There's a big round thing in the sky...

It's the sun! It feels like forever since we've had sun though it's apparently only been a week. I certainly made the most of it today as apparently it will be the last I see of it until Sunday next. I took a couple of walks and just enjoyed it. I was of the mind that anything at home could wait - it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow (a change from the snow lol) so we probably won't be out walking. I managed to get another card done and got photos to complete my Mum's calendar. I am hoping (fingers crossed) to have it done by Monday.

One of the places I walked today is close to where I got my photos done. It's a lovely little walk. I love the row of pine trees there is in the middle of the walk. There are two lots of pines trees - The Magnificent Pines and The-not-so-Magnificent Pines. I love the way they look. I like taking photos of paths and such so this view is one I really love.

It's Skype day tomorrow. I'm hoping that my internet will work. We've been having trouble with it this week. I'm not sure if it's because of the heavy snow on the cable and (I'm hoping) that now the snow is melting (because of the above-freezing temps and the sun!) it will get back to normal. Otherwise hubby is going to have to stop in the place on his way home. I hate ringing them to complain about the service as you have to go through a whole lot of hassle before you can even speak to someone and then they are reading from a script. It takes forever to get an appointment that way. Anyway, fingers crossed it will work, otherwise I'll just be ringing Mum.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Still Snowy...

It's still snowy, though the snow has stopped and the salt/road crew finally came through our street and up the hill so I went out. I don't like driving in the snow and my car isn't all wheel drive so slides around (yikes!). Now that I'm lucky enough not to have to go out in it if I don't have to, I don't. It does make the day seem really long if I don't get to go out for a walk, so I try to do it every day even if it isn't a long walk. I have to admit that the snow outside looks beautiful. It's a heavy snow and has clung to the trees and the branches coating everything in white.

I love this view in winter. It's so peaceful despite being really close to the city.

I managed to get up into my craft room yesterday too. I'll have a couple of cards to share once I take photos. I finished my October pages for My Year album I've been doing. I am happy to say that I've kept up with it. As it isn't a major project - just a couple of pages a month - it's an easily manageable project.

I've been sorting through Christmas presents. I can't believe it will be December on Saturday! Yikes! I really do have to get Mum's calendar finished so I can post it in a reasonable time. Because of the postage cost to England I'm including cards/calendars to my sisters in the same box too.

I hope everyone is having a good week. If the sun is shining in your part of the world please blow a little of it this way!

Snowy Monday

Daughter left on Saturday. She had a safe journey back. I'm glad she made it before the snow started. Today has been lousy outside. I stayed in, cleaned house and got caught up on housework. I was planning on spending some time sorting out my craft room and get going again on crafty projects but I really felt unmotivated. I'm in a little funk - think this always happens when she first leaves or I first get back from Mum's. It was so nice having her around. It seems a long time until I'll see her again. Sigh. So today I'm going to let myself sulk, feel sad, maybe cry a little and start again tomorrow.

Walking - Milkweed

When I'm out walking I see lots of lovely things. Nature is really quite beautiful, even this time of year when the trees are finally bare and there isn't a lot of colour around.

One of my favourite things to see are these lovely milkweed plants. In the summer the flowers are really lovely, but it's at this time of year that I really think they look beautiful. The pods open up and fluffy fuzz pours out along with these lovely brown seeds. They looks so soft (and feel that way too!).  I did buy myself a little Michigan wildflower book so I could look up plants when I saw them.

My book says: There are over 2000 milkweed species worldwide, 12 in Michigan. A unique pollination system involves sacs of pollen that snag on an insect's leg; the insect then unwittingly inserts the sacs into slits on other flowers. The plant's milky sap contains cardiac glycosides and, if eaten, will cause hot flashes, rapid heart rate and general weakness. The Monarch butterfly lays its eggs exclusively on milkweeds. Monarch caterpillars ingest the toxic sap with no ill effects, but they then become toxic to birds and other animals. Fibers from old stems are used by orioles for making nests.

Tuesday

Daughter arrived safely on Saturday. She is only home for a week, but I'm really thankful she is. We've been out walking with Shasta. It's nice to have someone else to walk with though I don't see much wildlife when Shasta is around (she sees them but they are scared of her). Daughter is spending time catching up with friends some of the time and I get to dog sit Shasta. Last night she wanted to cuddle on the settee. She does miss daughter when she isn't around.

We do plan on doing a little shopping. For a while now I've needed a new winter coat but I'm a little cheap to spend the 60-150 dollars it costs for a new one. Our local all-round shop had some on sale this week - the $80 ones were only $19.99. I could bring myself to spend that! It's really warm and fluffy. Daughter ended up buying one too. I am going to splurge on Friday as Barnes and Noble has their magazines on sale for 30% off. They only do one or two of these a year and I treat myself to some English ones. Apart from some of daughter's games (Christmas presents) she has on her list the mags will be my only shopping this week. I hate crowds and will be avoiding them as much as possible!

I am looking forward to having all three of my 'kids' together for Thanksgiving. It's been almost a year since they've all been together and I've told them to expect some photo taking!

Long Week...

This week seems to be going quite slowly. I think it might have something to do with hubby being away for work until the weekend and the lousy weather. It's snowing again today. I was rather hoping it wouldn't. There's wishing for you! The weather forecast said a few snow showers around in the afternoon. It started around eight this morning. I don't like surprises. Needless to say, plans I had are out the window. I'm staying inside. I did tidy up my room. It's ready for daughter's visit. I'm going to pull out my knitting and spend the day doing that, or perhaps some stitching (I'm working on a little Christmas card) if the light is good enough. I put out some extra seed for the birds - some fruit and nut mix I got yesterday. The seed I put out on the table first thing has been buried beneath a layer of snow. No walk today. I got the car out, warmed it up (another horrible thing about winter lol), drove up the hill and back down again. I honestly couldn't be bothered.

I think I'll finish my hot chocolate and do some crafty stuff! Looking out the window at the white stuff is as close to it I'm going to get for the rest of the day.

From my walk the other day.

Winter...

It has officially arrived. Too soon, in my opinion. Yes, we got snow Friday night into Saturday morning. More than expected. Probably around six inches. Hubby had planned on getting the porch winterised at the weekend, so snow had got on the front porch as it was quite windy too. He wasn't too happy. It did make him get the porch done as soon as possible though!

Despite the snow we did take a drive on Saturday. The closer we got to the lakeshore, the less snow there was but the winds were really quite high! Made for some lovely views of the lighthouse.

Saturday is Skype day and had a lovely chat with Mum. Time does seem to fly when we're talking. She's been having nicer weather than me. She'd actually gone to Felixstowe with my oldest sister on Thursday. I showed her the snow outside the window and she was glad she wasn't here!

This week I have to get my craft room sorted ready for when daughter comes. It means boxing things up in some order so that I can easily get to the Christmas projects I'm working on after she has left. Organising is not my forte. I shall try to do my best! The calendar I'm making for my Mum is coming along nicely. I will be taking some photos while daughter is here including one of the three 'kids' together. I am hoping to have the calendar and one holiday photo album for Mum done and posted by Dec 14th. I will be putting cards in there too - for Mum and sisters so those have to be made by then too.

Hubby is going away for work tomorrow and won't be back until the end of the week so I shall have time in the evenings to get some sorting/organising done. I usually sit with him when he comes home from work but as he won't be here I can work on other stuff. I did start a little cross stitch card, but the light has been so terrible and the threads really close in colour I'm finding a little tough to work on. Here's hoping for sunshine!

Decluttering - well...

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the last post!

At the end of the last post I said my next post would be about decluttering. I probably shouldn't have said that. Laugh out loud. I had such good intentions and, at that point, was on a roll. Then midweek when I talked to Mum, I realised that daughter would be coming on the 17th - which is next weekend - had a little panic and stopped pulling stuff out and making more mess! So there isn't a lot to report. I did get a good start. I was inspired by Bless over at My Two Cents. She always writes such good posts with lists and goals. I decided to start the decluttering with clothes. They don't have a lot of meaning with me so I managed to pull out a few. I also did clean out the top of the wardrobe and found some things I didn't need, as well as a few jumpers I had tucked away (ones I really like but had forgotten about!). I also found up some Christmas bags so I made a list of the ones I needed for this Christmas - and I went to get them at the dollar shop before they all disappeared.

There were a couple of things I had to throw out completely but the other pieces I boxed up ready to take to the charity shop. It doesn't seem like a lot but it's a start.

- photo album (old fashioned that I'll never use)
- cd
- dvd
- pair of jeans
- 2 shirts
- pair of knit capris
- crafty kit (that I have had a while and will never complete)
- fashion scarf (something that came with a jumper and not a lot of use to me)
- blouse (I liked it at the time I bought it but realistically I won't wear so time to let go)

More difficult for me I managed to put together a box of ten books to take to the library for donation, put another six on paperbackswap.com (only those that had wishes for them so they can go immediately) and gave a small bag of books to my friend to read. Phew. It actually does look a little better when all written down! It helped to write things down too as I could see the progress.

Although I'm going to continue with the book decluttering, the rest will go on hiatus until after Thanksgiving. I have some cleaning up to do for when daughter comes to stay - it's next weekend YIKES!

November 5th

Today is Guy Fawkes Day and my 30th wedding anniversary. I picked the date because I knew that I would remember it. I'm terrible at remembering dates.

I can't believe it's been 30 years! Where has the time gone? We've had our ups and downs but we're still here. Even after this long when I had the flu in the spring he came home on his lunch break to check on me. He's the one who comes out with me every Sunday, rain or shine, blowing snow or freezing ice. Yes, he'll be sheltering from the wind while I take my photos, but he does get out of the car lol. I really don't know how he puts up with grumpy me sometimes. I guess I'll hold on to him for a little longer ;)

On a crafty note, I FINALLY finished my cross stitch. It seems as though I've been working on this forever. It had been in my stash for a while. As a rule I don't generally buy kits and working on this reminded me why. I love the design and most of the time I enjoyed working on it, BUT there were a lot of half stitches and the fabric supplied didn't make it easy. Also there were a lot of one strand of this colour and one strand of that. I didn't like that at all. Our cat doesn't seem to like me doing anything while I'm sitting in my chair as he thinks my lap should be his on command. I had a lot of picking it up and putting it down again.

I am pleased with how it turned out. However I think my next cross stitch project will be one of the small kits that come 'free' with the magazine. I have quite a few of them! I also need to pick up the knitting and learning to crochet again now that the weather is cooler. Mum asked me whether I'd done anymore crochet and I had to admit that I hadn't so I think I'll pull it out and try again. 

Tomorrow is my final dentist appointment for a while - my permanent crown will be put on. I'll be glad to be done. The ladies at my dentist at very nice, but I'll be glad not to see them for a while!

Hope everyone is having a good Monday. I'm talking decluttering next post. 

Rabbits, Rabbits....a day late!

Okay so I'm a day late, but I did think it yesterday! How many other people always feel the need to say 'rabbits, rabbits' on the first of the month? Another one we always used to say was 'pinch, punch, first of the month' to which someone would invariably say 'a punch and a kick for being so quick'. I blame my wandering thoughts of this to Sue over at The Cottage at the End of a Lane . She always writes such great posts about old folklore and traditions.

On that note, as I saw her post the other day I had to pull out my copy of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. I actually went out and found my own copy after Sue had mentioned it. It's a really gorgeous book. Lots of lovely tales and beautiful illustrations. It really is wonderful. I was looking through November's pages and there is an illustration of a green woodpecker. I was lucky enough to see one while I was home visiting Mum. I don't remember seeing one before or, more likely, I haven't paid attention. It seems lately I've been seeing red tailed hawks everywhere here. I'm sure it's not the first time they've been around, more likely because I now know what they are I see them more often.

Isn't it gorgeous?

The hawks I've been seeing are on my walk in the woods, on the way to the shops yesterday, one flew in front of my car last week and in my neighbour's tree a couple of days ago! I came home from my walk and wondered why there was a deafening silence - no birds, no noise, nothing - the food on the bird table had barely  been touched despite being early in the morning. A few minutes later I saw it!

No wonder the birds were so quiet!

Now that November has rolled around I'm thinking of the holidays (I'm not saying the 'c' word yet lol). I'm actually going to make a list! I have a few accessories left over from last year and I don't want to repeat buy. That's one of my goals for today. I couldn't sleep - woke up when husband did (4am) and couldn't get back to sleep. My mind started going a mile a minute so I didn't doze off again. I laid there until hubby and son left for work (5.30) and then got up. So I have extra time  though I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to doze by this afternoon.

What's everyone else up to this Friday?