Bye 2012!

2012 has been a wild year for us, and it has flown by in the blink of an eye!  Life has been so busy I didn’t even get to mail out Christmas cards this year but don’t worry, I have them all ready for next year and will have them to the post office by December 1^st (which sounds like a lifetime away!).

2012 started slowly for us, Royal Ribbons was doing well and picking up after the holidays.  I filled my calendar with lunches and book club and Civic Awards meetings as well as worked on plans for the Business Excellence Awards night – I was asked to join the committee and since I had the time I agreed to help out.

February was spent working on big changes to the Civic Awards program and ceremony.  We spent almost a year revamping the entire event so we had lots of meetings to discuss bylaws, logos, scripts etc.  Fortunately we had a very mild winter so getting out and about was easy – I don’t think I wore my boots once!

March was busy with committee meetings as all of the awards nights were coming up quickly.  I also turned 41 and seem to have firmly crossed the Rubicon.  I was invited to a volunteer dinner in town and it was nice to be the one being waited on for an evening.  It’s always great to see so many people dedicated to their community gathered in one spot!

The Little Prince turned 4 in April and amid the flurry of events we had a nice little family party for him at home.  A few of my friends came by for cake and champagne…and photos with the Thomas mural!

May found me on a plane, on my way to Scotland for a week.  I had a great time staying in Stirling and got to see lots of cousins.  In true Scottish fashion, it rained all but one day but that’s alright, I had loads of fun anyway.  

In June it was time to get back to business…Royal Ribbons was a year old and I was enjoying meeting new people and making lots of great contacts.  I also provided lunch for my Rotary Club while they worked at the Habitat for Humanity site which is such an amazing experience.  I got to meet the woman the house was being built for and can’t think of anyone more deserving.  At this point I ended up with some sort of stomach flu, which is a great weight loss program…after about 10 days I managed to get out on my wobbly Bambi legs to attend a monument dedication, in the sun and heat…I didn’t last long!

July is when everything changed.  Policing in our town was up for debate and the people didn’t like it.  I attended a council meeting that made me so angry I offered to join forces with the biggest curmudgeon in town to fight town hall.  We were at risk of losing our police force and a committee was formed, I was named chair and within 24 hours we were on the front page of the newspapers, money was pouring in and the town know they had a fighting chance.  6 weeks of fundraising, meetings, flyers, newspaper and radio advertisements, sign blitzes, interviews, letters to the editor, t-shirts, a march led by our local pipe band, a rally, and my speech to council in front of a packed gallery – the vote was deferred until December.  It was supposed to happen on September 11^th – the irony did not go unnoticed – but we were faced with having to wait more than three months to find out if we would be able to keep our police force.  

In the middle of all of this, my parents moved to town – just in time to see me in the papers each week, I was presented with my Chamber of Commerce plaque, the Little Prince attended a teddy bear picnic, we went to a Big Band concert in the park, the Little Prince played on a soccer team for the first time, our Danish exchange student arrived for a year, we found a new school for the Little Prince, dropped the ceremonial puck at the local hockey team's opening game, attended the fall fair, I took up shooting, provided the meal at a weekly poverty dinner, took the Little Prince to a Wiggles concert, went to a wine tasting (and was poured into my house at the end of the evening), celebrated Thanksgiving with our parents and our exchange student, and did a flight in a fellow Rotarian’s private plane with the exchange student so she could see the area in the fall from the sky.  I was also juggling other committee commitments as well…sometimes having to work with the politicians I was fighting against – life is nothing if not complicated!

Fortunately another councilor decided December was too long to wait and asked that the vote be on October 30^th.  This left us 6 weeks to fill so the police committee got to work on a few information brochures and I spent my time gently lobbying a councilor and the deputy mayor.  Coffees, phone calls and talks in the hallways of town hall have become the norm.  Fortunately, when the vote came down, after an hour of debating in council chambers, one of the councilors decided to listen to the people who elected him and changed his vote.  Town hall erupted in applause as it was finally decided we would be keeping our police force.  I felt like I could breathe for the first time in months!  We all went to the pub for champagne, speeches and to hang out with the cops.  I turned to address the police chief at one point during my speech and saw him wipe a tear away.  This is how important the fight was for our town.  

In November I reconnected with friends I have missed for a few months, got to work on choosing next year’s outbound exchange student for the Rotary club, started plans for the 2013 Christmas committee and started thinking about the holidays.  We saw the holiday train go through town and I’ve decided to try to get it to stop here next year.  We attended the candlelight walk through town and the lighting of the park, and the Santa Claus parade.

In December I worked a lot, took the exchange student to Toronto for the Christmas Market and dinner at my favourite spot, met with the head of the poverty coalition to talk about forming a board in January, organized a pot luck dinner for the Rotary club, rang the bell for the Salvation Army outside the liquor store (I knew I would see most of the people I know), went to the Little Prince’s school pageant, took a stuffed animal for the hockey team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss and wound up in the paper again for helping out…and then everything came to a screeching halt when the Little Prince got sick, then fell down and did something to his ankle that has left him in a cast for a few weeks.  He spent more than a week in bed and I wasn’t sure he would manage Christmas…but the little guy rallied and managed to smile while opening his presents and got to see his grandparents.  I took a few hours away on Christmas day to serve lunch to the poor as a friend of mine organizes it each year.  It was lots of busy, fun work and quite a few of my friends did the same, donned an apron and provided a nice meal for people who wouldn’t have one otherwise.

I have been busy getting Royal Ribbons back on track; I added a few new products and have plans to add more in 2013.  The latest is custom mugs which I spent a day traveling all over the city to prepare for and in one day got enough orders to put me in the black – I’m calling it a success!   Life is still all about meetings and lunches – I get calls from all over the place from people asking me to help them take on their own town hall – so I keep busy, which is fine with me!

The Little Prince is doing well in Montessori school and he is making lots of friends there.  The Suburban Prince has been working away , doing his thing, and I have taken a part time job at a local funeral home, as well as joining a few more committees.  

I am exhausted just proof reading all that!  Yes, I tend to bite off more than I can chew but isn’t that what makes life fun?  2013 will be another wild year I’m sure – and I am looking forward to it!

From my family to yours, all the very best for 2013! 

2008 was the worst and hardest year of my life.
2009 was about picking up the pieces and survival.
2010 was about figuring it all out.
2011 was meant to be epic but I can't remember much of it!
2012 was my year.  I found my stride, proved what I am made of and plan to take that into 2013 to accomplish more, bigger, better things.

Look out world! 

Happy New Year!
Happy Hogmanay!


 
Have a fabulous day!

What a week...or so!

Happy Monday!  It has been a wild 10 days - I managed to survive the Wiggles concert and the arena has free wifi so while the Little Prince danced and sang, I replied to hundreds of emails and kept in touch with the real world.

While we were there I got a message from the Cheeky Reaper that he had a huge visitation that night and was on his own at the funeral home so when I got home I did a quick change and went to help him out.  I'm realizing if you want to see who's who...go to the big funerals!

On Saturday I called a police committee meeting and I really thought it would just be an hour - I got home 5 hours later!  The official meeting lasted 90 minutes but then my Spiritual Advisor came to the bar and we got to talking then I had to drop by the Lincoln Lawyer's (new character in this movie I call my life, he looks like Abe Lincoln, and is the lawyer for the police committee) house with a document.  His wife makes the best coffee and she knows I will never turn one down....aaaand after coffee we got into the raspberry beer and before I knew it I was strolling in the front door after 7pm. 

 

I went to have a chocolate from the little box I left on the coffee table.  Seems a certain Little Prince found them and decided to do a taste test!

On Sunday I went skeet shooting in a farmer's field.  I came home achy and the next day had a nice bruise - the big shotgun just about knocked me over!  And yes...I can hit a moving target.

On Monday I went to my Rotary meeting and then I think I stopped at the bar to chat with some committee members - tho I can't remember...it's all becoming a blur!

Every morning at 8:30 this farmer takes his horse out for a jog - I used to wonder how anyone could live in the country...I'm turning into one of them.  I'm way more Hunter wellies and riding jackets than I ever thought I could be.  I used to read Marie Claire...now it's Garden & Gun.

On Tuesday morning I had a meeting (at the bar, surprise surprise) with a member of the board that represents the police to council, then Hermes Scarf Friend came up and we had lunch in the cozy corner (a little semi private room with one table right at the front window of the bar) and chatted for a couple of hours.  We made plans for the exchange student, gossiped and decided we need to do a drinking tour of town again soon.  At this point I realized I needed to have a nap or I wouldn't make it through the rest of the day so I went home and rested for a while.

On Tuesday evening I went to the council meeting to make sure nothing shady was going on then stopped by the...wait for it...bar (I'm sure you think I'm some sort of lush by now but I assure you, as soon as I walk in the wait staff will come over with a club soda and lots of lime for me).  There were all sorts of interesting people there so it was a fun hour of chatting and deciding we all hate the same person.

I spotted this little beauty in town a few weeks ago - my dream car!  It was a gorgeous day and it took everything I have to resist asking the owner if I could take it for a spin.

On Wednesday I spent the whole day dealing with media - from 5am I was emailing reporters and making arrangements for interviews - then I had to do a photo op, then go to the radio station to record the new ad for the police committee.  I stopped by the...you guessed it...bar to chat with my Spiritual Advisor (with just a few days left before the vote everyone is spending a lot of time thinking and talking about it).  Everyone knows my car so anytime I am in the bar there will be a stream of people coming in to talk, pass on information, say hello...so an hour later I got home and needed to lie down.  5am is very early when I have evening plans the same day!

That night we went to a soup dinner party - just my luck tho, I was allergic to three of the 4 soups and don't like the 4th one. I filled up on cheese and crackers and didn't make a fuss.  The people sitting next to me were the strangest couple.  She is about 6'4" and he is just slightly taller than my 5'2". I also suspect she was once a man.  Anyhoo...when another one of the wives started talking about her cat I knew it was time for me to go home. 

Our Rotary exchange student is the loveliest girl and I'm not kidding when I say I am going to have a hard time giving her back to her parents.  I tend to invite her out with me more than I am expected to (I'm her guardian and counselor but she doesn't live with me) but she is just so nice to have around.  I took her to the mall with me and stumbled upon these - you know you are getting old when this prompts the sudden donning of sunglasses.  And these weren't the brightest ones they had!  As the exchange student was trying things on it made me smile, then cringe to think when I was her age I would've been going gaga for all the neon in the shops.  Preppy or not, no one got through the 80s without something neon.

My parents went to Florida for a few weeks and I didn't ask them to bring anything back...to be honest I just didn't get organized enough to do the research and make my list.  They will do the leg work as long as I provide item names and numbers, store addresses and phone numbers etc.  Anyhoo...I did have a few things shipped to them - a box of ribbon so I could avoid the customs bill and a couple of Android tablets (half the price they are in Canada) - but this is what they bought for me!  Wahoo!   I'm known for my club soda (or soda water as it is called in some places) and everyone knows to follow the trail of empty blue cans if they want to find me - well, my mom asked the Lilly staff person what the little thing is, which surprised me as it's not like we don't have koozies here, anyway...she was told it's "for your can of club soda".  My mom knew at that moment she had to get it for me to go with the monthly planner.

On Thursday I did my usual running around, customer calls, seamstress meeting (I get all of my clothes tailored) and then had a civic awards meeting.  It was decided the Little Prince and I will be placing the committee's wreath on the cenotaph on Remembrance Day. He has watched me fight for democracy all this time with the policing issue and it is the perfect opportunity for him to come and see why I have put myself and my family through this.  We will have some talks about the people who have given their lives in the name of democracy so I hope he takes something from it.  It's a bit of a big deal and a privilege to be able to represent the committee and take part in the ceremony.

After the meeting I went to...the bar...and everyone was shocked to hear I was meeting the Suburban Prince for dinner as we never seem to be in the same place at the same time!  I had to wait for a while so I chatted with the regulars before I sat at my table and one of them was nice enough to think I needed some vodka in my club soda so he sent one over.  How nice is that!  

This week there is a 'town hall' meeting for the public on Monday and I will need to be there as police committee chair ready to ask questions of our elected representatives.  On Tuesday there is a special council meeting and the supposed final vote is to be that night.  We are supposed to find out once and for all if we will be keeping our police force.  We have spent 3 months trying to get just one councillor to change their vote, I am cautiously optimistic as these people have to know there will be either a riot, or a parade.  If we get what we want I will be the first one to jump up and lead the standing ovation.  I've also made it clear that if the vote goes wrong, I am no longer responsible for holding people back.  I have prevented riots, talked people out of burning down the mayor's house, kept people from picketing and storming town hall...if it goes wrong, I am stepping aside and letting the chips fall where they may.

It's Downton Day!  Episode 7 is tonight and I wont give any spoilers but I will be here at 4pm watching the live stream, armed with a handkerchief.  I will post this link to the new ep once I have it.

And that's my life in a nutshell - I have spent the weekend at home, alone, not going anywhere, recharging and getting organized again.  It has been nice to stay in my jammies and not have to be 18 people all at once!

If you can, please leave your comment here instead of on Twitter. Thanks!


Have a fabulous day!

My birthday (2 months later!)

The problem with being so intensely busy at certain times of the year is the backlog of photos and posts I don't have time to think about let alone publish!  Now that life is quieter (read: saner) I am able to go through my camera (over 3000 photos!  Yikes!) and get posts organized, prepped and ready for you!

My birthday was a quiet affair - the Suburban Prince and Little Prince took me into the city for lunch at my favourite restaurant in Yorkville.  The food there is ok, consistent, but the people watching is awesome!  I always call ahead and book my favourite table so I have the best seat in the house!

First off tho...

You may recall I did a giveaway for the Luna company a while ago and they were so much fun to work with!  They sent me a big box of their bars to try out and review and they gave away boxes of bars to my readers!  As if that wasn't enough....look what they sent me for my birthday!  How sweet!  I love their bars for a treat in the afternoon - so much healthier than a chocolate bar and just as, if not more yummy! Thank you Luna!!

Cousin Willie and his wife sent me these pretty flowers!  I was out having my toes done and came home to this big bouquet!  Such a lovely surprise!  Thank you Cousin Willie!

I ordered a few things for myself from The Preppy Princess and she was soooooo kind and sent me a little present all wrapped up and tied with a bow!  Lilly Pulitzer croakies were inside!  I love them!  Thank you Preppy Princess!

We made a quick stop at Hermes for my perfume (let's not even talk about how it was half the price at duty free in Scotland) then made our way to lunch.  Important things first...bubbly and a beer. 

 We saw a wedding go by!  A few Goyard bags, lots of spendy cars and more than one famous person.  Lunch was yummy - I am a creature of habit and always order the same thing at every restaurant I go to...at Remy's it's the penne pollo.

What's this?  Downton Abbey across the street?  

William Ashley had their windows all done up for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic and tied it in with a Downton Abbey promo!  Serious eye candy!

The 'skins' on the front windows were very impressive!

I think this is meant to be the downstairs kitchen/dining area.

 Upstairs dining....I love the candelabra!  I went inside to enter the contest but I didn't win.  Too bad!

On our way to the gourmet grocery store we passed Kevin O'Leary.  I'm still kicking myself for not giving him my elevator pitch but the Suburban Prince wasn't paying attention and couldn't confirm it was him.  Anyhoo, I'm 99% sure it was him and will be sure to shove ribbon at him the next time I pass him in the street.

I'm not a desserty person.  I love chocolate and feel if it isn't chocolate, it isn't dessert so usually I pass and my waistline thanks me.  I do make two exceptions tho...key lime meringue pie and Swedish princess cake.  I did a little searching and found a Swedish bakery in Toronto that makes them so after a little bit of twitter tag I got my rincess cake ordered!  Since they are not open on Sundays (the only day I would be in the city) they made arrangements with the butcher across the street that is open on Sundays so I could still get my cake!  Now that's customer service!  Thank you Beaches Bake Shop!  

I think a pink and green cake is just perfect!  That's not fondant...it's almond paste and tastes so perfect with the other elements of the cake!  On our way home from lunch and shopping we stopped to pick up my cake and made our way home.  We relaxed on the couch together all with a slice of cake.  Ahhhhh.

Sponge, jam, pastry cream, whipped cream...oh my!  Yum!  I was very impressed at the size and price of this cake and it even managed to last long enough to share with a couple of people!

In case you are wondering what the Suburban Prince gave me....my Hermes perfume, a Lilly laptop sleeve, a KJP bracelet, eyelash serum, and a bee garden ornament.

Adrienne at The Rich Life sent me this KJP bracelet...I love it!  I've had sooo many compliments on it!  Thank you Adrienne!

Wendy at Madras & Pearls made this pearl bracelet for me and sent it up!  I love it and wear it all the time!  Thank you Wendy! It's perfect for summer!

I think that's everything...if I forgot someone or something please let me know so I can make the addition!

If you can, please leave your comment here instead of on Twitter. Thanks!

Have a fabulous day!

December Recap!

The last month has been a blur of activity and shopping.  I so wanted to blog more but I just didn't have as much time as I needed.  Blogging takes a lot of work...research, taking photos, photo editing, layouts etc.  There just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes!

I am spending this week puttering around the house, getting closets tidy and organized, all the laundry done, writing cards to my penpals and all the little things that get neglected when our minds and bodies are off celebrating.

I feel like Christmas rushed up at me this year...yes I know I have had a whole year but, with the basement renovation taking almost an entire year, my storage room was held hostage until almost December.  As it is, the basement still isn't finished but we needed to take a break.  Since I didn't have a lot of planning time and everything was such a mess I decided to do very minimal decorations and barely decorated the Christmas tree.

Did you know if you don't putz with garlands, little filler ornaments and all that other nonsense a tree can be decorated in less than 1 hour?  No?  Neither did I.  The best part of all of this...it will take me a short amount of time to get it all off the tree. 

I decided this year to get every single piece of Christmas decoration into the living room and get it all sorted out, get rid of what we don't use and organize it by theme.  Perhaps a project for the new year so it can be done as it is coming down.  

The month kicked of with our Civic Awards pot luck meeting.  We all brought a dish and the chair of the committee hosted it at her house.  We had our meeting, patted ourselves on the back and got down to the business of breaking bread.  It was nice to socialize with the other committee members as we are usually busy getting to and from commitments.  The chair of the committee is almost 80 and is described as me in 40 years.  I knew we were soul mates when I saw her datebook is monogrammed.  I took coffee and cake in to her 80 year old husband who was in the den watching tv....he was also doing needlepoint.  We were all having such an enjoyable time I ended up missing a Rotary cocktail party that was on the same night. 

Royal Ribbons was busy up to the first week of December.  I got all of my orders printed and out the door and catered to my last customer of the year with a smile on my face.  I love my personalized ribbon business but I was happy to have my time freed up a bit so I could focus on other things.

We had our Rotary Christmas dinner at one of the local restaurants.  The meal was so-so but the brussel sprouts were amazing!  I ate mine, the mayor's and some of Hermes Scarf Friend's date's servings.  I was telling HSF about one of the much older man who is always verry, verrry flirty with me.  Always telling me the colour I have on is so flattering and then some.  I noticed none of the other women got a Christmas kiss that night!  HSF asked me if I had never noticed I probably remind him a lot of his wife.  No, in fact, I had no noticed that...but come to think of it...I see the connection.  HSF said he is bound to adore anyone who is well mannered, has short blonde hair, is pretty and well spoken...she said I look just like she probably did 40 years ago.  The quilted riding jacket completes the look.  Ok...not so creepy now!

Neighbour and I went to see the 'New Year's Eve' movie and I loved it!  I thought it was a great holiday movie and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We have to see Dragon Tattoo and Twilight soon!  With all of the schedules we need to factor in, it's hard to get a night everyone is free!  PS...I always forget just how insanely cute Zac Efron is.

I attended the Chamber of Commerce cocktail party for all of 20 minutes.  Enough time to do a lap, grab a drink, eat some nibblies, say hello and get on my merry way!  I suspect a lot of the members did the exact same thing as it was a bit quiet when I was there.

I managed to have lunch with HSF a few times - usually to discuss business as we are on several of the same committees so it's a handy way to eat and accomplish the discussions we need to clear up before meeting with other committee members.  Oh and we like to gossip.  Small town life!

It's hard to believe my parents' Christmas party was less than 3 weeks ago.  It seems like a hundred years have gone by!  I have an outfit post from that night coming soon.  The Little Prince charmed the crowd when he was finally comfortable enough to sing his Christmas song for us.  We all cheered and clapped when he finished and he loved it so much he sang it again!  And again!  Six times.  I finally had to stuff some chocolate in his mouth to get him to stop!  I spent some time chatting with my mom's oldest friend and finally got the story of why her daughter divorced her husband.  Turns out he started his own business and she didn't like being home alone as much as that entailed.  Charming.  A young man tries to make a better life for his wife and child and gets divorced for it. 

We joined my inlaws for brunch with Santa at the country club.  The food was really good but I find these sorts of buffets are wasted on me.  I wish we could just buy half of the buffet.  After we ate we went to my inlaws' house to open presents.  One of mine was a fleecy long housecoat...something I would never wear.  It was returned when we passed the mall on our way home.  I got a gift card so I will pick out something from the MAC counter or some such thing.

We spent a day in Toronto going to the Eaton Center, the Christmas Market and dinner at my favourite restaurant in Yorkville.  I realized after that I forgot to go by T&Co to see if they had the carousel windows here too.  I always make a reservation at the restaurant as I like to sit at the same table every time.  It looks out onto Yorkville Avenue and at this time of year there is always lots of hustle and bustle.  I fondly remember one year it was snowing and the street looked so beautiful with everyone rushing home laden with shopping bags....

Strings of street lights  

Even stop lights

Blink a bright red and green 

As the shoppers rush home with their treasures

...the Little Prince came with us this year for the very first time and he had a ball being his mommy's city child.  He loved the subway and taxis!  He needed to be changed into dinner clothes so the Suburban Prince took him to the car and I headed to the restaurant...to order a glass of something civilized. 

I took our sometimes babysitter out for lunch and a catch up.  We are both so busy we hardly ever have time to just sit and chat for no reason at all.  She recently got engaged to our contractor so we had lots to discuss...wedding plans, flower ideas...bridesmaid drama....she is 15 years younger than me so I have a very different perspective to offer.  Hopefully she doesn't make herself crazy!  The cafe we lunched at is always beautifully decorated for the holidays.  I wonder if the frog is for sale!

The library book club met a few days before Christmas to discuss the latest book.  I didn't even crack it open.  It was some sci-fi sort of thing and that just isn't my style.  I did arrive with cupcakes and enjoyed everyone's company...most of whom hadn't read the book either!  We don't get a say in the books that are assigned so we end up stuck with book the weird organizer likes.  What I did learn is Tim's has 'kegs' of hot chocolate - but they must be ordered in advance.

I took a shift at the LCBO ringing the bell for the Sally Ann kettle.  It was so much better this year as I was actually inside the store.  Last year I was outside for a couple of hours and almost crying by the end of my shift.  As I was on the sidewalk last year I didn't pay a lot of attention to who was going in the liquor store.  Want to see everyone you know all in one afternoon?  Hang around the entrance of the liquor store!  This year I noticed there are a lot of people who need booze like a hole in the head going in and spending their welfare cheques. 

We took the Little Prince to get his picture taken with Santa.  I find it incredible how many malls have done away with with taking photos or have removed Santa altogether!  What's that about??  The mall by us has a great Santa and the Little Prince did an awesome job hanging out with him.  The mall had a great idea and offered people a memory stick full of photos for one price.  We ordered that and the photographer went crazy taking over 50 photos for us.  Santa just kept going and wanted more photos taken!  At one point I realized my son could probably be a model and decided to look into it in the new year.

 I had the hardest time shopping this year.  None of the people in my life need or really want anything and I hate wandering the malls.  I prefer to know exactly what I want to buy and get it online or find it online and go right to the store to get it.  I hate shopping...I like buying.  Why is it people who don't want anything still insist on presents?

Our local theatre has a fundraiser each Christmas and it is a bit tourist draw.  Local businesses decorate Christmas trees and they fill the theatre all season.  Tickets are purchased, filled in then dropped into the box that goes with the trees one would like to win.  I got a phone call a couple of days before Christmas to tell me I had won a tree!  I love it!  I was hoping if I had to win a tree it would be this one!  The photos just don't do it justice!

A friend of mine organizes a Christmas lunch for those less fortunate or alone on Christmas day.  I found out he has been paying for it himself (for 100 people!!!!) so I got to work and spread the word to my contacts to see if anyone would help him out.  I managed to get all of the potatoes donated as well as lots of turkeys...and some cash donations.  He was overwhelmed at the generosity and it was so nice to see how happy he was!

I spent a few evenings wrapping presents.  Considering how few things I bought for people I don't know how I had so much to wrap...but I might've gone a little bit overboard buying clothes and books for the Little Prince.  Thank goodness for gift boxes that come already decorated!  I did have fun using my own personalized ribbon tho!  I think it is the perfect finishing touch!

My parents came on Christmas eve and stayed over night.  It was a nice relaxing day as I prepped all the food ahead of time and instead of a big turkey, I made a turkey casserole.  It was all yummy and I didn't have to spend the day in the kitchen!  It makes a huge difference when my inlaws aren't here.  It's not that they aren't pleasant...they are just needy.  Even the Suburban Prince agrees we need to impose a time limit when they come over as they would say for days if we don't kick them out!  After my parents had been with us for 24 hours I told them the B&B is closed and they got their car packed, coats on, hugged us goodbye and went home!

We had our neighbours in for dinner on the 27th.  I kept it super simple with ceasar salad and lasagne.  Before they arrived I made a plate of baking and told the Suburban Prince to take it to the elderly couple across the street....40 minutes later he got home to find our friends and me sitting in the living room having cocktail wondering if he really did vanish into thin air!  Turns out the neighbour offered him a whiskey and he is just easy led astray.

Tonight I am going to the mall to exchange some presents I am not in love with, have a light dinner and finally see Twilight.  I plan on doing very little for the rest of the month.  We will, as usual, stay home for New Year's Eve.  I will see about making a nice dinner for us to enjoy while watching the concerts from all over the place.  I remember the year I was pregnant Denis DeYoung was performing at Niagara Falls and he was great!  Hopefully we will catch some good shows this year.


Have a fabulous day!

How the conversation went....

The Suburban Prince needed to run a few errands so he took the Little Prince with him.  One of the places they went is Staples Business Center.

Everything was going along tickity-boo, they got to the next town, parked the car, the Little Prince was excited to be going to Staples....they got in the store...


Suburban Prince:  Ok son, you hold my hand and we will get mommy's SD card.
Little Prince:  But Big Daddy, where are the horses?
Suburban Prince:  Horses?  What horses?
Little Prince:  You said we are going to Staples...where are the horses?


The Little Prince took it well when it was explained the store is called Staples...not Stables.


Have a fabulous day!

How the conversation went....

Dont forget to enter my Thanksgiving Ribbon Giveaway!



Suburban Prince:  Remember when we went to see The Smurfs...did you think that was a bit scary?

Little Prince:  A widdle.

Suburban Prince:  Did you think Winnie The Pooh was scary?

Little Prince:  No.

Suburban Prince:  Well, there is a movie called Lion King but I am thinking it's a bit scary for you.

Little Prince:  Why dont we go to da movies to find out?

Suburban Prince:  You are the most rational person I know.


Have a fabulous day!

A walk in the garden - Part 2

Here is part 2 of my garden photos!

 

You just can see some purple grapes growing under the leaves.

 

A rogue pumpkin!

 

Another rogue!

 

The veggie patch is full by August!

 

Another rogue...we kept finding them everywhere thanks to the compost!

 

The pumpkin plants grow to be huge!  You can see why they have to be kept under control!

 

I love the vines growing over my 'Secret Garden' door!

 

More vines growing over the canopy - they bloomed hundreds of white and purple flowers!

 

So pretty!  Makes me feel all Ivy League!

 

These flowers are amazing!

 

It's not just pumpkins!  We had a rogue carrot too - it won 3rd place at the fall fair!

Have a fabulous day!

A walk around the garden - Part 1

Every year the Suburban Prince works hard to get the gardens looking spectacular.  When we bought this house it was a disaster...we bought it from nasty WT so that should tell the tale.  Over the years we have added more and more plants and flowers and have a great time harvesting all of the berries we grow!

 

A raspberry busy full of ripe berries!

 

Blueberries - a favourite!

 

Grape plants!

 

I have no idea what this is but it was already starting to turn red!

 

This is where the little chipmunk lives!  See the little hole?

 

These flowers are as big as plates!

 

Blackberries...it's hard to get a lot of them in the house as they get eaten while in the pool!

 

Grow berries and your children will eat them!

 

Spaghetti squash ripening!

We grow our squash so it hangs down rather than sitting on the ground.

 

Same with pumpkins!  This gives them nice shape and keeps them from taking over the entire yard. 

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow!

Have a fabulous day!