Work!

I have been having very full cardmaking sessions at the MFRC!! 23 at the one in March!! At $5 each it makes it worth investing the time into getting the kits ready to go but I realize it is is not much of a wage - working three days for $100!! I do enjoy the process and working up new samples and it is more than many others can say about their work.

I will be teaching papermaking at a school in a couple of weeks. The woman picked up my busienss card at a craft sale last fall and called this week to see if I was interested in participating in a day of art workshops she was organizing!! It will be fun and she will be buying a few moulds and deckles as well. I have two papermaking classes scheduled at the MFRC for later in April.

I am hoping to participate in the Farmer's Market in Belleville this summer. Make a few sales, make a few connections with people who might be more likely to appreicate handmade paper and some of the items I make. Carol is interested in going as well. She has developed some beach wear and would like to promote it to those who cruise lake Ontario and stop in Belleville for supplies. She also makes jewelry which is usually a good seller at the market.

I will be going to Stamp Fest on August 12th in Bancroft. I am hoping to bring along a few more of the girls from Card Club!! Will also be doing the Women's Art Festival in Kingston on August 20th.

Have to organize myself for the fall with the MFRC for cardmaking and am considering another more technique oriented class. I need to see about maybe a few new sales to replace those that were not that successful last fall.

The look!

I have been going to the gym three days a week since we got home from out west. I run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I did take a break when I got sick with a cold a few weeks ago. It is hard to run and blow your nose at the same time and feel like you can still breath. The cold was a bit of a surprise because I don't usually get sick but I just took it easy and decided I needed to take a break and get better. Pretty much over it now!!

Sylvia is starting to watch what she eats and is adopting the Weight Watchers program to a certain degree and has assured me she will be coming to see me later this year and she will be skinny!! Yikes!! Though I have been exercising the pounds are not melting off as I had hoped they would - I would settle for slowly slinking away one at a time!! So I guess, the gauntlet has been tossed and I will have to apply myself more diligently to the the process of monitoring what I eat!!

Little changes - the Kaizen Way - another book I read this year encourages everyone to make little changes to improve their lives. So, I have decided to see another person to cut my hair. I am really happy with the new do!! It is not radically different but does make me look softer around the edges and I thought it was time to just make that happen!!

I am working with the Simple Abundance and Excavating your Authentic Self books I bought YEARS ago!! Amazingly, just reading the books really doesn't do much for you!! I have discovered you actually have to DO something DIFFERENT if you want to see some changes!! I am working on that too!! It will be a slow process but I'm on my way!!

Books I have read!

I have read a few good books since the beginning of the year!! The most profound has been Discover your Destiny - 7 stages of awakening by Robin Sharma!!

Pretty much comes down to "Get to know yourself" - what you love, what you enjoy, what you really like to do, eat, see, experience, etc. That is how you discover your destiny - once you know yourself, you naturally pick those activities and experiences you would most like to include in your life and you are on your way!! I have decided to do something about it. I am working on getting to know myself as more than Suzanne, Richard and Katherine's mother and Brian's wife. There is a lot of life between me now and who I was before I become those two things. I am fortunate to have the opportunity now to work on myself and I hope you guys will always keep yourselves whole and make it a priority to keep discovering more about who you are!!

I picked up The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine the last time we were at the library. It is possible that I am a renaissance soul - a person with lots of interest in a lot of things who wants to master many things. I thought of Suzanne immediately when I started reading the book!! Renaissance souls don't blend very well into a world that considers that one should have one career!! Not a multitude of interests and so much curiosity about so much. In the end, there are many renaissance souls out there and the solution is to not accept the party line and demean ourselves because we are different (swans or ducks) from the others and just celebrate our uniqueness no matter what that looks like. Once we accept ourselves for exactly who we are - the good, the bad and the ugly - life just flows more easily.

Another quick read was Ten Things I wish I had known before I went out into the real world by Maria Shriver. A concise little book that points out some of the important things in life.

I am reading Marianne Williamson's The Gift of Change. It is a good book but I am finding I have to mine it for the gems and the process is taking a long time. Basically the concept is that we create our lives through our thoughts, words and actions and to change anything in our world we must change ourselves. We must BE the change we want in our lives and in our world.

Anyway, I thought I would share a bit of what has been going IN lately and I am hoping that with the new things I am doing there will be a change for me in my life.

Almost forgot the chairs!!

Hey! I just checked my to do list and realized I had wanted to share with you guys the photo of the new chairs!! We are very happy with them even if the process did take 5 weeks longer than we had at first expected!! They will fit in nicely with the colour scheme and we anticipate they will last us another 30 years!! It is hard to believe they have been around for almost that long already and have been there through all the kids and the house renovations!! Maybe these ones will see grandchildren and other kinds of transformations!!

Speaking of food!

Hey! I thought I would share this recipe I got off the internet for Strata!! It is very similar to the quiche that Katherine made at Christmas but without the crust (read calories!!) and can be made ahead so is a real time saver!!

Asparagus Strata (another way to use asparagus, Richard)

9 eggs
2 cups of milk
3 slices of bread, cubed
1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated ( used Monterey Jack the last time)
1 lb of sausage, cooked and drained (used ham and less of it - expect you could leave it out)
2 cups of asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
4 oz of mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and refrigerate overnight or all day. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes in 9x13 pan. It warms up easily and freezes well for lunches.

I thought you all could use a quick and easy supper idea!! I like that I can make it up early in the morning and have all day free and supper is only 45 minutes away once Dad gets home.

I noticed as well that there were quite a few crock pot recipes on line so I think I will investigate a few of those because making supper in the pot in the morning and having it ready for supper is really great!! I am not sure if any of you have crock pots. I think so - maybe Katherine and Suzanne. Anyway, nice to have supper ready when you get home or an easy way to get the guys to cook!! Speaking of guys cooking!!

Dad made supper the other night - pork loin roast with baked parsnips and potatoes!! It was great!! He got the recipe from a magazine he took out of the library and followed the recipe exactly!! It was so good. He rested the meat after taking it out of the oven - very nice and juicy!!

Hugs!! MOM

The old and the new!!

Here you can really see how much difference the new stain makes to the look of the oak!! Dad has a plan for getting the rest of it done as well. We will put up pictures as the work progresses!!

I am so excited for all of you with new places! Richard is putting up pictures and making his room his own. Katherine and Gil have already bought the paint for their new place when RONA had a "buy 2 and get one free" sale! The colours sound awesome and it makes me wish I was close enough to come over on a weekend to help out. Suzanne and Sal's house looks like it will clean up very well!!

My heart is big with love and pride for all of you!! You are capable, generous, engaged and happening people!!

Railing changes!!

We have been struggling with exactly what to do with the railing on the staircase to upstairs. It is so yellow and does not blend at all with our colour scheme!! Anyway, Dad decided the other day that he would attempt to strip the oak and stain it with a white pickled oak stain to soften it and make it match more with the kitchen cupboards. It was going to be a daunting job because he thought it would have to be done in place all the while trying to protect the carpet on the stairs. It turns out that the individual spindles can be removed!! Who knew!! So the spindles and the railings on the actual staircase were all removed, scraped and stained and finished with a non yellowing (we'll see!!) and Dad has started putting it back together. He has been working pretty diligently on it for the last two weeks. It is looking really good!!! It will make such a difference to the look of the house - it will be a real asset. We recognize that when we (your Dad) do something someone else is not likely to, it adds value to our house. We have done it so many times - digging all that dirt from under the house on Somerville, planting railroad ties for the deck, layout out the patio stones on Werrell Crescent, etc, etc!! Your Dad has had the vision for a lot of renovations that have paid off!! ( I have been doing stuff for the craft guild)

The new loveseat!!

Hey! We have had the loveseat for a month or so now and just love it!! It is very comfortable and it's wonderful that we can both relax and be comfortable on it. I have tried it out for a nap and it works pretty good!! No food allowed!

It is great for watching TV!! We have mostly been watching the FOOD channel because so many of our shows have been repeats. I expect some of them will not survive to next season.

Spring Arts & Craft Show

Hey! It has been a busy time!! Carol Morden and I have organized the Trenton Craft Guild Spring Arts & Craft show which took place last Saturday!! We had a full show!! A new thing for the spring show!! Yeah!! It required advertising for crafters, answering phones, connecting with people, getting applications out, making sure we had everything we needed from them, answering questions and providing information but in the end we were full almost two weeks before the show. Still amazing how much needs to be done. I helped set up the hall on Friday so that I would know how to do it. Pretty easy with a layout. We have a good group and it went off without a hitch. We had better attendance than last year but people were not really in a buying mood so sales were low. I just recovered the $55 it cost me for my space. I expect that people were not yet really aware of how close Easter was.
I made soap for this show. Looked pretty awesome but there were no takers. I am hoping to develop a few new products to keep people interested. I need to be more proactive though because R&D takes time and I am usually running until the end.

Catching up!!

There has been so much happening! I am president of the Trenton Craft Guild again this year. I am also on the show committee and Carol and I are responsible for the Spring show which is happening on March 25th. We have put out a call for crafters and the calls and requests for information are coming regularly. I am also on the advertising committee so have been creating and putting up posters.

I also have my monthly cardmaking sessions the 3rd week of every month and I need to make all new kits for February because I sold every last kit in January!! I have fourteen for February already lined up. I will be doing a half sheet One Sheet Wonder with the cardstock pieces I created in November when Suzanne and I reglued the foams onto the Colourbox pads I gave her. That will give each person 5 cards to create. It is a new technique I first tried in early December for a class and enjoyed it. It works well for creating several cards in one session.

I am organizing a Stampin Up party for next week as well. I have 6 confirmed with a few maybes. Will be a fun evening. Brian called today and the chairs will be finished by Friday!! Yeah!! I am glad they will be back for the SU party on Tuesday night. I have a new SU demo who arrived from Moose Jaw in August and should have a whole new take on the process.

I shopped for fabric and linens on Friday and spent the weekend sewing up tablecloths, dishcloths, tea towels and potholders for my kitchen. I did manage to get them all finished but it did take the better part of the weekend. I have eggplant tea towels and dishcloths which I made up from some small tea towels I found at Liquidation World. Bought a few extra because I will never see them again. I bought a double flat sheet to make a foundational tablecloth in a plum colour. Bought fabric for the top tablecloth at the quilting place. Paid a premium price but it had all the colours I was wanting including the colour of our new chairs. A bit of a busy pattern but that works well for a tablecloth. I would have preferred a more watercoloured design. Happy with it all!! Been a long time since I bought NEW kitchen linens.

I have had a few small art projects in the midst of all of this as well.

The weather has been warm and not at all winter like!! The tulips just don't know what to do!!

Magnolia is framed and up!!

We went and picked up our magnolia print at Michael's last night! It looks great and even better on the wall in the kitchen eating area! It framed up larger than I thought it would. It has a silver metal frame, lilac and fiddlehead mats and non glare glass. We bought this print at a outdoor fair in Florida somewhere and have been carrying it around in its triangular box since!! It goes wonderfully well with our smoky plum colour on the walls. I now need to find some fabric to make up a tablecloth. Not really easy to find coordinating colours but I will keep at it until I find something suitable. We also went and chose our vinyl for the chairs. We are getting all eight chairs redone in a medium taupe colour. Should go well with the colours and hopefully last us another 20+ years!! We also bought paint for the front entrance and tinted primer for the main floor bathroom and living room. We are trying to decide between balsam green or a gray for the living room/dining room.

Hoar Frost

Here is a picture of the wonderful hoar frost which was all over the place at Memere's. Dad took this picture just behind the garage. We took a whole bunch of pictures - even some on the way home from St. Paul. We went to buy a light switch for Memere's fabric room while they were off fishing. It was a beautiful day!!

We sent off your CDs of pictures on Monday so you should have them by the end of the week!!

We are back!!

We spent a wonderful end of 2005 in Cold Lake!! Lots of food, fun and family!! It was great to see and hug everyone!

Glad you all could come and spend some time. Katherine and Gil and Sasha and Andre and Stubbs - Thanks for hosting!

We spent our first three days back quietly just being!! Christmas lights, a bit of Christmas food from the freezer and time to reconnect. It was great!