JJ's BD afghan

Last fall I decided that my winter project would be to crochet an afghan for each of the kid's beds.  Dani couldn't decide on what colour she would like, and JJ's BD was the first one of the new year, so I decided to start his first.   I am not the speediest crocheter, and neck and back problems slowed me down even more, but on snowy winter afternoons, I am in my chair working with hook and wool.   Slowly but surely I am getting there.

Earlier this winter we took a picture of JJ with the project 1/3 done.   I want him to be able to use it to keep his toes and nose warm when he is a tall lanky teenager, so I will almost triple the length seen here.

It was only half done by his birthday this week, but he liked feeling all snug and warm wrapped up in it for a picture with Amma before he set off for school this morning.

Dani had a snuggle too.   I am thinking I will do hers in shades of purple, pink and mauve.  I'll post a picture when it is done, but don't hold your breath!

Freezing but fun!

Friday was a PD at the kid's school, so we were on duty for childcare.  They went to a party at their sitter's house in the morning, but the afternoon was up to us.  It was a bitter cold day, but we thought we would try some outdoor activity anyway, so we bundled up nice and warm and set off for the tobogganing hill.  

Here we are trekking over to the hill.  As is very typical, Danica is way out in front, and JJ is playing catch-up.  We had two toboggans, and two flying saucers.

The kids were a bit nervous on their first ride down the hill, so Buppa took them on the toboggan.

After that first ride though, they hopped on their flying saucers, and didn't need Buppa's help any more.   They flew down the hill with the greatest of ease, squealing with delight all the way down the hill.

The first couple of slides down the hill they held on tightly to the saucer, but after that they raised their hands in the air to make the ride more exciting.  The look on JJ's face says it all.  TOTAL FUN!

What joy!

Looks like JJ is reaching for something here...

Well he is!  He and Danica tried to High-five each other as they passed on the hill.

It was a very slippery walk up the hill, but they didn't complain a bit, and merrily climbed again and again and again.  Their little faces were bright red with cold and excitement, but they didn't want to leave when Buppa and I were turning into icy statues waiting for them at the bottom of the hill.

One last ride down the hill...

...and...

... it was time to pick up our saucers and go home.

We did stop for hot chocolate at Tim's, and that warmed us up nicely.  I am already looking forward to our next visit to the hill for some winter fun.

Walnuts...who knew?

AC and I were out walking one day, and we passed this house that had a chair sitting out by the sidewalk.  On the chair was a sign reading - FREE - 6 chairs, 1 table, 2 leaves!  We knew that Shauna was looking for a dining room table, so we ripped off the sign, each grabbed a chair and scurried back to our house with them to get the car.  It took us numerous trips to fit the remaining chairs and table in the car, but we managed it, and here it sits in Shauna's dining room/kitchen.  Looks good huh? 

On closer inspection, the finish on the chairs was faded and worn, so I decided to try the "walnut trick" I saw on Facebook.  It really works. 

I had a bag of walnut pieces, I use in my baking, in the cupboard, so I sprinkled a few out on the table, choose a nice big piece and set to rubbing it on the wood.  It works like magic.  Just a few pieces of walnut, and a little elbow grease, and voila...

Here is the before picture. 

This is the work in progress.

Another before picture

Work in progress.

Looks better huh?

They are stilled scratched and dinged in places, but all in all look much better.

JJ thinks the table makes an excellent fort.

I had a few spots on my kitchen cupboards that were dull and worn, so I set to work on them with some walnuts, and now they look like new.  It's amazing!

Love this picture

AC continue his struggle to help me get pictures from my iPad to my blog.  It really shouldn't be this hard though.  I only had to go through about a zillion hoops instead of a kazillion hoops to access the picture below.  Sheesh! 

I used to carry my camera everywhere, then I switched to my iPod, now I carry my iPad mini, and snap pictures freely.  It has been very frustrating not to be able to access these pics for a blog. Sigh!

Onward and forward into this frustrating world of iCloud photos. At least we manage to access a picture here and there.  Here's hoping for and increasing flow in the future.  Wish me luck.

We treated the kids to a trip to Tim's for their after-school snack yesterday, and I managed to snap this pic of a big hug for Buppa.  

Getting the "cold shoulder" from my new iPad

No, I haven't been on Mars, but it feels like that at times when I try to make contact with my new iPad to post some pics on this blog.  My camera has been given a rest since getting my new iPod in May, and now my new iPad mini.  I have been happily snapping pictures all during the holiday season with my new toys, but darned if I can access them on my computer and get them up on the blog.  Groan!

After I got the iPod with a camera, AC figured out a way for my pictures to upload automatically to a file on my PC.  I could easily  access them when it came time to put a blog together, and I was a happy camper. 

Since getting my new iPad, my pictures seem to stay in the cloud up near Mars, and won't come down.  The iPod and iPad share pics, but I can't get them from there to my blog without going through numerous and complicated hoops.  Sigh!

AC worked diligently to access some pics for me, but what a pain that was.  I have over 200 fun pics of the holiday celebrations on my iPad, and I can't get them over here like I used to.  We will continue to work on it though.

In the meantime, here a three pics we took on our icy walk the other day.

Tree on our front lawn.

AC headed out into the snowy/icy cold, but I stayed inside the car at this stop, and took pics from that vantage point.

We spend lots of time on this bench in the summer months, sipping coffee, listening to music, and soaking in the beauty of life on the river.  

So, keep checking back to see if we finally mastered the puzzle of how to get my pics from the iPad to my PC.  If we can't figure it out soon, I'll go back to toting my camera around and leave the iPad at home.

Ringing in the new...

Happy New Year one and all.  AC and I rang in the new year in style last night with some good friends.  It was quite a change from last year at Riverwood when we had snow up to the rafters at the farm, and our celebration was all about wool and warmth.  This year it was nothing but glitz and glitter with not a speck of snow in sight.

Tree and guests were aglow and a good time was had by all

Frances looks relaxed doesn't she? 

I wonder what Helene was telling Ivy here.

Ivy's house had "magazine layout" beautiful Christmas decor

Guests gathered round the dinning room table around 11pm for a New Year's Eve feast.

There was plenty of room for everyone.

And lots of wine to go around.

At the stroke of midnight we were all ready with glitter bombs and noise makers.  AC had a noise maker with a mine of its own. What a hoot.

Helene had a wonky one too, and these crazy noise makers sent us all into gales of laughter. 

Too, too, funny.

I wish I had a camera with a faster shutter speed to catch the action here.  Helene is laughing so much she can hardly get any action from her noise maker.

Glitter bombs exploded all over the table, and a fine but fun mess was made.

This is kind of blurry, but a fun shot of Ivy getting into the swing of things.

No words needed here.

Good friends enjoying a NYE hug

Coffee circle friends celebrating in style

Audrey and Ray

Ivy and Al, the perfect hostess and host.

NY hug

Thanks dear friend for a fun and fabulous evening.  Let's do it again next year.

Christmas Dance Class 2014

It was fun to attend Dani's ballet class before Christmas, and watch her go through some of the exercises. Rather than try to comment on each pic, I'll let them speak for themselves.

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