Christmas in November

We had an early Christmas last night, with Les and his girl Janice and little Maddie home for a few days. It was so nice to see everyone, especially Linda, who we don't get to see enough of. We never get her and Matt at the same time, but we will take what we can! All of us were entertained by Maddie, who opened all of her own presents, gave hugs to her moose, modelled her hat and mitts, and gave everything to Jennifer, who, she seemed to have decided, was her new best friend.

Yay for Snow!!!

The tree on our front lawn is laden! I love it (today, that is....in March, I'll be saying "what the !@!?").

The girl with the fuzzy head blathers on.

Gosh, what gorgeous day it was, for November! Beautifully sunny and clear, and even though it was cold it didn't matter; it was exhilarating.

We had a successful sale yesterday, raising over $800, though the money was not the main reason for doing it. Nice to have so many people drop into the church, especially familiar faces who used to be in the congregation but have moved on to other churches. Our little church family is much smaller than it once was, when Neil Steenson was our pastor, but we soldier along. We're blessed to have Pastor Bruce, who is enthusiastic and not afraid of hard work! There is lots to do.

I was tired last night, but so wound up I couldn't settle down and sleep well. It was also a bad night physically - my right arm aches some nights and keeps me awake, and it was one of those nights. So I got up feeling rather fuzzy in the head this morning, but I dragged myself to church anyway, and was glad I did; I needed today's message, which was about having faith when hope fades and fear comes in. This has to do with problems at church, and enough said about that.

Went to Ottawa and shopped for some gifts (several birthdays and early Xmas's this week), and then stopped at Sheila's for a quick hello. Now it's time for a well-earned brewski on the couch and a little mindless tv watching!

Bake and Craft Goodies

We're having our annual Bake/Craft Sale at the church on Saturday, and in anticipation of that I made my first ever wreath! It's all pine and cedar cones from around our cottage, that I picked up before we closed the place in October. I'm pretty happy with it, for a first effort, and won't be particularly displeased if it doesn't sell - Iain would like to keep it anyway.

The little bottles of Citrus Vinegar have a nice flavour, and I'm hoping someone will think them worth picking up.

I've also made catnip sacks again this year, which should make Brian happy! He usually purchases most of them for his and other family cats.


That's pretty much it for crafts, but I'm also selling chow-chow (green tomato pickles), salsa, chocolate fudge, orange wreath cookies, cranberry-walnut tarts, peanut butter cookies, and baked beans.

Mom has, as usual, baked up dozens and dozens of buns! A lot of them get sold before the sale; I think she's sold 12 dozen already. She also makes slippers for the craft table. I would love to be as with-it as her, if I make it to 90 years!

Although the stated goal of the sale is to make some upkeep money for the church building, the real reason is to get together with my sisters and some church friends and have a good time. Too bad our pal Debbie is busy with her new job - she's always a lot of fun.

Halloween

Meant to report here on Harry Street's Halloween Happenings, but I've been spending most of my spare time on other activities than blogging. My neighbour's grandson was too adorable to allow to leave without taking a picture, which I share here with you. We had 250 little visitors that night; we had planned for 180, but my other neighbour decided her dog would create too many hassles if she were going to the door a lot, so she donated 70 bags of chips and left her porch light off. I'm going to put together a mish-mash of video, to be posted later on youtube - but now I'm off to work!

Spears’s expenses report reveals the true cost of fame (Ottawa Citizen, 03 Nov 2007, Page A7)

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Spears’s expenses report reveals the true cost of fame

Ottawa Citizen
03 Nov 2007

LOS ANGELES Ever wondered how much it costs to live like a famous pop starlet in the late stages of a public breakdown? The answer, as revealed in court documents filed by Britney Spears yesterday, is $353,217 a month. The documents, which itemized... read more... Tech Tags: Ottawa Citizen newspaper World

I read this report the other day, and was dumbfounded to read that Britney gives only $500 a month to charity, while she spends $16000 on clothing. I was all set to jump on the "Britney's a Loser" bandwagon. However, it's just proof again that you can't believe everything you read; after I calmed down, I did a quick Google and easily found that the Britney Spears Foundation donates plenty of cash to a variety of worthy causes, including one of my favouites, Habitat for Humanity.

It's bad enough that the Citizen feels Britney's sad life is grist for the mill, but it's worse that they publish an article that leaves a worse impression of her than it should.