Dh's Birthday.

Dh celebrated his birthday last week and

we spoiled him nicely. A bit of a Disney

theme you can see from some of his gifts.

My big gift for him this year arrived a

day late ~ a big Lego set featuring the

Mouse himself with Minnie. We started

building it today. Will take a bit as it's a

big one with almost 2,000 pieces. It was

a great day and just what he wanted. And

on the weekend, we had a surprise party!

He had no idea and we pulled it off with

precision. Ton of fun that created memories.

~ Chy

Holiday Car.

Saw this on FB and just had to take

a shot so I remember this for next

holiday season. It's an old Little

Tykes car that has been repainted.

Love this idea! I often see LT cars

listed on Marketplace for pennies.

Can you guess what will be part of our

holiday display next season? Sweet!

~ Chy

New Ears.

 

It was the year to get new ears in Disney.

I went on the website before we left and

I'm so happy I did as there are so many

choices. In the end, I chose these ones

and love their soft look. Dh decided he

didn't want new ears this time. He had

his heart set on a new "vintage" Disney

cap and found the perfect one with little

Mickey's. He loves his cap, I love my

ears! My favorite though will always be

the wedding ones we bought to replace

our originals we got on our honeymoon.

If you travel to Disney, do you get new

ears each time or on certain trips?

~ Chy

Safely Home.

We arrived home from Disney late in

the middle of the night. Our trip was

uneventful in the travel department,

except for the very end, when dd did

check her bags as they needed to have

some "volunteers" do this so the plane

overhead bins were not overloaded.

But it backfired on us as it took 2

hours for the bags to move from the

plane to the retrieval area. Everyone

was tired, so we all just sat on the

ground and waited. This is just one

of the reasons why we never check

our bags! So thankful though for a

healthy, fun, economical trip, with

no issues except this one. A photo

of the pillow we bought that we had

no idea it opened up into a blanket

until we got it truly all the way home.

So soft and sweet, with "and they

lived happily ever after." It's so very

perfect for our bedroom window seat!

~ Chy

Christmas Shows.

I love all the different shows that create Christmas specials. Some of my favorites are "Call the Midwife" and "Coronation Street." Both are British (if you're not familiar) and the storylines come from the series themselves. But could be a stand alone, at least for CTM. I haven't seen any advertising yet for Coronation Street (aka Corrie) but have seen some print ads for CTM. Always fun to watch shows we love at Christmas time! Everyone around me loves watching the "Hallmark Christmas Movies" both now, and in July. But I'm not in to "cheesy" shows ~ authentic for me all the way.

Snow this week and bitter cold, so we're cozied up in the cottage, watching a show or two, while munching on Key Lime Pie and thinking about the upcoming festivities!

Life has been so busy this month, I've gotten quite behind in my writing. Be prepared for many, many posts in the next few weeks as I catch up. Hopefully, not boring posts!!

Wishing you a beautiful evening.

~ Chy

Cream Lace.

We have a few "collections" around the cottage. I wanted to share this one, that I have posted a bit about in in the past. We visited the Eastern part of Canada about 10 years ago when I had to present at a very large national conference. Shopping one afternoon, we stumbled across this amazing china in an antique shop. Created by artist Skye McGhie, the pattern is "Cream Lace" and I love the whimsical, lacy look. However, at the time, we were on a much tighter budget and it would have been impossible to try and bring back china on the plane. Or have it shipped. So we vowed to just start look for pieces here and there. Look at the collection now! There are even a few pieces that are light pink and one that is light green. The tiny gift boxes on the big heart plate in the last photo are green, purple and white. I've run out of room but we still keep our eyes open when we're out and about. I've even found a few key pieces on Marketplace. Just one of a number of collections that we have and enjoy adding to.

I'll show more collections over time.

Is there anything you enjoy collecting?

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing .... my Disney warm long fuzzy pj hooded top (almost at my knees!), grey snowflake Sweet Legs leggings, warm wooly socks and my slippers. It's warm outside but we spent a good chunk of the day outside in the sun, then came in and I had a lovely bubble bath and put on my pj's for the night. All ready for bed, before dinner!

What I'm reading .... "The English Home" magazine ~ the December edition is just waiting for me to crack it open later tonight when we cozy up in bed.

What's happening in my kitchen .... dh is going to make a light dinner tonight ~ a crunchy salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. Still recovering from the very "heavy" food we found in Disney .... way too much for our little Canadian tummies! Back to natural foods and my veggies.

What's outside my window .... the sun is setting, the sky is still blue and the snow is melting!

What I'm thankful for .... warm weather and dry roads, making my commute to work so much easier. Good health, projects to work on and beautiful people in our lives.

What I'm smelling .... the cinnamon acorns from the Christmas decorations I have laid out as we make our little cottage beautiful with the holiday spirit. 

What I'm hearing .... the 109th Grey Cup (similar to the Super Bowl) has just started and dh is watching away. I'm ignoring it and concentrating on decorating.

What I'm crafting .... our new little pencil style Christmas Tree. Long story why we're going in this direction for the year. Maybe for another day. The tree it self was over 60% off and the box of decorations was $20 from someone on Marketplace, so this change fit well in to our frugal budget. Now I'm trying to sort and place ornaments on the 7 foot pencil tree, the two 3 foot, the one 2 foot tree and the small 1 foot tree. I'm confident I have enough decorations, it's just figuring out which style or theme for which tree. 

What's on my mind .... World events (always), upcoming blood work, office stuff and getting my tires swapped out tomorrow so I can navigate the icy roads this Winter.

Words to live by ....  "Can I evict so and so from my brain? They appear to be taking a lot of space up there, rent free and it's time they go!" Said by me last week ....

Having an amazing week!

~ Chy

A Challenge.

Happy Saturday! We've made a change this year to our Christmas decor that created a challenge. As dh is now working from home full time, all the day, every day, his "office" is currently the turret on the south side of the cottage. It's not technically an "office" and we're trying to figure out if this spot will be permanent or if we have to make some changes in our home to support this new set up. The turret, also known as the music room and the Christmas Tree room is a favorite spot in the cottage. But now we had a dilemma to work on. Where, oh where will the Christmas Tree go? Short of moving his office furniture to another location, the short term solution we came up with included moving the vintage carriage upstairs, then move a chair in the family room to the "office" and buy a smaller tree to fit the smaller space that could work. So we moved the carriage, then the chair, swept, vacuumed and washed the floor. On Friday, we went in to town to buy a new tree @ 60% off. We found a version of a "pencil tree" with lights, and a cashmere feel on all the branches. 

We ended up getting the very last one in our region and grinned all the way home. Gently unpacked the box and within a few minutes, just like that, we had a new tree in our cottage to decorate. It's 7 feet tall, so about the same height as our other tree. But so much thinner. Definitely less space that it occupies for now. There was another couple at the store doing the same thing. The "office", turret, music room gets to stay intact and the Christmas Tree is still in a spot that is in our view from all angles, at all times. The challenge will be decorating it as we have soooooo many beautiful ornaments. The plan is to choose our favorites and then the rest to go on the other small trees that we'll be placing around the cottage. Though today is dh's birthday, our plan is to do some decorating inside today while it's sunny but cool with the wind outside. We hope to work on the exterior of the cottage tomorrow, putting up garland and our inflatables. The sun will still be out but the wind will have gone away for the day. Inside decorating is first on the list.

We need to "fluff out" the tree and decorate.

But what do you think of our new acquisition?

~ Chy

Winter is Here!

We have snow. And it's warm now but

last week we missed the deep freeze.

Thankful to come home to our warm,

sweet cottage in the snowy Big Woods!

~ Chy

Hello November.

A beautiful month. A transition from Fall to Winter.

Colorful, until the first snowfall, which we had on
November 1st. A bit early but beautiful. It went

away quickly, then we left for our holidays on the

4th of November and it snowed a LOT while we

were away. We came home to snow on the ground

and on our roof, but it warmed up considerably so

we missed the freezing temps. Sunny and warm today!

What is November like in your region?

~ Chy