Saying goodbye

Just over six years ago, Mr. P and I bought a house on Prince Edward Island. He was born and grew up there, and we always planned on retiring "back home". We found this old farmhouse, built in 1929, on 5 1/2 acres of land in the Eastern end of the Island and fell in love with it. It's surrounded by red dirt and potato fields, and the ocean is across the road. Our nearest neighbours rest quietly in the Catholic cemetery, so it's a peaceful setting. I loved puttering around the house, hanging laundry on the line, reading on the veranda (maybe you can see my chair tucked into the nook on the left side of the picture below), and receiving visitors. Over the years we have done some renovations to the property: removed carpeting, new paint, totally re-did the bathroom (except for the floor), rebuilt the veranda, and created a lawn out of a hayfield.

This morning, after I ate my oatmeal, I signed the papers to sell the house. It's breaking my heart. I had plans and dreams for this house, including a fabulous studio/sewing room in the attic.
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But the place is a bit of a money pit. It's on the other side of the country from where we live so we don't get there every summer and it costs far too much to travel when we do. It's unbelievably expensive to heat in the winter so we haven't been heating it, and the effects are starting to show in the lathe and plaster walls. Plus, in the past it's caused some, um, disagreements between us because Mr. P's family lives on the Island and he always wants to drive around to visit them while I prefer not to spend all my vacation days sitting in his mother's living room watching daytime TV. Last but not least, Mr. P, who used to be a school principal, recently switched jobs and now doesn't get his summers off (he is already regretting that) so the prospects of us spending another whole summer at the house are pretty dim.
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Goodbye sweet house. Goodbye future dreams. Goodbye ocean breezes.
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Sigh. I know there's an upside to this somewhere and I will discover it, but for now I'm pretty bummed out. So much so that I haven't even felt like sewing for the past few days. Gasp!
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Sigh again.
(no smiley face today)

I forgot...

Sorry about that... I forgot to post my weekly silly cartoon for Loser Monday. Here it is. That's me on Saturday. haha.

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Lost and Found

Hey all you Losers out there! If you lost weight this week, I may know where it's hiding. Do you want it back? @#$&*! I gave up SWEETS and I think my body is punishing me! Someone at work suggested that I may be overcompensating for giving up what I love by eating more of other foods. There may be some truth in that. But, honestly, you'd think I would be rewarded just a tiny little bit for my dedication. Sigh. I am sitting at the SAME number this week, leaving me with still 14 lbs to lose. When will this madness end? Maybe I'm supposed to remain a chubby little thing. Maybe I need to try harder? I don't know.

So, a new week, a new resolve. I feel like crap this morning and I wish I could just take the day off. But it's a well-known fact among teachers that it's easier to go into work than to call in sick.

I'm posting a couple of pictures from the homefront to show you what March looks like here. The first photo was taken out the bedroom window (yes, through the glass - it was minus 20 degrees celsius yesterday and is even colder this morning - and dark, stupid daylight savings time).

And this is a picture of the back yard. So now you know... while you're talking about jonquils and leafing through seed catalogues, we're still bundled under blankets, using the seat warmers in the car, and wearing layer upon layer of clothing when we venture out of the house.

I finished my scarf and sewed on some lace and buttons. But I wasn't sure I liked it. I like the idea, but for me this is a bit overdone. I considered taking my stitch-ripper to it and making it naked again because I probably wouldn't wear it like this. Knowing me, I'd smack myself right in the eye with one of the buttons or get my hair all tangled in them. But then the OnlyChild came into my sewing room and saw it sitting on the cutting table. She ooohed and aahed over it, so I gave it to her. I'll make another one for me and forgo the fancy accessories.

And a Saturday morning project to show you. I just love those Pink Penguin baskets, so I made one to take to the wedding shower/staggette party I went to this weekend. The bride-to-be loved it (and the goodies tucked inside).

And speaking of that party... it was a blast! All of us in our fanciest pajamas - we went bowling and out to dinner and rode around in a limosine (dancing in the back). Then we went to the hostess's house for chocolate fondue (no, I didn't have one single bite!) and chick flicks. I dragged my tired butt home at 2 o'clock in the morning (3 o'clock, if you count Spring Forward). I can't remember the last time I stayed out that late or had that much fun! I don't have any pictures because (duh) I forgot to take my camera, but there were plenty of photos snapped and I'm sure someone will email me a few. I'll post when I get some, I promise, then you can laugh at my silliness.

The hostess, SIL-to-be of the bride-to-be, is a very clever girl. Just look at our party favours!

Everyone got to pick a pair of slippers. Of course I went straight for the pair with chocolates on them. If I can't eat it, I can still look at it, right?

Talk to you later!

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Sick of Winter and Dreaming of Spring

This picture from snow-men.com very accurately illustrates my present feelings about the lingering winter weather. The ground is white, the sky is white, and we're expecting yet more of the cold, white stuff tomorrow. Bah! I keep reading on other people's blogs about the flowers blooming and the temperatures reaching 90 degrees fahrenheit (which is 32 celsius - hot!). I really need a dose of that Spring weather right now!

I had some paper snowflakes adorning the window of my office at school. I took them down this afternoon because it suddenly occurred to me that I might be sending out the wrong message to Mother Nature. What if she takes my decorations as an invitation to keep winter around longer? Noooooooo. By Monday I should have some flowers and butterflies up. Do you think that would work?

If not, maybe this will:

It's the March block from Bunny Hill's BOM. Don't you just love that little bunny? I am scheming ways to use him on other items - maybe an Easter bag for the OnlyChild? This was my project tonight while Mr. P and the OnlyChild went to a hockey game. It was so nice to have the house to myself. I dusted, vacuumed and mopped when I got home from work this afternoon so I was FREEEEEEE, and able to pursue my own interests for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow I will be attending a wedding shower. It's a pajama party and we all have to wear our best pjs. We will be going bowling in our pjs, out to supper in our pjs, then watching movies in our pjs. They're having a chocolate fondue - but you all know I cannot partake of that evil C-word, so I will have to happily munch on something else. Carrots, perhaps? Cauliflower? It should be fun, even if we do look like idiots running about the city in our pajamas. We'll all look silly together at least (and my pajamas are quite stunning).

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While you're cruising around blogland today, go and visit Jen at Miss Punkie Pie. She is having a giveaway for her 100th post! She'd love for you to pop by and leave a comment (and admire the cute little face of her daughter).

Have a great weekend.

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My husband has put me on a diet!

That sounds much worse than it really is. He didn't tell me I'm overweight or anything like that. Nope, he went to see a financial advisor last Friday and for the month of March we have to write down every penny we spend. Apparently, we're "bleeding money" - in other words, we spend here and there and it all adds up. Well, no kidding!

When we first got married (over 17 years ago!), Mr. P was the spendthrift. Money slipped through his fingers and out of his pockets like you wouldn't believe. I, on the other hand, had pangs of guilt when I bought towels, for goodness sake! Over the years, I've become a little freer in my spending and he has become a little wiser. We've met in the middle, I guess. But it seems that we still waste far too much on unnecessary luxuries so we're going on a spending diet for at least a month and will write down everything we spend and see where our money is going. All I can say is it's a good thing I ordered all these goodies from Lara's Etsy shop before we decided to do this! (They arrived yesterday and are more beautiful than the pictures show.)

Speaking of diets... my family is in shock. They cannot believe I actually cooked a healthy supper TWO nights in a row! Good suppers, too. Last night was chicken, potatoes (Mr. P made those) and veggies. Tonight: pork chops with apple chutney (made by me last fall), brown rice with almonds and nutmeg, and veggies. I love it when the food I made turns out good. Mr. P had seconds - even of the rice. He usually complains when I make brown rice, preferring white Minute Rice to the "stuff that takes forever to cook". I figured that if the pork chops needed to cook for 45 minutes, I could just put the rice on at the same time. Wow, the logic! I really don't enjoy cooking very much but there's nothing like a delicious meal made at home. Right now I have banana bread in the oven. 35 minutes to go. I'll take a picture and post when it's done so you can drool over it.

And now a project update. I finished my scarf from the pattern posted by golden bird. Here's a goofy picture of me wearing it. Yes, I took the photo in the bathroom using the mirror, just like a giddy teenager. Please ignore the strained smile, the orange sweatshirt I am wearing (I have work clothes and home clothes. I am home right now.) and the strings hanging (I haven't woven them in yet).

I plan to do something special with this scarf, inspired by heylucy. I love what she did to her scarf so I'm thinking of something similar. I just need to find some vintage lace - the buttons I have in abundance!

And I sewed some scrappy borders onto my skier test block. That's as far as I got with that. Monday night was open house at school, last night was a "gym night" (not to mention I cooked supper - I'd forgotten how time-consuming it is to eat properly), and tonight... well, I'm spending some time with my invisible friends from blogland.

So, here's the banana bread. I think "bread" is a misnomer. This is loaded with sugar and fat. I usually make 2 loaves - one for home and one for work. Look at all those chocolate chips. You know I won't be eating any of this - it's on the forbidden C list. That's okay. I prefer my bananas yellow with a touch of green, not mushy.

Ciao. (I'm practicing my Italian for the trip)

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Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake. ~Author Unknown

Good morning, and welcome to another edition of LOOOOOOOSER MONDAY! Today's show is brought to you by the letter "C". Let's see... what words begin with "C"? How about CAKE, CHOCOLATE, CANDY, COOKIES... and CAN'T have it.

Nearly a week has passed since I last indulged in the sweet goodness of all those things listed above. I'm not really missing them... okay, just a little maybe. But I've been good. I've been very good. So why isn't the scale rewarding me? I was actually UP 0.5 lb this morning. Hmmmmph. Maybe I should go back to eating ice cream for dinner... No, I'll just keep on trying - as we used to say at WW, maybe it will show on the scale next week!

Some of you may have been wondering whatever happened to the Let it Snow quilt I was working on, with the pine tree blocks (or maybe you have lives and hadn't even given it a thought). Anyway, I had to put it away for a few days so I could work on costumes for Open House (including a shirt for a three-headed person, a hat that looks like a tire, and a shirt covered in medals - don't ask). Open House is tonight, so I finished all that work yesterday and, after, I put together a "test block" of one of the appliqued skiers.

I used fusible web and then a tiny little straight stitch to secure all those little pieces. I also used invisible thread and I'm not sure if I like it. It's not as, um, invisible as I'd hoped it would be. But, I don't want to have to change thread after about 10 stitches either. I'm going to put some borders on this, sew it up into a pillow cover and toss it in the wash to see if it holds up.

And here's a little holiday happiness that I saw while out walking the other afternoon. The neighbours down the street have decorated for St. Patrick's Day (while keeping up some Valentine's Day decorations). Cute.

And you know what else is cute? Moda Honeybuns. V and Co. is having a giveaway and you could win! Tell her I sent you.

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Happy March, everyone. Can't you just smell Spring in the air? No? Not here, either. But I just know it's coming...

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Sombre Saturday

The saddest thing... one of my former students died in a car accident last weekend. She was only eighteen - a beautiful young lady, smart, friendly, with her whole life ahead of her. Her funeral was this morning and the church was packed with sobbing girls and sober-looking young men, friends, family, teachers. Everyone wore a touch of green (her favourite colour) and her uncle and aunt delivered a heart-wrenching eulogy. It was sad, but also very sweet.

Life is short, my friends. Do what makes you and those close to you happy. Pursue your dreams and passions.

I'm off to take my own advice.
XOXO