Scarlet Growth Chart @ 10 Months

The last 10 months have just flown by.   It's that time again to post Scarlet and Sushi's growth chart.  I'm not sure what the next two months will bring in terms of photo sessions with these two little wiggle worms laying still for the same pose, so stay tuned for the results.

Scarlet and Sushi 1 month thru to 9 months old.

Scarlet and Sushi 1 month thru to 9 months old.

Bonnie

Ooo-Ooo-OP-rah !!

My awesome kids gave me the surprise of a lifetime for my birthday this month.  Tickets to see Oprah LIVE in Hamilton Ontario.  It has always been a dream of mine to go to one of Oprah’s shows, but this one … well it just was takes the cake!   She did NOT disappoint.

When I opened my gift it was a very large coffee table book called ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show – Reflections on an American Legacy’. The book commemorates the shows most memorable episodes and life changing lessons and yes… it sits on my coffee table.  Attached to the front of the book was a little black envelope and I wasn’t sure what it was and when I opened it  - it was 3 tickets to the show. I was speechless, and trust me – THAT doesn’t happen often.

So my daughter Niki and her husband Shawn took me to the show and as we were approaching, I was getting really excited and I said, “I don’t think there are any more surprises you guys could get me for my birthday – this is the best!”

We arrive, walk through the lobby and immediately notice a large crowd of people and we wondered what was going on.  Could it be Oprah!??  No.  But....there was a life size cut-out of Oprah and people were standing beside it getting their picture with her.  The lineup was so big so we decided to come back, but when we did the cut out was gone and I was so disappointed because I really wanted to get a picture and frame it on the wall.  Strategically place on the wall at the perfect distance – I hoped I could fool people that I really met Oprah and had my picture taken with her.  (I guess I’ll save that and add it as another item to my bucket-list)

My camera works best for outdoor shots, but I was able to get a couple of video clips to share. 

 

Before we left for the show that evening my daughter Holly said, “Are you going to take notes mom!”  and of course I replied, “Well …I just might”.  And I tossed a small notebook in my purse just in case. Well to be honest, I really did want to take notes; however, I was too caught up in the moment. And if Oprah taught me anything it was to "BE IN The Moment."  I just didn’t want to take my eyes off the stage.   

Oprah looked gorgeous.  She was wearing a flowing pale yellow gown and I was just beautiful.  (It’s true… the camera really does add pounds because Oprah looks much thinner in real life…which... has confirmed to me that I no longer want to pursue a career on screen.  I guess I’ll take that one off my bucket list.) 

The pictures below are a tad blurry, but given the distance we were from the stage, they didn't turn out too bad. 

One of the messages Oprah spoke to was this: 

There is a thread that runs and connects all of our life experiences. Whatever it is, you are not born with this purpose to keep it to yourself. Regardless of what you are doing, you need to be doing it in service to others.

"Not everyone can be famous, but every can have the opportunity to be great as everybody has the opportunity to serve others." Dr. King

If it doesn't feel like you are where you need to be, change it. Look to your thread. There is always a thread. Look to your thread.

Then she shared her story of when she was a little girl and how she felt when she was in front of the class or in front of the other people in her church reading aloud, or sharing a story and how great she felt doing this.  This was her thread. Look to your thread.

Her hair stylist Andre told her he remembers being 5 years old and styling the hair on his sisters Barbie dolls.  Look to your thread.  She told other hilarious stories of people and the connection to their thread.  Look to your thread.

Oprah spoke for over 2 hours and when she was finished she was interviewed by Canada’s own George Stroumboulopoulos.  He immediately presented her with a pair of memory foam slippers, not only because she LOVES slippers, but also because she was standing in her high heels all night. 

The entire show was entertaining, comical, uplifting, inspirational, educational, spiritual, motivational, and thought provoking.

While we were driving home Niki,  Shawn and I were discussing our favourite parts of the show and I said, “I wonder what my thread has to do with Mrs. Beasley?”  It was the most vivid memory I had at an early age and because it has always been so special to me, I assumed that it has something to do with my thread. (Those of you who are followers have read about my fascination with my Mrs. Beasley doll when I was little.   You can read about her here.)

A few days later it dawned on me that perhaps that wasn’t supposed to be my thread. There was another moment in my child hood that connects to where I am today.  I wrote about it last year in an article that was published in an Office Administration text book that is being used in colleges throughout Canada today. (I am unable to upload the PDF of the article, but if you are interested in reading it in full, just comment and I’ll reply to your email with a copy of the PDF – if someone knows how to upload a PDF on a Blogger.com account – please share).

The article was entitled “I went from computer illiterate to Executive Assistant for a CEO in only 8 years – This is my journey…”

Excerpt from the beginning of the article: As a young girl I remember admiring the secretary at my public school and thinking “I want to do what she does when I grow up.”  She was efficient, knowledgeable and professional and she left an impression just walking down the hall.  But then again, it might have had something to do with her red shiny shoes!

The article went on to share my journey.

Excerpt from the ending of the article: Hard work and perseverance got me where I am today; recognizing good and bad stress is essential to success. Sometimes, sitting at my desk feeling overwhelmed, I look down at my feet and visualize my own “red shiny shoes”.  I am reminded how far I have come and affirm to myself that I am efficient, knowledgeable and professional.

So Oprah has really got me thinking and “Looking to my thread”...

• Is this my thread? 
• Is this where I am supposed to be? 
• Is there something more to my story?
• Is Mrs. Beasley behind an upcoming change in my life?

All I know right now is that not only am I "Looking to my Thread" – I’m looking FOR my thread because I am about to sit down and start stitching for the rest of the evening. In fact, I think I’ll use my pretty hand dyed thread that Miss Jayne with a Y gave to me last year and I’ve been saving it for something special.  But what will I stitch? 

Wait a minute.

I I’ve got it! 

I’ll use my thread to read “Look to your thread!”

Now I know this year's Brentwood project. 

Bonnie

p.s. I apologize for the annoying spacing issues in this post.  After fighting with it for a ridiculous amount of time I decided to cut that thread and just go to bed.  Tomorrow - out the door bright and early with Tracey for our 'twice delayed' and much awaited annual Birthday(s) outing.  Stay tuned for that adventure.  Tracey, I hope you don't forget your camera or we could have a really boring post about this year's adventure.

Scarlet Growth Chart @ 9 Months

Oh my goodness, 9 months old already!!   As our faithful followers know, each month I take a picture of my grand daughter Scarlet with my crazy cat Sushi.  The second I put the blanket on the floor the cat is right there ready for the photo. 

  It appears my grand daughter knows how to flip the bird.

Beautiful Blue Eyes!

Sushi is so patient with Scarlet. 

Once Scarlet learns how to sit still and cuddle, I can see these two spending many hours lounging together.

Bonnie

Spring... Really??

Even though it's officially the season of spring on the calendar, it's really hard to believe when you look out our window here today.

My mantle was calling out for a new spring feel, so it was time for an update.  I don't have a lot of Easter decor (I find that most of the stuff out there is too childish for my liking), so my glass egg is the only thing "Easter" on the mantle and the rest is a tribute to spring.

  

You gotta love Pinterest!  That's where I stole saw this idea for the kaleidoscope of paper butterflies flitting up the wall. I think it adds that certain dimension to the overall display.  Plus the colours just make me ☺

Now that it says Spring inside, I'm ready any time for it to warm up outside and reflect the actual date that we see on the calendar.  Good-bye winter... 

Tracey

I Found Jesus!

Recently, I found Jesus. Literally; I found him. He was tucked away at the bottom of a drawer.  

Several years ago an acquaintance of mine was struggling with a needlework project and she asked if I could help her out.  I told her I was more than happy to complete the picture for her, but I was busy with a new job and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to finish the picture.  Little did I know when I had said that,  that I would misplace the kit. When I came upon it,  I felt horrible when I realized how long it had been since I said I would stitch this up for her. 

Last month I was off work sick for three weeks straight and since I was bedridden I thought this would be the perfect time to complete this kit.  I needed a project to keep me busy, but I wasn't well enough to focus on counting to do any cross stitch.  This kit was a prestamped piece that you use yarn to do crewel stitching and floss to do embroidery stitching to accent the piece. 

The completed project.

Crewel stitching with yarn gives a 3D effect to the deer by using a Long Split Stitch. 

How cute is the little lamb? 
The Raised Seed Stitch was used to make him look really fluffy. 
The rabbit was done with long, split stitches.

Tracey has some competition in the French Knot category.
I think I may have mastered the art of french knots by the time I finished this garden.  

Now, while I am really not interested in counting all the french knots, I am a little curious just exactly how many there are.  And because I know Jayne is reading this and has already conjured up a comment with a dare for me to count them all, I decided to appease her. However,  I started to count, but stopped at 257 because I got mixed up when realized there was a spot I missed and now I'm not starting to count all over again.  Sorry Jayne with a 'y', but I hope you are satisfied with 257.

  

So now... all I have to do is get this little project back to its owner.  I hope she'll forgive me. 

Bonnie  

Scarlet's Growth Chart @ 8 months old

WOW!  What a difference 7 months makes!  It takes 3 of us now to get the growth chart pictures;  one to hold the camera, one to put the cat in place and one to keep the baby from attacking the cat (which the cat loves by the way, as does Scarlet). 

Scarlet is 8 months old now and in the picture below, you can see the difference that 7 months makes.  Amazing.  She is saying 'mum mum mum' and 'da' - we could have swore the other day she said 'thank you'.  She also loves it when I sing the soundtrack to Disney's Cinerella. (guess I better brush up on the lyrics). Scarlet is up on all fours and will soon be crawling, which... you know what that means;  now I HAVE to vacuum.(dammit) No more getting away with 'oh just put your slippers on Bonnie, and do it another day'. 

One month old.

8 months old.

See what I mean about attacking the cat.
Seriously - the cat loves it.

Scarlet can't do this to the cat at her house,
so she loves it when Sushi curls up next to her. 
At least Sushi knows enough to close her eye.

Too Cute.

I better get those hairs before Scarlet coughs up a furr ball.

Bonnie 

A Bunch of "Firsts"

A new project is on the knitting needles, and as I was working on it today, I got to thinking; for some reason, there sure are a bunch of "firsts" involved with this particular project...

1. First time using this type of yarn - James C. Brett Marble Chunky ( I wish it had a colour "name" )
2. First time using bamboo needles (love them!)
3. First time using circular needles (not as complicated as I thought they were going to be)
4. First time using a stitch marker (technically an old earring; but it does the job)
5. First time knitting a shawl 

I guess it's not unusual to have so many firsts when you are fairly new to a hobby, but for some reason, it made just made me smile. 

Another thing that made me smile, was finally finding a use for this neat basket that I've had for almost 2 years.  When my daughter got married in British Columbia, my son-in-law's Mom found a local artisan who made these baskets and bought a few to use at the reception.  I was lucky enough to get to bring one home, and I never knew what to use it for until now.  

It even has a place to hang my scissors! :-)

Tracey

I'm Hooked!

I guess my post title today would be more appropriate if I was going to talk about crocheting, but now that I've rediscovered knitting, it's true... I'm hooked!!

As I've mentioned before, it's been decades since I last had knitting needles in my hands, but I was determined to give it a try.  I thought that by starting out with something small like a dishcloth would be the best way to go.

**Warning: This first picture may be disturbing to some viewers... especially if you are a skilled knitter.**                                           

Now that I've had more practice, my 1st attempt even makes me cringe!

There are thousands of dishcloth patterns out there, so I thought I would attempt a few different ones, to see which one I liked the best.  Jody's birthday was right around the corner, so I thought, why not make some to go along with her gift?  Thank goodness for Youtube videos. They really helped to refresh my memory with all kinds of tips and techniques.

I felt like my Nana was there right along beside me as I worked away on these; using the same needles she used for her many years of knitting.

When she opened her gift, Jody made the comment that she just threw away 3 dishcloths that had seen better days, so I was happy to give her some new ones to use.  (No, I didn't give her the one in the first picture!)

As I like to say... if you have to wash dishes by hand, why not have some pretty dishcloths to do the job?

Tracey

I Love Bacon! Bacon Baskets That Is.

With Valentine's fast approaching, I thought this would be a good week for me to blog about something I LOVE. Bacon. Bacon baskets that is.

A few months ago I posted that Pinterest is my new best friend. While visiting Pinterest one day, it lead me to a website with an article called '22 Things You are Doing Wrong'.  There were some very interesting ideas and concepts on how to do things differently.  One such idea was what my family has come to call Bacon Baskets.   The concept behind this keen idea is that when you are making a clubhouse sandwich, prepare the bacon the following way and the bacon will stay in one piece and you will not have all the pieces all falling apart from the sandwich.  This sounded like a neat idea and I thought I would have to try it sometime. 

Backtracking a bit...Christmas this year was going to be a little different and exciting at our house because it was the first Christmas in 20 years that my girls were able to be with me on Christmas day for the entire day.  Normally they spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with me, then they go and spend the rest of the day with their dad.  Christmas mornings were always rushed what with trying to get all the gifts opened, everyone showered, dressed up, quickly fed and out the door by noon.  This year everyone was excited at the concept of being able to take our time that day and lounge in our pajamas until 4pm if we wanted to before heading to my mom's for dinner.   And it also meant our first relaxing morning to enjoy a nice brunch. 

Emails floated back and forth for awhile trying to decide what to have for brunch and so finally I sent one email that said, 'Everyone pick your top 3 breakfast choices and I'll create a menu from there'.   The responses came back as such: 

Bonnie: Hashbrown casserole, bacon, bacon, and maybe some more bacon.  Fruit.

Niki: Hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, bacon, maybe some fruit.

Shawn: Hashbrown casserole, bacon, fruit.

Holly: Hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, bacon, bacon.

Matt:  Unable to attend (awwwwww)

Paige: Hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, bacon, bacon, bacon.

Brandon:   He'll eat anything, but he'd like hashbrown casserole, hashbrown casserole, bacon, bacon and bacon

Clearly you can see that: 

A: we all love hashbrown casserole. 

B: we all love bacon. 

C: only Shawn can count. 

So when I read all the comments, I knew that I had to buy bacon and lots of it. Now what I loved about this breakfast was that I could make the casserole ahead of time, pop it in the oven to heat and walk away.  So how was I going to cook that much bacon for everyone and serve it all hot at the same time.  And then it hit me.  Bacon Baskets. 

So on Christmas Eve I said to Holly, let's weave the bacon now and we won't have to do it in the morning and then all we have to do is pop it in the oven.  We lined the largest cookie sheets we had with tin foil in a way that there would be no leakage of bacon grease onto the cookie sheet.  We wove the bacon pieces onto the sheets and covered it with saran wrap.  Then we stacked all the sheets on top of one another - covered well with saran and popped them in the fridge for the night.  

It was so relaxing to go to bed and know that everything was taken care of and an easy morning to look forward to.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of brunch with the bacon weaves, casserole, fruits, fruit dip and cinnamon buns.  Bummer.  But needless to say, brunch was great, the bacon baskets were a HIT and the family time was priceless!!

So the next time I made bacon weaves I decided to take some pictures to give you an idea. 

  

I start with my favourite brand, and I cut the bacon in half.

Lay three strips of the cut bacon pieces beside
each other on the tray vertically.
Then begin to horizontally weave three more pieces of bacon.

Lift the middle piece of bacon, lay the next piece of bacon on top of the two outer pieces.
Lift the outside pieces, lay the next piece of bacon on top of the middle piece etc.
Continue. You will have used three pieces vertically and three pieces horizontally.

  

Voila.

Because the cookie sheet was very large, I made sure to create a sealed seam for an easier clean up.  Be sure not to use a rack, just allow the bacon to cook in its grease.This will ensure even baking and wonderfully crispy bacon!!

YUM!!!!!!

Backtracking again...My daughter and son-in-law took me to Bronners this past fall and if you haven't heard of it before, it is a Christmas store where you can find just about any ornament you can imagine. (I say just about because unfortunately, they did NOT have any Cross Stitch ornaments. Disappointing!!)  

Almost immediately upon arrival in the store, Niki found this ornament and after laughing right out loud she said, "OMG, I want to buy this for Sarah!"

We got a good chuckle out of this very odd Christmas ornament, however I have decided I"m not going to go back to buy it.  Besides the fact that it is ... well simply put... it's 'fugly' - it doesn't have a bacon basket on it.  It simply will not do. 

Bonnie

p.s.  It's family day this weekend; I think I should go buy some bacon....