SANTA CAME!!!!!!

Wow - Santa came to our house!!!!  And here I was thinking that no one had been good enough to warrant him stopping!

It is a GORGEOUS morning and doesn't feel like Christmas. There is NO SNOW and no forecast of snow. It looks like the sun is going to shine and it is already above ZERO!!!!!!  

I finished the binding on the quilt and delivered it to its new owner. She loved it - let's hope her son does as well. Yeah - I MADE IT!!!!!!   (as if there was ever any doubt!!! - CRAP - I NEVER want that pressure again!!!  So better planning - that is all I have asked Santa for Christmas - better planning skills.

T-shirt quilt DONE!!!!

At our house on Christmas morning - we always wait until everyone (there are only three of us) is up. But usually that means that we wait until 9 AM before we touch the presents. Yeah - I still get a peaceful morning. I know I say this every Christmas, but M was NEVER the wild excited type. Nope - she never touches the presents before Christmas, she knows where I put them (I don't even bother to hide them - but they are out of sight), she will get up PATIENTLY and wait for DH to get up. She won't even touch her stocking until everyone is there. It is so cute to see her sitting there STARING at the tree and the stockings and not wanting to touch anything. So cute and I MUST remember to take a picture of her in front of the tree with the dogs - that is another tradition in our house.

And last night - her and I sat snuggled on the couch and watched the last part of the movie Grease. Yes - I watched TV. But it was only for about 20 minutes. OK - so now I know why I don't watch TV any more. It does nothing for me, but I like the music in that movie. DH was curled up on the other end of the sofa reading his book. It was pretty funny as we kept looking at each other and laughing!!!   Then before she went to bed, I read her "The Night Before Christmas" from the very book that my Mom used to read to us. This book was published in 1960 and is literally falling apart. I will try to find some way to put it back together this year.

After some crazy shopping - I HAD to go to MEC in Burlington after all and then on my way back, I managed to get the last things on my list. The strip malls were not busy at all - it was great. I even managed to get to the Beer Store - imagine that. Everything was moving quick - the stores were well prepared.

One thing I have been meaning to get for a long time is a new potato masher. Now why in the world would you need a new potato masher? Well when you buy pots that you CANNOT use metal in and your potato masher is metal - well it becomes complicated when you want to make mashed potatoes. I have been checking out a couple of places, but never found what I wanted. Everything is METAL. So what does one do in that case?????   Why you call your personal shopper that is what!!!!!   A quick call to Marian and she gave me the name of a store that would have non-metal potato mashers. I checked on-line and yes Golda's Kitchen has EVERYTHING. A quick stop on my way to dropping off the quilt and VOILA - a silicone potato masher.

Silicone potato masher!!!!!

Can you believe it!  And when I asked someone in the store for the mashers - she said they were in the POTATO SECTION!!!!!    I was in a hurry so didn't stop to see what else was in the potato section, but it looks like a great store if you need anything for the kitchen. You can check them out online as well..............

Golda's Kitchen

Thanks to Ruth for sending me instructions on making gravy. While they are simple and similar to how my mom made gravy - it's the making part that throws me. Well - I will just buck up - put on that magic apron of mine and I'll pretend that I am Paula Dean or Martha Stewart and I will make that DARN gravy if it kills me.

We have a house guest. Oh yeah - but a very independent house guest so not really a big deal.

This is LARRY!!!!

Larry is here while his owners (M's boyfriend) are away over the holidays. Apparently birds need interaction with people. So someone has to sing to the bird!!!   Well - it won't be me, but we all talk to Larry as he is currently sitting on the kitchen table and we feed him lettuce!!!!   I think he is still very young and not used to people. Well - birds are just skittish anyway!!!!


Oh yes - while I was out shopping - I found something that many of you may like. Isn't it always the way - everyone asks "what do you want for Christmas?". Well I don't know - how about this - how about that???   And then I go out and I find amazing things - like these gorgeous storage boxes......................

Neat - Paris themed storage boxes

Vintage travel storage box

These were at Michael's. I happened to stop at a different one than I normally go to, but I imagine they all have these boxes. Anyway while I was there getting something I needed for today, I remembered that I DID NOT have a coupon. Everyone knows about the 40% coupon. Well then I remembered that there is an APP for that!  Yep - you can download an APP to your Apple device and instantly get a coupon. So out to the car - download the app to my iPad and back in the store and present my iPad at the cash and I got the discount on one item!!!!!   Isn't technology awesome!!!!!

And these boots are amazing cause let's face it ladies - we all have the same problem with our lovely SHAPELY calves.

Boots with a GUSSET

I found these at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They were $25. I didn't buy a pair, having felt that I had spend more than enough the last couple of days.

And let's not forget the Patagonia Down Sweater that I have wanted forever and completely forgot about. When I was at MEC - they had them, but not in the colour I wanted. Then I saw the colour I wanted in the men's section. The clerk at the store said that Patagonia DOES NOT distribute that colour to MEC in ladies, but they make it. Can you believe that??????????????????


Down Sweater


I guess I will just have to buy my own, but darn that would have made a great present.


I spent a great part of the afternoon sitting in my chair, enjoying the sun, listening to the audio book and getting some embroidery done. Almost got one more block done and only TWO more CDs of 9 to listen to. Maybe this afternoon before our company comes.

On that note - I had better get upstairs and get that oven cranked up because I've got a turkey to cook!!!!!


Have a MERRY MERRY Christmas


Ciao!!!!!!