Saturday, December 23, 2017

This was my day in the kitchen; I baked a Cranberry Bundt cake to take to our neighbours on Texada and I got the filling prepared for our Tortiere. We are taking a lot of food with us in anticipation of the market being closed but I guess it is a good thing not to be short of food!

While the cake was baking I finished off three loads of laundry. I’ll be spending at week at the studio – my longest continual visit yet – and I don’t want to be doing laundry until at least past Boxing Day.

I couldn’t believe I was back at the store today. We are going out for New Year’s Eve dinner and then going back to Geoff and Brenda’s for pot-luck dessert. I want to make Deloise’s Expresso Mousse but I needed to be sure I could get the expresso powder the recipe called for. By the time I was out the door a few more things had been added to the list, but fortunately it was only one stop.

Pat has packed into the truck everything that won’t freeze. He has a ride to the party tonight so by packing the truck now we gain a bit of time in the morning. The ferry service isn’t as good on the weekend so we’ll be taking the early ferry across; we’ll want to be in the line-up early though as it could be crowded.

I’ll be out the door early this evening as well. The concert I go to is always packed and parking can be a problem. The doors don’t open until 7:00 PM but in order to get a parking spot I’ll leave home shortly after six. I don’t mind sitting in my car for a short period just to know that I’ll have an easy spot to get in and out of.

I have a few last-minute things to take care of (what would we do without those last minutes?) and then I’m going to do some knitting – one mitt done and the second one started.

Friday, December 22, 2017

I was able to cross a couple more things off my list today. I finished Taylor’s birthday card and I got my Block of the Month done for the Guild. I also reworked the card that was returned. I’m sure it could now go as a “regular” letter and for sure $1.20 postage would be fine but I’ve upped it to $1.80 to be sure it gets through this time.

I went out to the shed after lunch and I think I’m set for our Christmas “tree” on Texada. We are going to have quite a truck load before we head out. I keep a tote bag “on the go” and keep adding things to it that I remember I need/want to have over there. We’ll have more groceries than usual because we’ll be staying longer and the market is closed for most of the holidays. We’re also taking quite a few prepared meals as well – Pat is making some cabbage rolls and I’ll make a tortiere tomorrow. We have lots of lovely parcels to take along too and Pat suggested this afternoon that maybe his keyboard and stand could move to the studio.

I didn’t have much luck with my mitts last night so I’m going to get started on them earlier today. The first time I tried the mitt was too small; I found a different pattern but the second start was too big. I’ll use the same pattern but change my needle size and hopefully the third try will be lucky!

Thursday, December 21, 2017

I just finished the last project that needed to be done before Christmas. I know, you thought I was done a few days ago. I had forgotten that Pat’s accounting had to be sent to the accountant before the end of the month. Since I didn’t get his year-end files back until earlier this month it was a bit of a scramble getting the past three months sorted out and entered into my software. It’s all done now and I even had time to clear out a few of last year’s files.

We had an appointment this afternoon and when it was done we went looking for “something Christmassy” that would serve as a Christmas tree on Texada. We have lovely outdoor trees but I wanted something we could put our gifts under or around. We went to both of our garden centres and came up empty. Although I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, I knew I hadn’t found it yet. I have another idea that I’m going to go with; it will involve some digging out in the shed but I think it will work just fine. No, it won’t be anything like that umbrella tree I had a few years ago, although I still think that arrangement was quite festive.

I’m going to start a new knitting project tonight – mitts for myself! When I was in Mark’s yesterday I looked at their mitts and gloves – $20-$30 seemed too much to pay for the few times I need them. So I’ll dig out one of Mum’s patterns and make myself a pair for much less.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

My day at home didn’t work out as I had hoped. I knew I had to make a trip to the Post Office, but how did my list get so long?

I spent the morning working on a new project. It started out to be a card for Taylor’s birthday and now I’ve decided it will also serve as my miniature quilt for the January Guild meeting. I saw a picture online back in 2015 and saved it. I was going through some files when I came across the picture and decided I’d give it a try. It involved some embroidery work and I had a rough outline drawn on some muslin when I realized all my floss was on Texada. But I wanted to keep going so I added some backing and batting and used my machine to stitch the lines. I think, in a more involved way, this technique is called thread painting. It was fun to do and I might be tempted to actually borrow one of the thread painting books we have in the Guild library to try something more advanced. As yet there is still some finishing work to be done on my “card” but I may have time to get at it again this afternoon.

When Pat was out for groceries this morning he didn’t go to the store where we get the type of bread we really like. So I added that item to my list. And since I was going to Quality Foods, which is in the same mall as the Library, I decided to drop off two of my library books. When we were on Texada last weekend I really felt I needed something warmer than my Pollen sweater; I checked the thrift stores yesterday but I didn’t find anything so I added a stop at Mark’s to my list. We need a set of measuring cups for Texada so the dollar store got added to the list. And since I was at the dollar store, which is in the same strip mall as Canadian Tire, I stopped there for a covered 9″x13″ baking pan. Safeway had a sale on butter (limit of 4) and Pat picked up some for home but we decided we could take another set of four over to Texada so that added another stop.

Remember those lovely things I said about the new postal clerk when I mailed all my packages? I take it all back. I had one of my regular clerks today and she told me that to mail the returned package wrapped as it is was going to cost me $12. She unwrapped the package and tried to make it smaller but to no avail. She also noticed that the postage was only $1.20 when the very minimum amount should have been $1.80. Hopefully not everything is going to be returned or cost the receiver extra money. I’ll unwrap the one that was returned, open it up and remove some of the stuffing in hopes I can get it down to the $1.80 postage. I’m in no hurry now though as I know the intended receiver has left home for his Christmas holiday.

So maybe tomorrow I’ll get that day at home – although I already know I won’t. Pat and I have an appointment with our financial people right after lunch and then we are going to see if we can find a table-top tree to take over to Texada. And who knows what else will be added to the list by the time we leave.