Finished!

• Another knitted project (trying to be cryptic here so I don't give too much info away)
• A quilt top and the backing. I'm going to pin it after work tomorrow. I like to use the classroom floors to lay out my quilts rather than do them on the hardwood at home. That would be a disaster! Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have an update on this saying that I'm finished the whole quilt, finally.
• Most of the marking that came in today - and tomorrow is a PD day so no kids at school!
• My very good book The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. I'm so sad it's done. Now what am I going to read...?

Some finishes are good; others not so much.

This week brought good mail! I received two cards from my ATC swap group. Our theme was "The Witching Hour."

The one on the left is from Stacy; the right hand card is from Cory. I think they're so beautiful!

And here are the cards I sent out for October. I made two different styles this month because I wanted to try both the witch stamp and the spider web.

Well, I think I'm also finished with this day. It's time for me to go to bed!

Night night.

☺

I Wanna

A few years back (ohhh, maybe about 13 or so), a lady I worked with encouraged me to make a "Spirit List", listing all the things I want to do in the short term or accomplish in life.

Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, and it veers off into the wacky zone a bit, I wanted to share it with you.

I Wanna...

• Sing the national anthem at a hockey game. I prefer “The Star Spangled Banner” to “O Canada” so it would have to be a night on which a U.S. team was visiting and I could sing both.


• Be a novelist. I would give up teaching (and all that dratted marking) in a split second if I knew for sure I could make money writing.


• Have a baby… but I won’t because I’m almost 40 and I have no desire to do all the work that accompanies having another baby.


• Live in Paris


• Rid my house of all the unwanted/unneeded stuff we’ve accumulated in the past 18 years.


• Design a best-selling quilt pattern… or a line of fabric.


• Strip the paint off all the woodwork in my house. Who does that anyway, paints over gorgeous wood? Lazy bums couldn’t be bothered to sand and revarnish.


• Host a fabulous party (and invite all of you).


• Fit into the medieval costume I made 4 years ago for Halloween. It’s a bit snug… almost there. Update: tried it on this weekend and it fits!!! I won’t be able to sit down in it, though.


• Spend time with my best friend Cheryl because I miss her.


• Play a musical instrument. I used to play the French horn, but it’s now gathering dust in my dining room.


• Buy back the Prince Edward Island house we sold in April. I’m still so sad about that house. The people who bought it, promising they were going to live there as artists, just flipped it.


• Be positive all the time and inspire other people.


• Volunteer for something really worthwhile.

So, what do you wanna do? Really, what would you put on your Spirit List?

I wanna know...

☺

Everybody wants to win...

...this giveaway!

You do too. Believe me. It's a doozy.

So head over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives and tell them Rachel sent you.

Or don't... and give me a better chance of winning. Whatever.

☺

A Visitor

This little fella was hanging out in our front yard yesterday afternoon. The dogs went crazy, barking at him through the window.

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I stepped outside to take a few photos and he sat nice and still for a while, but as soon as I started down the stairs, he took off through the hedge to the neighbour's lawn.

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We live in a fairly densely populated area, but close to the river valley. We see lots of rabbits around, even in the winter. And we can sometimes hear coyotes. I wonder where this guy lives when he's not touring around.

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How do I know it's a 'he'? Well, I don't. He wouldn't let me get close enough to lift up his tail.

☺

Today

Outside my window … it is overcast and dull. But at least it isn’t snowing.

I am thinking … about the work I have to do this weekend: marking, writing, planning and assignments for the course I’m taking.

I am thankful for … a warm and cosy house. And for my husband, who doesn't mind driving all over town for our daughter.

I am wearing … jeans, a black shirt and a long grey sweater.

I am remembering … how much I enjoyed being a stay-at-home mum for the year I was on maternity leave.

I am going … to try to finish my “Let it Snow” quilt this weekend. I decided to take off and re-do one of the borders because it didn’t quite line up properly.

I am reading … The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. It is a novel about the aftermath of the Columbine shootings. It’s amazing – as are his other two novels.

I am hoping … that I have some time to do what I want this weekend – sewing, knitting, reading.

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I am noticing that … our old cat, Rex, meows like he’s in pain. It’s the Siamese cat in him. The sound is piercing and annoying – especially at 3 in the morning.
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One of my favorite things … is having the house to myself for a couple of hours. If it’s any longer than that, I miss my family.

From my picture journal … this is a photo of a room at Orwell Corner Historic Village on Prince Edward Island. My mother and I visited the museum in the summer of 2008.

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From the Simple Woman's Daybook. You can play along here.

☺

I'm Melting

Well, not really. It is melting outside though. Temperatures went above freezing today so all that dratted snow is slowly sinking into the not-yet-frozen ground. And better news... it's supposed to go up to 16 celsius this weekend (that's about 61 fahrenheit). It will be like Spring here! I think we're doing our seasons in one-week stints this year, so by next week it will be up in the high 20s (80s) and I'll be wearing a bikini.... yeah, right.

Anyway, the wheels keep turning, time keeps slipping away. I'm running as fast as I can but I can't seem to catch up. All that work I did last weekend seems to have been for nothing because I'm behind again.

Deep breath... I'm off to dance class; the rest can wait!

☺

Breathe...

There are hundreds of tasks we feel we must accomplish in the day,

but if we do not take them one at a time

and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly,

as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass,

then we are bound to break our own physical and mental structure.

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- Ted Bergernine