Little Acorn

28 More Days 'til Christmas!

I've been feeling very Christmas-y these last few days, which is a nice change from the last few years, where to be honest, I was somewhat grinchy about the whole thing. I've just about got my shopping done and don't plan to set foot in the malls in December, so that helps my Christmas spirit quite a bit.  I found these little wooden people back in September and wasn't sure what they were going to become, but this week I got out my paints and raided the trim drawer and they became a quartet of little girls dressed for Christmas. I had a ridiculously good time making these girls - there's just something about paint and glue that just makes it seem more like play than sewing ever does. I've been searching the craft stores with no luck, but as soon as I find some more I've got plans for many more wee wooden folk.     

Waiting, Less Than Patiently

Chloe just can't wait to be a part of the Toy Society Christmas Drop! She's already wearing her coat and has her scarf knotted tightly - just before Christmas is known to be pretty damp and chilly in these parts. Hopefully she won't need her umbrella while she waits to be taken to her new home. Haven't heard of The Toy Society? Head over to their blog to read all  about it! There's still time for you to make a handmade toy and spread the love by taking part in the worldwide drop on the weekend before Christmas.

There's Just Something About...

...a mouse in a babushka that I find so very charming! No, mice don't NEED to accesorize, but they sure look sweet when they do!

Robin Jenkis, I Know Someone Who Likes You

David brought me home this sweet 1965 grade one arithmetic book from the thrift store yesterday, and as charmed as I was by the book, I was most charmed by the heartfelt declarations of love hand drawn in pencil in the back cover. Mike Warsh may have done almost no math in this workbook, but his passion for Robin Jenkis was obvious.  I love that so many of the things in my home that I enjoy every day have had a life before they came to me. I often think about the people that these things were important to and imagine what their relationship to that object was like. Little Mike Warsh, while he should have been learning about the cardinal idea of numbers, was instead thinking about his true love for little Robin Jenkis (it was definitely true love, he wrote that part even bigger than his name). David thought I would want this book to cut up for craft projects, but now I feel like I'm the guardian of someone's history. So if you're out there googling yourself, Mike Warsh or Robin Jenkis of Langford School, I've got something you might like to have. I'll hold onto it for awhile for you and will be thrilled to send it to you if you want it. I know I'd be beyond excited if someone returned something like this to me, but maybe I'm a more sentimental sort than most.

Wha' Happened?

Wowza. Time sure flies. I really didn't drop off the surface of the earth and I really wasn't all that busy, but I just sort of forgot to blog. Here's a fairly random list of 20 things I did in my absence that I didn't blog about, but probably should have...

1) It was Halloween! We were NOT the house that gave out toothbrushes, stickers or crayons. We were the house that gave out two foot long Pixie Sticks. We were extremely popular. One kid even declared us "the best house ever".

2) I looked up a lot of recipes for using up the pears I've got slowly going mooshy on my counter, but ended up making a giant carrot cake instead.

3) I discovered even though I've had a long held belief that I don't like carrot cake that I actually like it just fine, especially when the cream cheese frosting is nice and thick. Darn.

4) I did something to myself at the gym, which caused me to have insanely painful muscle spasms(?)behind my knee. The doctor I saw called my condition "cool" and "neat" but had no solution for me. Luckily it went away on it's own, as it had me speaking in tongues and shouting out random almost-curse-words it hurt so much.

5) The Doctor did prescribe me Valium for bedtime as a muscle relaxant so that hopefully I could sleep. The valium stopped the spasms, but kept me up all night long, but strangely I didn't care one bit that I was awake and was actually  having sort of a good time just laying there. Neat, I suppose, but I didn't take any the next night.

5) David and I traveled north to attend a reception to celebrate my Mom winning a writing contest. Way to go, Mom!

6) We got back to work on the creepy upstairs room. It's way less creepy since we painted over those scary anthropomorphic flowers and David and our friend Glen closed up the holes that led to the attic and put up some wainscoting over the disastrous lower walls. Now we're just on the never ending job of drywall repair and then it's on to painting!

7) I watched David play a lot of Okami on the Wii.

8) I knit a very boring, very basic, very black, 2 by 2 rib hat for my Mom. It's just what she needs, but it's so plain I didn't even photograph it before sending it off to her.

9) I worked hard on a secret Christmas project for someone who reads this blog.

10) I had a craving for tofu.

11) I've knit one and 2/3 of a pair of socks, but I don't seem motivated to keep going.

12) I complained about the rain. A lot.

13) I reminisced about last year at this time when we were spending our month in Mexico. Then I went back to complaining about the rain again.

14) We took Musette to the vet and found out that the horrible oozy, scabby rash on her chin that had me so worried is a bad case of kitty acne. Poor Mu - she used to be such a pretty cat. Now she has to endure the indignity of us doing a three-step cleaning process on her face every second day so that it doesn't get infected.

15) I got excited when I saw that the new season of Top Chef was starting.

16) I started Christmas shopping and hope to be pretty well done by early December.

17) I got a new haircut. It looks different every day, but it's mostly goofy and it NEVER looks like it did coming out of the salon. No. You don't get to see a picture.

18. I'm working on David to get him to take some time off in November and early December. He's got lots of holiday time coming to him and work is fairly slow right now. C'mon, David, we'll have a lot of fun! It won't ALL be about renovations, I promise! Waffles? What if I make you waffles?

19) David helped me make a freezer full of delicious pork dumplings for won ton soup. It's my favourite no-cook winter meal as we've always got containers of homemade chicken stock in the freezer and the won tons just take minutes to boil up.

20) I thought about blogging a lot, but never did it.