15 days

Our department secretary wrote this on the board on Friday:

I think it was meant to put the fear of God into the students... especially those who are behind in their work. (I teach in a self-directed program, you may remember, so the students are responsible for their own work schedules - with some limits, of course.)

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It succeeded in putting some panic into me!

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This is such a busy weekend and things don't seem to be slowing down for the next three weeks either.

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Last night Mr. P and I went "Christmas shopping". We didn't buy anything, really, because we don't know what to buy. Should have planned ahead.

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Today is pie-making day. Every Christmas we made meat pies (beef and pork with summer savoury). Mr. P makes the filling; I make the pastry (because, apparently, I make the best pastry in the world). He's doing the meat right now so I'll be going down to the kitchen to make pastry and "build" those pies in a few minutes.

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The OnlyChild wants to go to a Christmas craft sale today. She's still in bed, though (hey, it's only noon).

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Tonight, the OnlyChild and I have tickets to the theatre.

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Tomorrow is cleaning day. I usually try to clean Friday nights or Saturday mornings, but I'm not going to clean before pie-making. That would defeat the purpose. So, tomorrow it is...

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Tomorrow is also Christmas decoration day, when I put out the hundreds of snowmen and other items for the season. The only thing we don't do is put up the tree. We'll do that in a week or two because we have a real tree.

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And, of course, there is the 50lbs of marking I brought home to do. I was so productive this week (no sarcasm there - I really was!) and was rewarded by being given yet more work. I can't really complain (but I will) because it means the students are doing their work, which is what I want them to do ultimately.

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So... it promises to be a fun weekend.

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Oh, and you might be happy to hear that I did finish my paper and submitted it the day before it was due - so no more complaining about that one (I have another one due next Monday; you'll hear about it instead haha). Yay! I rewarded myself Thursday night with two episodes of Mad Men and knitting a hat. I will post pics of the hat soon - I need to buy a BIG button for embellishment.

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I hope you're having a holly jolly weekend!

☺

Sinta's 100th

Sinta is celebrating her 100th post with a wonderful giveaway.

Visit her at Pink Pincushion to find out how you can win this sweet pincushion and lovely book.

And... I wish a very happy Thanksgiving to my American bloggy friends. Enjoy your day!

True Confessions

I laughed when I read Camille's "Confession" post today. I guess everyone has their little secrets.


Let's clear the air a bit...

* I have a paper due on Friday and I haven't started it yet. Every time I get into it, I'm distracted by something else on the computer.

* When I get home from work, I take off all my jewelry and change into pajamas. Even if I get home from work at 4:00 pm.

* My young, good-looking neighbour is renovating his house and often works without wearing a shirt. Enough said.

* I have never had a massage. Ever.

* Last night, I watched three back-to-back episodes of Mad Men online while doing some knitting... and not working on that paper I was supposed to be writing.

* I love my old RexCat but I wish his 'time' was near because he messes all over the basement all the time. I stepped in some of his mess tonight while doing laundry and had to throw away my slippers.

* My sewing room is a bona-fide disaster zone. I care, but at the same time I don't.

* I wear hand-me-downs from the OnlyChild because I can't be bothered to go shopping for my own clothes.

* I told Mr. P not to buy me Christmas gifts this year because I'd rather spend the money on a trip to Paris next summer.

Whew, I feel so much better. How about you... what are your not-so-dirty little secrets?

i need to quit my job

I won't, of course. But it's getting in the way of sewing time.

These two BOM blocks need to be finished. They were put together days ago and haven't seen the needle of the sewing machine yet. Look at this one from Bunny Hill, all forlorn with its blue marks for embroidery stitches. The poor little squirrel doesn't even have an eye yet.

And this beautiful leaf and acorn block from A Legacy of Stitches. It deserves to be stitched too.

Then there's the Swanky quilt I'm making for the OnlyChild's best friend. With any luck, she will actually get it for Christmas.

I started this table topper (made with leftover blocks from my Hometown quilt) over a year ago. I was planning to hand-quilt it but soon got tired of that. The other day I put it on the sewing machine to just get it finished, but ran out of time. So there it sits, waiting... waiting...

It snowed Friday night. Yep, it's officially Snowvember here! Mr. P's neck must be getting cold because I still don't have his black-and-orange-minus-the-orange scarf made. I'm workin' on it. This is my "watching television" project. I guess I don't watch enough t.v. or it would be done by now.

If I quit my job (my reasoning goes), I would have the time to complete all these projects and more, decorate the house for Christmas, go shopping for presents, mail out parcels, cook regular meals, clean more than once a week, do everyone's laundry and train the dogs properly.

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How do you think Mr. P will respond to those arguments?

haiku to bring sleep

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Sleep, it's essential.

The bed is your blue-moon friend;

You worship in dreams.

I dream that I am sleeping here... at the Palace of Versailles...

Or here... in a plantation house in Napoleonville, Louisiana. (I did sleep in this bed.)
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Ahhh... sleep. My little poem brought you to me.

tired + caffeine = rough day tomorrow

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Yikes, I'm tired.

For the last two nights, I haven't slept at all. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration; I must have slept a bit. But it feels like I've been awake for days.

I never sleep well on Sunday nights - all kinds of things run through my head: did I do enough work this weekend? do I have everything ready for school tomorrow? what will I wear? why did I sleep until 9:00 this morning?

Then last night I came home from work and promptly fell asleep in the chair (instead of going to the gym. sigh). That made it hard to fall asleep at bedtime.

So what do I go and do? Silly me... I went to a meeting tonight and had 2 (yes, TWO) cups of coffee. The not decaffeinated kind. I can't handle caffeine in the mornings, never mind at 8:00 at night.

Now it's nearly midnight and I'm WIDE AWAKE, bouncing off the walls, and feeling a bit nauseated because I'm also extremely TIRED.
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It's gonna be a rough day tomorrow.

Uh huh!

Weekend

My weekend started out like this... with a giant bag o' marking.

But it got better. Yesterday was the official start of the Christmas season with festivities down by City Hall.

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I know it seems quite early for Christmas activities, but here in Canada we don't have an anchor holiday like the U.S. Thanksgiving to tell us when we should start. Plus, if we wait until late November or early December, it's too bloody cold for outdoor events.

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Downtown is nicely decorated...
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And at the appointed hour (5:00 pm - just when it began to get dark-ish), the Mayor and Santa Claus flipped the big switch...
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to turn on the Christmas tree lights.
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Ooohhh... aaahhhh. There were fireworks too!

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We were actually a bit surprised that they even called it a "Christmas" tree, since that's not considered politically correct anymore. It might be offensive to someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, you know.... In fact, City Hall is no longer allowed to display a creche (nativity scene) because our government is supposed to be completely secular.

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All cynicism aside, I love Christmas and the whole season.

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After the downtown festivities, Mr. P, the OnlyChild and I went out for dinner. It was nice.
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Then we went home and watched a movie... well, Mr. P watched a movie and I finished my Seed Scarf.
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I like it. It's long and warm. There are a couple of twists in it, since it was my first time knitting on circular needles, but I think I can live with that. It was a learning experience. I plan to make another one... without the twists.
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Mr. P requested that I make him a scarf too. He asked for black and orange (Philadelphia Flyer colours - I'm not sure if he was joking...) but I think plain black will do nicely.

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Today was supposed to be a nice, sunny day with temps hitting about +10 celsius (about 50 degrees fahrenheit), but I don't think it got that warm. AbbyDog and I went for a walk this morning down in the River Valley.

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Brrr... there was ice floating in the river.
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AbbyDog loves a walk. She tugs on the leash quite a bit, especially in the first few minutes, but today she settled down nicely. She's much friendlier around other dogs than Derby is so I don't worry about meeting people with their canines on the path.
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Isn't she sweet? There's something about the tops of their heads that I just love. Those little triangular ears...
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We strolled around the neighbourhood a bit, too, stopping at the local yarn shop, which never seems to be open. I would love to shop local and make all my yarn purchases there, but every time I go over they're closed.
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Look at this cute little fella in the window!
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When we got home, Mr. P was out putting up the Christmas lights. We won't light them until the end of the month, but he thought he'd better get them up before the snow flies. It's quite unusual for there to be none by mid-November, so we are lucky.
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We have them around the eaves and windows and along the hedge out front (which, according to Mr. P is a pain, but he does it for me). I promise to show photos when we turn them on.
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I hope you had a lovely weekend. I've got the Sunday Evening Blues but I'm already looking forward to next weekend which includes quilting the Swanky quilt I made, a birthday party for my friend Patt Saturday night, and possibly the Homes for the Holidays tour on Sunday. Gotta love looking at other people's houses all dressed up for Christmas!

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Have a great week! ☺