December

Dec 31 Sunny crisp and a bit of snow again... for the last day of 2005! Made beads yesterday, G went to the mainland to get me propane , buy lobsters for tonights super and get some lumber, luckily the lumber yard had the lumber, because Irving Oil said there was no one working qualified to fill a propane tank... it was 3 o:clock on a friday afternoon... I don't care if it's the middle of winter, there should have been someone working who could fill propane tanks !.... and the lobsters are suppose to be coming in today (I did suggest he phone first about the lobsters.....) Oh well he can go for another boat ride today! While we were in Moncton.... (G was checking out the deals at Princess Auto..) I went next door to look in Pet Smart, they had a bunch of puppies ranged in price from $599.00 to $1399.00 included one shot and a 90 health guarantee don't remeber what the $599 ones where but they weren't really puppies anymore and were reduced.... the black labs were puppies and cost $699 the $1399 one was a Chu whoee cha whoee (no attempt to spell that correctly!) now I don't see any $ value on that ... you must be paying close to $100 an ounce! and their teeth are even sharper than Emmy's when they are sunk in your ankle!

Dec 30 It's foggy today... last night at 10 pm it was 11 or 52 out and pouring rain, we have no snow Maine and parts of NB have lots of snow, but we have green grass. We went into Saint John on Wednesday night as Emmy was suppose to be at the Vet between 7:30 and 8:30 which means the 6am ferry, blech.... we went the night before! Emmy is a Cryptorchid Cat (Hope that's an adverb?) so his 'tutoring'/neutering is more complex than on a normal male... they have to go fishing for his second ball, his was just inside so he got to come home at 5 last night but he has a half shaved tummy and stitches (3cm incision)... and instructions to keep him quiet for the next 5 days... who are they kidding,he is wired ... he's tearing round the house doing back flips of f furniture... if he doesn't rip out his stitches.... ??? (Oh they clipped his claws too so he can't climb or cling.... Duddley seems to have decided that maybe he's OK now... guess he didn't like having a real male in the house! We'll see how long Duddies improved state of mind lasts! While Emmy was at the vet we went to Moncton, (they do have snow) Moncton has a bunch of stores tha no one else does... didn't buy much but did manage to spend a $100 gift card for Eddie Bauer, my son got it for Christmas but didn't want anything from EB so I took it off his hands.... I actually spent $100.02, did I have the 2 cents no... $5.00 bill yes, but change.... no, so I turned around and yelled at the shelves where G had been standing and said can I have 2 cents, he wasn't there but about three people offered me the money.... He'd switched sides because of the lineup... he did give me the 2 cents! (The lineup was because of the woman in front of me who was buying her purchases one at a time so that she could use her $10.00 frequent buyer coupon that triggered part way through the first item!... she wanted to use it on her second item)... We also bought a bunch of DVD's so that we'll have something to watch New Years Eve that we haven't seen before.... (As you can tell we are planning a very exciting night for tomorrow!)

Dec 28 Bright sunny day today, hopefully it will melt the ice off the driveway when I went to make beads yesterday I just slid down the driveway until I hit the snow then I went head first into the picnic table... and did I remember it was icey when I came back in a couple of hours later... of course not! I tested out the new jacuzzi tub last night... decided that the room it's in might be a bit of a fish bowl, hopefully there weren't too many lobster fishermen that got cheap thrills last night! I was cheaking to make sure that nothing was still leaking, I guess the drain is still leaking but Gord says that's the easiest thing to fix! He left the cover off of the air intake and I managed to get my hand sucked in, man did that hurt... (G was wondering about using it as cheap alternative to lipo suction......) Of course I ran out of hot water with only half a tub full of water, but... our water heater works so well that if you wait five minutes you can carry on filling.... Will try and remeber the hat pictures today, they are on the other computer....

Dec 27 Snowing this morning, started sorting my beads in the bedroom last night looks better now.... see how long that lasts! Dining room table is still covered however! The bedroom stash were Emmy's so they were rapidly disapearing without my help! Spent a lot of time this fall making felted hats for my family, but since they were gifts couldn't mention them... will stick a before and after picture of me wearing my hat on my home page later today...

Dec 26 Home again , really windy suppose to have heavy rain... snow and then freezing rain to complete the mess overnight! Staurt actually took yesterday and today off so we got to open presents in the morning,... Emmy had so much fun playing in the boxes, eating the Christmas paper, chasing things.... Stuart got a new digital camera so disapeared for the day to learn how to use it... I got one of those plastic drawer cabinets... (60 drawers) think it is a subtle hint to clean up the beads etc... that have taken over the house! Dinner was suppose to be barbecued turkey parts but the barbecue ran out of propane... and since we are sort of camping in the house pans were hard to come by.... When dinner was finally served half an hour late, Stuart's only comment was where's the stuffing.... I can't stand the stuff so it never occured to me to make any oops! Gord and I went for a walk on the beach at low tide yesterday was a few degrees above freezing so not too bad, no palm trees though.... Emmy was so exhausted after opening everyones gifts that he slept all day, he was so much fun last night! The finally straw was when he started chewing on my toes, that got him ejected.

Dec 24 Christmas Eve and pouring rain.... Went to let the cats in for breakfast....( yes Emmy got banished twice once at 5 am and again at 6:45 he made enough of a ruckous that he got let in for breakfast somewhere in between... ) Duddley popped out of his cat house and Emmy came out from under the boat... don't remember if the approved term for the boat was a skiff, dinghy....? so boat it is! We had a puppy for about half an hour last night too, I heard a ruckous outside the house and thought it was the neighbours lab giving Duddley a hard time but it was a beagle trailing a leash,. of course I had to let him in, he polished off the cats food, Emmy stood there with his tail puffed up giving us these you've got to be kidding that's not moving in looks.... but the puppies mother came looking and took him back! Gord just came in a few minutes ago and said he saw HIS puppy going for a walk! We also dropped off a cheque for our oil last night and the bird there decided it really liked my hair... didn't matter how many times he was banished he was back in my hair a few seconds later, he alternated between landing on my head and clinging to my scalp,... or landing on my shoulder and grabbing mouthfulls of my hair and trying to rip it out! Speaking of birds... I got an email from Angus this morning telling me that puffins are not Solitary birds.... We're off to Saint John later today will see if I can 'borrow' Stuart's computer for an update tomorrow! If not have a very Merry Christmas and don't eat to much turkey!

Dec 23 Two more shopping days...... Above freezing here today, think it's sort of snowing or sleeting out there, so might not have a green Christmas.... Sounds like Alberta will though! Spent a couple of hours yesterday digging out an old table to take into Saint John, decided I wasn't going to eat Christmas dinner off of my lap! Once I got to the table I had all the boxes that were covering it to deal with... Today I need to dust some of the things that were moved....

Made a few beads yesterday decided that the glass wasn't co-operating so I quit! Spent awhile yesterday playing this stupid game... http://www.learn4good.com/games/action/sling_shot_santa.htm You fling Santa and are suppose to get him to his Reindeer, a few of us have got him 334.3 feet the Reindeer is at 335 feet if anyone gets him the last .7 we would like to know what happens! Does the Reindeer stomp Santa or does his sleigh appear or does the game only work on Christmas Eve????

Dec 22 Warmed up a bit over night, we went out for dinner last night in St Andrews, The annual Dine Around, Hors d'oeuvres are at an Elegant Country Inn... there were three cold followed by three hot, One of the hot ones was a shot glass of Squash & Shellfish soup... It looked exactly like one of the 'concotions' that they serve on fear factor.....However I'm sure it tasted much better! You have a choice of three restaurants for the Main Course... we went to L'Europe, A small Hotel and Restaurant run by a young German couple, the food is always good there... Dessert is at Kingsbrae Gardens, they decorate the Gardens with lights and the dessert is served in the cafe there, last night we/I didn't even have to drive like a bat out of hell to make the final ferry! Yes I drove, somebodies 4*4 F150 got abandonned on the driveway with one back wheel in a bit of snow ...

Dec 21 Looks like it might be sunny today... We are being subjected to way too much politics right now, since there is an election campaign going on... Got a "Christmas Card" from one of the candidates yesterday, and that reminded me of the calendars that all elected MP's seem to send out every year, just wonder how much those calendars actually cost me! About the only campaign promise that I have heard was the PC's promising to pay money to everyone who had kids for day care expenses.... That isn't going to get more 'quality' day care spaces, and since no one gave me an extra couple thousand a year when Stuart was day care age... that bribe isn't going to work with me, as a matter of fact that party if it ever had my vote last it with that obvious attempt at bribery! So that's one party I don't have to vote for... one down two to go, don't hink we get any of the off beat flying carpet parties out here.... too bad!

I did make some beads yesterday, I also signed up for Kim Miles Hope Bead Bracelet Project basically I promise to make 5 beads a week for 17 weeks then ship them off the end of April. Will stick the link in tomorrow. Since it's a US charity that I am donating to, do I get to claim it on Canadian income tax... anyone know? I have been approached by some Canadians wanting to make bracelets for charities but they want to sell the finished bracelets for $5 or $10 .... which would make the beads worth more than the bracelet!

Dec 20 Went to Calais and St Stephen yesterday, checked out the new grocery store, the bigger the grocery store the more extra non food junk they seem to stick in the store! There were also all sorts of exotic bananas and weird fruits for sale not sure if there will be an ongoing market for those here! Ate lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants in Calais, the one we were going to eat at had a sign on the door FIX KITCHEN, CLOSE TODAY...

Both have lunch buffets and if you get there close to the beginning the food isn't too bad! I like ordering lots of plates and mixing but with two people you don't get much variety....! Gord played his last pre Christmas curling game last night, for the second year in a row he was on a team that remained undefeated for the pre Christmas games.... Last year they got $20 gift certificates for the liquor store, beat the what ever off of the cute clocks with the curling broom hands that I over heard one woman say to her husband, the lucky recipient of one of the clocks...'something else to go under the bed' ....

Watched most of a coloured version of Miracle on 34th street last night,... is there two coloured versions or just one? This one didn't seem like the same one I saw last time, but then I watched it in black and white that time... I was talking to my mother on the phone while I was watching it (we used to have a black and white TV on top of the fridge in SK) and Mom asked me if it was the black & white version or the coloured one... I said black & white... then she asked where I was watching the movie.....and then proceeded to point out that since I was watching it on a black & white TV it was obviously going to be B&W.... It was actually in colour I did go check!

Dec 19 The final count down has started.... Started playing with income tax yesterday... Way to early , bad habit that I aquired running a business in Saskatchewan... you had to send in the provincial sales tax you collected by the 20th of January, which meant having most of your income tax done by the first of January! I know I don't have to do it anymore..... That was it for excitement yesterday! Except Demmy da Devil and G did come home so Duddley has moved back outside!

but that means Demmy da Devil will also be coming home, poor Duddley! Didn't seem do much yesterday, watched most of The Sound of Music on TV last night since it was the first thing I found that looked half decent, it's been a long time since I saw that movie! Made a bunch of Byzantine chain segments to use in earrings while I was watching with Duddley helping.... A friend in Saskatchewan claimed it's an Eastern Canadian Conspiracy to keep SK down not allowing planes to fly over..... Actually the tructh of the matter is my BIL doesn't listen but the original storey was better! Off to Calais tomorrow to mail back my fountain pen Beadpen parts... guess they had forgotten about me..... Might check out the new Sobey's while we're there last time I was in St Stephen it was opening day so I went to the competition, the store was empty! It was great I love shopping in empty grocery stores!

Dec 17 Sunny here today, after a wild wind & 'rain' storm last night ... Started about 5:30 just as I came back into the house after making beads... I ate supper then hibernated at the front of the house out of the wind... The back room on our house was built in the 60's and if there is a Nor'easter doesn't matter how much heat you pour in there IT"S COLD! So I lit a fire in the gallery fireplace and read a book.... The storm last night got rid of most of our snow... but the snow was so dirty from all the wind that I'm glad to see it go! Duddley helped himself to his Christmas present last night at about 3 am... Heard this funny noise from the kitchen and went to investigate.... Duddley was eating the paper bag that his catnip mouse was in... I took the bag and left the mouse.... However the mouse had been in a cupboard above the counter stuffed in the back corner.... My mothers cat helped herself to her catnip mouse out of the box that we sent to Edmonton too, she unwrapped it with one slash of her claw, and hung on ... took both my parents to get it back from her! Duddley's is now in a zip lock plastic bag and the cupboard door is closed! My sisters step son and his Mexican girlfriend were flying to Edmonton from Mexico via Montreal on Thursday and they landed the plane in Winnipeg because they claimed they couldn't fly over Saskatchewan????? They eventually flew to Calgary then on to Edmonton much later... Maybe they looped into the US to get to Calgary....but we all really want to know why planes couldn't fly over Saskatchewan last Thursday! Couldn't be an invasion of flying locusts they would be frozen solid right now.....

Dec 14 Hamish posed for me yesterday and then stuck himself on every web page he could figure out how to open! Rules on how to win Hamish are on my free bead page, but voting for me on Top 25 works! Progress is being made on my little blown bottles, yesterdays might even be photogenic will see! Off to Saint John for the day, trying to get the apartment half of the house finished so we can get Stuart a room mate, whoever it is will have to be deaf, if they aren't when they arrive they will be shortly after! Same temp today as yesterday and still overcast it was snowing a few minutes ago but has quit, might actually be clearing, a sunny weekend would be a nice change! The tree is up and decorated, might attempt a picture, although my trees seem to all look the same, so could use last years picture and no one would know the dif!

Dec 13 Cool here this morning -9 or +18 .... +18 sounds a lot warmer than -9, I'll take that one! The quote for the day Well behaved woman rarely make history .... Stole that off of someones signature line on a glass forum! I made three glass ice cubes yesterday and used up about half of my scuzzy clear glass.... Although the puffins on the kitchen table are trying to tell me that they sit on warm rocks not on ice cubes... They figure I must have them mistaken with Penquins..... Mailed my Christmas cards yesterday, so you should know within the week if you rate.... or send me your address if you think you rate and don't get one! The Edmonton sortation plant must have succesfully sortated the parcel as it arrived yesterday!

Dec 12 Must mean that there is 12 shopping days til Christmas, checked out the Saint John downtown mall on Saturday, hardly any people at all! Even with the free downtown parking on Saturday,... I spent quite awhile trying to persaude the parking ticket dispenser to take my money before I realized it was free! The roads on Deer Island were still disgusting right up until 10 minutes after I got home yesterday, however the mainland roads were clear.... no doubt due to copius quantities of salt! We got way more snow than Saint John did though, around 7 inches I think vs 1 in Saint John.... The play in Saint John was Pinochio, not as good as the last play, but the person moving the puppet pinochio round the stage sure did a good job! It rained yesterday morning while I was driving home, so got home to a driveway coverd in slop, (I had only cleared enough on Saturday to extract my car) spent an hour moving slop and scrapping slush, and Gord and I finished it later, it was a warm SUNNY day by then! We got the driveway so clear that as soon as the temp dropped we got a nice layer of black ice.... Yummy! For entertainment last night I checked to see where the parcel was/is that I sent to Edmonton, I dscovered that it is in the Edmonton Sortation Plant.... that strikes me as a word that some Canada Post employee spent lots of tax payer's dollars to come up with! The Canadian tracking numbers allow you to track the parcel at all times (in theory anyway).... Anyway it will be interesting to see how long it takes to sortate the parcel and get it delivered! (see I can invent new words too!!!!!) Put the Christmas lights on the tree last night, Emmy really wanted to help, but kept getting swatted as he was trying to eat the mini bulbs, will put the breakable ornaments on today up high! I have a bunch of hand knit ornaments from Bolivia that cats like to steal off of the tree, there are a couple that are real favorites, it may be what they are stuffed with, although after 25 years you would think that the smell would have neutralized... Have to See what Emmy chooses?!

Dec 10 The snow has stopped, it started at noon yesterday and by the time I wanted to leave... well my car backed up the driveway OK, and then slide sideways back down the neighbouring driveway. It's not nearly as steep as ours and I could take a run at it and I was pointing forwards , got the car back on our driveway and stayed home! and finished Qwyzzle, yes I'm done

life can now resume! Who ever phoned looking for Cheri at 3 am can loose this number too please! You disturbed my cat. Other than the snow, there was no excitement yesterday... I was all dressed up with no place to go, realized after I abandonned the car in favor of my feet to go get the mail that my shoes had not made it into the car, so all I would have had to wear were a pair of 10 year old boots, tres chic! Still have to go into Saint John today as we have theater tickets for tonight, also have some jewellery to deliver ..... tomorrows rant will be late! So far it's sunny today, that doesn't say anything about the state of the roads though! Stuart says Desmond the Demonic is moving back to Deer Island (formerly know as Emmy the Evil).....!

Dec 9 Cloudy today! Snow forcast for after lunch, The Engineering Society's Christmas party is this evening in Saint John, I'm suppose to be driving in sometime this afternoon.... Hamish McPuffin is sitting on the kitchen table, will make his ice cube Sunday or Monday He has sage green eyes... Gord bought our Christmas tree yesterday, wouldn't be Christmas without needles all over the house, need the smell of the real trees too, I don't care how nice the artificial ones look, and the $639.00 one I saw on Tuesday did look nice..... I want a real tree! Emmy needs something to climb! I intend to get all the lights on that tree before he comes home, I can just see him chowing down on mini lights, thinking that they are kitty bits, and chasing the light strings as they are being wound around the tree.... Level 98, only 3 to go.....

Dec 8 Another day just like yesterday, actually while I was making beads yesterday, it would snow for 2 minutes then the sun would shine then it would snow..... The grass is still green but very crisp at the momment! Made it to Level 95 on Qwyzzle.... It has a connect the dot feature, I drew the picture and asked G what it looked like, will see if that is the answer! After getting another envelope back from Canada Post that I had taken to the PO and had weighed.... saying I needed another 15 cents, I discovered it's a thickness thing not a weight thing, You need $1.00 on the envelope if it is two fat for the skinny slot but thin enough to go through the next slot, next stop is parcel $9.00! My Parcel left for Alberta on Tuesday, and my US cards, free beads to Texas etc.... should be leaving today!

Dec 7 Sunny and crisp here this morning. Didn't get home until 11 last night, and tried hard to miss the last ferry thanks to the McDonalds drive through, I decided I wanted a cup of coffee, took us 15 minutes to get through the drive through, I would have just parked and walked in as there was no one in the parking lot and the lineup for the drive thru went beyond the intercom, but I wasn't driving .. but we did make it with 2 minutes to spare! Duddies spent the night sleeping beside the bed purring because Evil Em is in Saint John until the weekend! Started priming the bathroom walls in Saint John, I had been removing all the wall paper but the other two thought we could just leave smooth wall paper.... problem as soon as the paint hits the paper the paper starts to lift so you get to peel off wet painty paper, and have to paint the same spot twice! I won another set of free beads yesterday , that makes two sets in the last week, of course it's also two sets in the last year, two years.... etc... it all depends on how you look at it! I won Fried Peas friday freebe's last friday and Suzifitz Beads 'unknown' freebe yesterday, should I buy a lottery ticket or is that it for the next 5 years!

Dec 6 Cloudy today, the snow was forcast, but I guess they gave it to someone else! Off to SJ today, Evil Em needs his weekly car ride! The little charmer filled the bathtub with shredded toilet paper a couple of days ago... G was going to throw it out, I just pointed out that it was pre ripped, still perfectly good toilet paper! Actually moved up 3 levels on Qwyzzle last night, made it to 90... very little of that had anything to do with my brilliance! I have a cold and am now coughing to so should be very popular amongst the SJ Christmas shoppers!

Dec 5 Still blue sky out there, however it clouds over by 10 am and isn't warming upduring the day, but no snow yet! The starfish beads are going to Donna M in Texas... Found a box for the presents I wrapped Saturday, managed to stuff everything into the first box I tried, will be delivered to the post office as soon as I get those batteries!
Attempted to make some more heads for my jester.... Can't draw heads either so I guess it follows that making them in glass won't work either... Will pick the best head and try and get an image up sometime!

Was watching TV last night (I have officially given up on Qwyzzle on level 87, will accept all hints ie answers to the rest of the questions..., so that I can say that I finished it!) and saw a KFC ad, they were advertising boneless chicken wings!? what are they doing grinding up meat and reshaping it to look like wings... same idea as the dino nuggets??? I like bones, If I wanted boneless I'd buy chicken strips...... I actually wrapped (almost) all the Christmas presents that need to be shipped last night, darling Em was helping... He completely shredded the tissue paper on a gift for my niece Said tissue paper is slobbered on, chewed, and altogether disgusting, YUCK! At least he wrecked the paper before I wrapped it properly! Think the gift must have been snuggling up to the cat toys in the "present'" drawer. Still have a couple of "toys" left to wrap that need AAA batteries, don't have any of those! G is a geophysical consultant and recently ran an ad in a trade publication... A couple of days ago he got an email from the senior person in a environmental consulting company... the email started 'Seen you ad....'

Dec 3 Sunny and brisk today, a lot better than the snow that was forcast! Made a quicky trip to St Andrews this morning for their Christmas Market, mostly food this year so got to save my money, actually think I have all my Christmas shopping done I just need to sort and wrap it, then hand it over to Canada Post... to see what they can do with it! The Express post Envelope that I shipped on Wednesday arrived dripping wet, the self sticky had given up and the bottom of the envelope was sliced open! I paid $9.00 for that....., it did arrive in the time specified though which is all that the Post Office probably guarantees! The only reason the box was still in the envelope was everything was so wet it had stuck together! The poor little snowmen were wrapped in a bubble wrap bag, inside the box, so other than not being able to breath they at least arrived dry! My draw for the starfish beads will be later today, last chance to get your name in the draw for them. The next draw will be Jan 10, my web sites first anniversary, Hamish Angus's first cousin will be the 'bead' drawn for then, he hasn't been made yet, I'm having too much fun trying to make Jester beads! I have nice body beads but the face still needs some fine tuning, maybe I could make him wearing a Puffin Mask.... hmmmmm

Dec 2 Poured here last night, just what we need more rain, The Calais radio had a flood watch out again for last night ... We just have a little burbbling brook on the edge of the property which is taking over the low ground! The first fall I was herethe 'brook' was dry! No excitement here yesterday, made a few stained glass chickadees, Emmy helped with those! When I make them I keep them in sets ... of course Emmy stepped on the edge of the board I was using to foil and the glass ended up all over the room!... Sliced my knuckle open last night doing a few more birds, think there may be a peice of glass in it because it hurts way to much for a little weee cut! About about some folk remedies on glass removal...? Oh and in case your wondering I didn't pay the shipping on those parts from Rio Grande, the O-ring was to replace the one that came with my tumbler , which was defective.... but they could have shipped the first one Global Priority for $4.00 - $6.00 based on postage on other envelopes I've received!

Dec 1 New month ..... 23.5 shopping days til Christmas! Rained overnight here, what else is new! Continuing on yesterdays rip off parcels theme, I ordered a replacement part from Rio Grande, after almost four weeks I phoned and asked where it was, they checked and assured me it had been shipped, of course it showed up in the mail box the next day (29 days after being postmarked in NM), also of course it was the belt for the motor not the o-ring for my tumbler... Phoned back yes they stocked the O-rings and would send me one... that took 5 days and got here yesterday! Now for the rip off part of the storey the first one was in a large padded envelope and cost $13.25 to ship the second one was in a small padded envelope and cost 85 cents to ship! (The rings were both 4 inch rings, one soft rubber the other hard, ie exactly the same size part!). G figures the first one must have got a trip round the world to warrant all that extra postage! Now for the adventures of BUTTERBALL the fat grey kitten! Em went to Saint John with us on Tuesday, thought he might be able to find Simon the ceiling dweller.... Took him in the kitchen, took the board off of the hole in the floor and Em started to disappear, I didn't think he would fit but since the floor is 2*8' construction, the fat kitten started to disappear..... I thought better of it and grabbed the tail... and hauled him back out, but the poor kitty not only got his tail yanked on he set off a mouse trap with his paw or nose! Took G forever to reset the Mouse trap guess they weren't designed to catch 8 pound mice! So the poor kitty had to spend the entire day listening to Simon laugh at him ... Took out his sorrows by eating....