A New Year Begins...Tomorrow!

Well you'd never, ever know what an exciting year 2011 has been by looking at my Blog that's for sure.

Motor Mouth Mom obviously wasn't motoring on here that's for sure.  I've decided to abandon, this one for the present and try something new for me.

A photo a day for 2012.  I invite you to take the journey with me through pictures beginning tomorrow!

Here's the link:
http://motoringthrough2012.blogspot.com/

The format of the blog will change, I've still to figure that out, but you can be sure change it will!

In the meantime, wishing you a Very Happy New Year.  May 2012 bring you all that your heart desires!

Baby Its' Cold Outside

The front of our house in The Grove faces "the true North strong and free" and with the recent long, cold snap it looks as if we've had the snow's that are predicted for tonight's snowfall warning.  With a little good, great luck, the weatherperson will be wrong and this will be the extent of our winter wonderland.  At least that's what I'm hoping for.

The promise of Spring and the Fall crocuses getting their green on are pusing up through the cold, hard dirt.

Best Buy of 2010

You never know when you buy something if you are really ever going to get your money's worth, here's my very best buy, dare I say it, of the decade!

A dear family friend, Kara is such a talent, she sews skating costumes, ballet tutus, the most wonderful clothing for children, incredible hair accessories for a little girl's hair, ties for little boys and on and on.  Her items of clothing get sold right out of the boxes from Children's Place in Coquitlam.  

One day I noticed that she was making these little plastic lined bags with Velcro tops for kid's snack items.  The  coincidental  thing was, only the evening before I was babysitting our Murraville grands.  As I was making their lunches and recess snacks, I was really aware of how many little plastic baggies I was going through and thought, there must be a better way!  And voila, my friend Kara has the solution.

I opened an account on Etsy and placed an order immediately!  After some picking of fabric even, the order was shipped and distributed to all of the Grands! 

This is where my story comes in.  If you know anything about me, then you know my beloved and I are walkers.  Since retirement and discovering the free Province in McDonalds or A&W, I was never without a pen for the crossword. Of course we also needed a bit of change. I needed a place to tuck my cell into on wet walks.  I needed to tuck my library card into something.  I needed a place for the covertly ripped out items from the newspaper.  I needed it all in one place, not just randomly shoved into a pocket. 

I was always on the lookout for a cloth bag, or a heavy plastic little change purse, but they were never the right size.  My solution up to this point was a plastic baggie, which after a while the bottom would split and I'd transfer the necessities into a new one. They didn't last long. When I saw those cloth baggies, well I knew right then and there that this was my answer!

It works like a dream.  I've used it each and every time we've walked which is on average 4 times a week.  Our tally in the 500 Mile Challenge to date is over 952 miles, that adds up to alot of walks. A lot of opening and closing and tucking and it still looks like new. 

Here are some pictures of my best and favourite buy of 2010. 

There's the little beauty tucked inside my purse!  I love the fabric.

A sampling of what all goes in there.  I'm feeling embarrassed to show you how many article I rip from the newspaper!

I encourage you to drop by her site, you will be blown away!

http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=kbcreative&search_type=handmade

Thank you for this awesome solution Kara, you're the best!

Wordless Wednesday

The "Snowflakes" were hung in the window with care!

Today I had the pleasure of delivering the snowflakes to April!  We had fun figuring how how to hang them and when the paperclips, from Australia, from their Wedding Day no less, seemed too limiting, we decided to try taping them to the venetian blinds.  That worked the best. 

Their large kitchen window now looks so festive.  It was so much fun making them for her and then setting them in place.  A lovely thing to do on the first day of December with my beloved daughter. 

Here are the results:

Snowflakes, Real vs Paper

There's no disputing it, Winter is in the air even though not officially. 

Last week we had our second snowfall, and while it was beautiful, it made for a horrible commute for my sons, and  beautiful nieces.  Only a few stray mounds remain which the pouring rain is making short work of.

Here's a picture of our back desk as it looked last week.

Last year while my son-in-law Nick went to Gray Cup, I stayed at our daughter April's house and among other things we made paper snowflakes for her bright kitchen window, so it was only fitting that she have more this year.

Can't wait to hang them up with you April!

Show Me the Mommy, errr, Grandmommy, errr, Nanny!

Doing what I love best, having lunch with my beloved on a Friday.  Although, to be technical, at this point it is simply coffee!