Weekend Warrior!

 Fourth Fridays in Guelph means celebrating the creative, neighbourly, interesting, cool, welcoming vibe of Downtown Guelph on the Fourth Friday of each month, to join in a culture crawl taking in a variety of interesting artistic happenings -- art galleries, musical performances, etc.  Hubby refused to partake of any spoken word events (what?  come on!  you can brag to your friends that you went to a poetry reading!) but we did catch some ice sculpture taking place out in our front yard - stopping to watch a man carve a lifesize reindeer with power tools. 

Then we headed just around the corner for a wine tasting event at the Red Brick Cafe, with our neighbour Mike.  We spent a couple of hours there, trying four different wines from Italy, Spain, and California - 1 white and 3 reds.  I'm not much a wine drinker - but we were provided with tasting notes for each wine -- I didn't think the white tasted like grass at all, but I did notice the lemon-lime finish. 

Hubby has gone 'home' to St. Thomas today, so I spent the afternoon at the office putting in some "lieu time" (I want to take Tues. afternoon off) tidying up some files, clearing off my desk, finishing up some documentation. 

Tonight I'm cutting up fabric for Shirt Stripe Boxes and listening to CBC radio.  I love CBC radio - especially Saturday nights - first Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap and then Saturday Night Blues.   Take a listen to the podcasts available on the websites and see if you don't become a fan!

Hubby is a Funny Guy

That Hubby of mine is a really funny guy.  I have to share some Hubby-isms.  (I bet you have one just like him at home!)


This morning I woke up with a bizarre thought in my head.  I was remembering a TV commercial from my childhood for a toy called "Digger the Dog".  Still lying in bed, I asked Hubby: "Do you remember a commercial from a long long long time ago for a toy called Digger the Dog?"


He immediately starts singing: "Digger the Dog -- he likes to go with you -- when you explore..."



I couldn't believe my ears!  I laughed myself silly, and jumped out of bed to check youtube and see if he had it right! 


A couple of weeks ago, I guess Hubby had had quite enough of my bad attitude.  He looked at my left wrist tattoo, which says "Strength & Purpose", and suggested: "Why don't you get "Patience & Understanding" on the other wrist?"


Last night, I was merrily sewing away on crumb blocks from all the scraps from the Shirt Stripe Boxes blocks that I've been working on.

HE: Are you still working on that same quilt?
ME: Yep  (...well, technically not -- but it was too complicated to explain that I was merely using up the scraps that "that same quilt" had given birth to)
HE: You've been working on that for awhile.
ME: Yep
HE: It's taking a long time. I would have thought you were done by now!

(sigh)  That Hubby....he's always cracking me up!

Sunday morning

I did a block count this morning, and I'm nearly at the halfway point - 198 blocks towards a total of 406.  And I have used 9 shirts so far.  I've also been peicing some crumb blocks from the left overs.

Out of the blue, I baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies last night, and fed warm, chewy cookies to Hubby right off the baking sheet.

Gibson is sitting on top of the dining room table, about 15 feet away from me, looking at me as if I'm nuts.  That's fair, because I spend most of the day doing the exact same thing -- looking at him and wondering if he is nuts.  He does the weirdest stuff.  This morning he has played hockey with a bottle cap, writhed in unadulterated pleasure on a towel on the bathroom floor, chewed happily away on a tiny strip of fabric, and pawed everything he can off the coffee table. 

Actually, now that I think about it....probably what he is thinking is...."Get off your ass and clean this dump up!"

'cuz Itty Bitty said so

I've run out of shirts again!  Good thing Monday is 50% off day at Value Village.  It even opens early at 7am - which means I can run in for a quick shop before heading off to a morning of hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?  I've been completely SWAMPED this past week with new intakes, and this coming week I've already got myself booked much more OUT of the office than IN the office.  Sound stressful? Well...yes...but it's incredible to be so busy, and get so much work done.  I feel like a professional star hockey player -- everything is happening so fast, whipping back and forth, but when that puck goes in the net?  SCO-O-O-ORE!!!!!!!!

And I don't think I've mentioned how much I love my new city.  Hubby and I went out this morning to a Christmas bazaar at a chuch just a block up the street across from our apartment, then strolled down another block to have a lovely breakfast.  On the way home, we stopped at the market to pick up a few ingredients for tonight's dinner, and ogled the beautiful holiday decorations in the shop windows.  Grabbed the Saturday morning paper, and came back home to just relax and nap and putter around.  Doesn't that sound amazing?  I love my life!

Blog I've discovered

JulieKQuilts - I love the quilt in the photo header of her blog.  And just looking at her post for today is ample proof that we share a great deal in quilty common.

I definitely have to look for the book that has that header photo quilt in it!

a perfect dismount!

I gave a presentation today to some mental health support workers all about the Residential Tenancy Act.  My boss was coming along to handle the tough questions, and to make sure I knew what the heck I was doing, I reckon!

I was laying in bed this morning, wondering what I was going to do to "wow" the crowd, and decided I would add my own personal flourish to the regular power point, and include some slides on Human Rights Code. 

I think I scared the bejeeezuz out of my employer - ACK! UNVETTED CONTENT!  UNVETTED CONTENT!

But I landed a perfect dismount.  The crowd went wild.

Bus Drivers are big jerks...just sayin'. Conversations that will make my weird family laugh.

I've been worried about my favourite street person.  I hadn't seen him around the neighbourhood for about a week.  Finally on Friday, I went up to the central bus stop, where several city buses all gather every so often to transfer passengers.  This just happens to be in my 'front yard'.  Anyway -- a couple of drivers were standing on the sidewalk, having a chin wag.  I interrupted:


ME: Excuse me.  Have you seen Carlo around lately?  I haven't seen him for awhile, and I'm starting to worry about him.
HE: Oh yeah, he's around.  I saw him last night.
ME: Oh that's good.  I work down at the legal clinic, and he's usually in front of my office window everyday.
HE: Well, it's getting colder.
ME: Oh.  Does that keep him indoors?
HE: No.  But when it gets colder, we let him drive the bus.


I saw him today - singing his lungs out next to my office window.  So, I went out to talk to him


ME: Where have you been?  I've missed you!
HE: I be right here! You dinna bringa me coffee for long time!
ME: I'll bring you a coffee when I come back from lunch.
HE: How long you gonna be?
ME: About an hour.
HE:  About an hour.  Okay!  I wait. RIGHT HERE!


Got a work story.  I work in an office with ALL women.  We can be silent all day long, nose to the keyboards, working straight through until close.  Occassionally, a strange conversation will erupt.
So, it was a lovely, fair day.  Sunshine and mild temperatures.  Not typical November weather, that's for sure.  But I slipped out this afternoon to move my car, and the skies had clouded over.


ME: Looks like it could rain.


A little while later, a volunteer comes in.


SHE: Looks like it could rain.


A few more minutes later, and a colleague comes in.


SHE: It's not gonna rain.  It's clearing up.
ME: (I start singing)



ANOTHER SHE: What's that? Fiddler on the Roof?
ME: Alice Cooper.  1971
ANOTHER SHE: I was never a big Alice Cooper fan.
ME:  I was a big Cooper fan.
ANOTHER SHE: I can't see it.
ANOTHER SHE: Me neither

ANOTHER SHE: I could totally see Nancy---outside an Alice Cooper concert... handing out clean needles, or something...

ANOTHER SHE: Yeah, doing some community outreach maybe.
ANOTHER SHE:  That sounds about right.
ME: Shut up!  I used to be cool!

Backwards Blogging

All my photos loaded last to first, so I'm going with it.  I'm just gonna blog backwards.  Hubby and I picked up a beautiful pair of lamps for $5 each at Goodwill.  All they needed was shades.  Today I slipped over to St. Vinny's and picked up some shades at 2 for $5.  I'm really happy how they look on my bedside tables!

Occupy Guelph has moved from my front yard.  The tent city came down sometime last week, and at least part of it is now moved to Royal City Park.

Hubby and I happened to be down visiting the park to feed the ducks yesterday.  And what a gorgeous day it was -- and today was a replay!  Sunshine and mild temperatures.

Here's a Mr. and Mrs Mallard in the centre of the photo.

The gulls are im-'bird'-inating ducks.  It worked, 'cuz we fed them too.

I also did a little sewing - racked up a few more blocks for Shirt Stripes Boxes - The Sequel.  I am now out of blue striped shirts - which explains my sneaky trip to St. Vinny's on my lunch hour!  I guess this isn't a backwards blog post at all -- more of a full circle!

Early morning sewing

I was up before the crack of dawn this morning, and sewed some more blocks for Shirt Stripe Boxes - The Sequel!  I did some calculations the other day, and it looks like I'll have to make this version 50% bigger than the first version I made, which was 33% bigger than the book instructions.  Go big or go home!

I can't express how much fun it is to put these blocks together.  I don't always get the stripes perfectly matched up, and in fact, the instructions give permission to let the stripes wave a little -- but it's so exciting when they come out perfect!

Rough day at work...whew!  Glad to have my bra off, and my slippers on.  I've made myself a cup of tea, and I'm going to catch up with this week's episode of "House".