Frosty the Snowman

Considering THIS ...... is the view from my balcony, Frosty the Snowman would be an appropriate ear worm. However, the song that's been running through my head all day ... damn CBC Radio and Daybreak North! ... is I'll Be There With Bells On by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Most annoying!

Seriously though ... 'tis the season! Our office has been busy receiving donations for our Christmas Hampers program, and I find myself brought to tears by the generosity of this community. Things like this ...... handmade mini Christmas stockings for our Meals on Wheels clients ... really brings the message home that this is a CARING community! I guess that's why I stuck around here after finishing my degree even though I had only planned on a brief two-year visit.

So how was YOUR weekend?

I took myself shopping on Friday night ... NOT a good thing to do this time of year, but I was on a mission. First, I wanted some new chair pads for the dining room chairs ...

... RED of course. Well, actually more of a burgundy. Suede. From Jysk (the local equivalent of Ikea), naturally. I also bought myself a bookcase and these three little cutesie moose (mooses? sometimes English baffles me) ...... because they are entertaining and one can never have too many candle holders.

On Saturday, I put together my new bookcase (haven't got to unpacking books yet) ...... which pretty much matches the Jysk china cabinet ...... that I bought and put together last summer. It's a good place from which Plum Blossom (the ceramic cat) can keep an eye on things. (The weird object sprouting upright branches on the left is a lamp ... what can I say? ... it was a housewarming gift!) Little by little, I'm turning this place into home instead of poor-student-with-no-belongings-digs! I've even got things on the walls, such as these little shelves ...

In my last couple of spaces, I never got around to putting things on the walls. I guess I knew I wasn't going to stay there very long.

One thing I miss in this place is lack of a kitchen window. Couldn't very well have a kitchen window in an apartment block ... it would look into the neighbour's bathroom, and ... well ... NO THANKS! On Sunday, I put up a little faux kitchen curtain ...

... over my sink. It's on one of those spring rods so it doesn't require screws or nails in the cupboards. It gives me the feeling of a country kitchen, and I can wash dishes and let my imagination conjure up country fields on the other side of my illusionary window. Don't laugh! It works!

Funny story ... I moved into this apartment last July, and have moved my sewing machine back and forth between livingroom, bedroom, dining room, back to bedroom, back to livingroom, etc. No corner in the place felt right for it! Eventually, I settled for a spot under my bedroom window ... which I'm now seriously regretting as I keep my bedroom window open a bit year round, even in minus twenty weather, and now it's too COLD to sit and sew under my bedroom window!

That's NOT the funny part of the story (but you can laugh if you want)! In the process of all that moving back and forth, I lost the foot pedal for my sewing machine! I knew perfectly well that it was SOMEWHERE in this apartment, that I had put it somewhere perfectly SAFE ... I just couldn't figure out where! So I sewed my little faux kitchen curtain BY HAND. Really not such a big deal ... a quick hem on both sides, a rod pocket on the top, and a nice deep hem along the bottom. Took all of half an hour. Would have taken five minutes or less had I been able to find the foot pedal for my sewing machine!

Sunday evening, I checked the weather report (minus 18) and decided I'd better dig a winter hat out for the next morning's commute to work. Guess what I found hanging right inside my storage room ... in a plastic bag marked SEWING MACHINE PARTS - DO NOT THROW OUT! Yes, the missing foot pedal! It was certainly safe!

My last little burst of creativity on Sunday was arranging a few pine cones and cinnamon sticks in this glass bowl for the little half-table in my entrance hallway ...

... the cinnamon smells so nice and homey when you walk in!

WAIT A DING DANG MINUTE!!!

WHO PUT THOSE CHRISTMAS BALLS IN THE BOWL???