I took some photos that I was supposed to take yesterday but never got around to it until tonight.

                                This is a photo of the Christmas tree taken with a flash

                                          This is a photo taken without flash at night.

My incomplete ceramic village I started before the flood and now all the molds have been damaged and I could only save a small school that has yet to be painted. I always bisqued some for the customers thinking that I had plenty of time to paint some later on. Yeah, right...  

Here is a nativity bought by my daughter Christine as a Christmas gift in 2001. It is porcelain and I cherish it. 

This is a small winter ceramic scene that I made for myself and broke the front piece when moving things from the basement just before the water came in. Now I no longer have the mold as it was damaged in the flood too.  So I just add a couple of things in front and add fake snow to hide the light.

                                         I'm running out of place to put my nutcrackers.

                Have you noticed the hog podge  furniture in my house. My husband bought this for $5.00

I added some lights on one of my Hoya plants for added atmosphere for the grandkids at Christmas time..

I don't usually buy Pointsettias for myself but for $5.99 I couldn't resist this colorful plant.

                                                                Some of my secondhand finds

                                                                     Dollar Store greetings

                                               View of the tree from the diningroom 's point of view

View from the kitchen where it gets pretty busy at Christmas time with dinner preparations.

I bought  these two pieces for $2.99 at Value Village and cut a slit in the back and stuffed my old couch pillows in for a more festive look.  I love old World Santas.

I will zig zag the slit after the Holidays when I remove them. These are washable as the label says.

I hope that I didn't bore you with my insanity.  Thanks for stopping by for a little visit. I appreciate your comments how ever short cause I know that commenting on blogs is VERY TIME CONSUMING.   JB