Christmas Flyers and Techno Stuff

As I sat drinking my morning coffee this snowy Sunday morning, I browsed through all the flyers that came in our Friday newspaper..Usually I'm comparing prices for all the grocery stores so I can get the best deals for food. Thankfully some stores Ad Match, so I have started to save quite a bit on food items..But at this time of year the flyers are FULL of items to delight the eye and pull us in.

Most of the flyers are advertising much cheaper prices to compete with the American Black Friday sales. My husband has a Kobo reader and he loves it. As I'm looking at advertisements I spy a mini Kobo on sale for a great price. Hubby asks me if I want one..Do I need one is the question or just want it for the sale price? I still love holding my books but hubby loaned me his Kobo on a long trip home from P.E.I. last summer and it was rather neat reading a whole book on it..no pages to turn and such large print..

I know I'm getting a camera for Christmas as the Fed Ex man was here 3 times last week putting parcels inside our screen door. I'd hear a thump at the door and open our hall door and there wedged between the two doors was a parcel. The first one was a camera card. The second parcel was a tiny case which looked like it would hold a cell phone. Until my hubby pointed out the word Canon on the front..then he spilled the beans that I was getting a new camera for Christmas as I asked for one..it must be a very small one judging by the size of the case..great for carrying in my purse. The third parcel was for my husband as he seems to love shopping online....

Another thing the flyers are full of is toys and candy..now I love my box of Turtles each Christmas, and dark chocolate mints and the list could go on and on as long as it's Dark chocolate..sometimes I give in and buy myself some treats, gifting myself! As for toys, it was no problem until I got a granddaughter.

 Shopping yesterday afternoon I picked up yet another doll as it was on sale! But then I counted how many I have here for her already...four at last count..how many can a little girl hold at once! Only one..so I put it back. I know she will be overwhelmed with gifts this Christmas with all the relatives she has..It was so cute though, had long blond hair and was a ballerina with soft legs and arms...My heart was tugging at me to buy it, it was so cheap, then my head kicked in and I put it back for the second time..so I got out of that aisle fast! I did buy her a child's pair of gardening gloves on sale so she can help her Nanny in the garden next summer. I had already purchased a small shovel so she can play in the snow this winter..

Hubby and I were Christmas shopping yesterday and the store was packed...I kept seeing things I wanted..a pair of black winter gloves, a new kitchen knife, a new spatula as hubby complained about our old one. A little later he said we should leave, we were getting caught up in buying for buying's sake..it's so easy to do at this time of year. He knows I LOVE to shop. About the only way for me to be good is to stay home! I was born to shop I think...

He bought a cable so that my laptop can be hooked up to the television and I can watch movies I find online on the larger tv screen. Then he had to show me how to use it and then how to  get back to just using one screen as on the television. Well! I hate technical stuff and I was overwhelmed at all the steps..he made me practice over and over until I felt I could do it and I even wrote all the steps down. I am so NOT good at technical stuff..But I'm learning, although I pout and grumble..

In a few minutes I'm leaving to do my grocery shopping and buy some wool. I'm making my granddaughter a poncho and perhaps a hat and scarf. Every winter I make myself a couple of new scarves because they keep coming out with great new patterns! (You didn't see me write that I already have a large bag of wool put aside for other projects just in case it's a long, cold winter). The year the above picture was taken my husband and brother-in-law had to shovel off our roof, the snow was above my husband's knees on the roof..last year was the first year in three that he didn't have to shovel off the roof.

I will try and be "really good" and not over buy at the store, we only need a few food items and I will try very hard not to go down the toy aisle. The best thing to do would be for my hubby to put a time limit on my shopping spree..perhaps he could bribe me with some dark chocolate!

Winter Wonderland

I knew from the weather report last night I might wake up to our first serious snowfall. When I drew back the curtains in the living-room a very beautiful, white lacy world greeted me. Now the snow is not deep and will probably not even last the day which won't hurt my feelings at all, but every tree branch, bush and flower is wearing a fluffy mantel of white.

We have had days and days of rain so the snow is sticking to branches, making my three burning bushes with their red berries look like someone dusted them with a huge sifter of icing sugar. I hope my carrots and two turnip in the garden have survived..It's been so wet here that the garden has been too mucky to walk in. I'm sure one of my hubby's weekend jobs will be to get his snow tires on now.

The picture I have posted is not of our home here in Muskoka but of our old farmhouse we purchased in 2010 in Prince Edward Island. The house was purchased in the month of November and for the most part the weather was very nice that month. My brother-in-law and I started renovating, tearing out the kitchen cupboards after which we started smashing down the old drywall. The day before I was to fly home, snow greeted us. Just looking at the above picture is making me very homesick for the island and our retirement home..

Speaking of cupboards brings me to my other topic, starting a small, seemingly innocent project like painting our kitchen in the house we are presently living in. When we purchased the house the walls were painted a very dark blue and the kitchen being a very small room needed brightening up..I chose quite a deep yellow, also using that color for my office. I guess I was thinking these rooms need brightening up really badly and that's why I chose yellow, but that has never been one of my favorite colors...I'm much fonder of most shades of green.

So last weekend hubby put two coats of green paint on the kitchen walls and I very gently suggested this would be a great time to put down a new kitchen floor..I had two floor samples here from over a year ago. At first he wasn't that eager to do it until the summer, but the more he thought about it, the more it started to make sense, so off we went to purchase new flooring. We settled for click lock vinyl that looks like cork. It will match the color of the kitchen counters well..

Then I had the idea we should rip up the old linoleum whereas Jim thought the new flooring would go over top of it fine..after more discussion off came the linoleum but not all the paper backing or glue..woe is me. I have been scraping that darn floor since Sunday and finished Thursday night. I thought I was finished in the afternoon but Jim moved the refrigerator and stove for the second time and there was two small patches left to do..

I had three different scrapers and used them all. I started out doing it for a couple of hours, then rested. When my right wrist started groaning and aching, I shortened it to scraping for twenty minutes or so, resting my wrist for longer periods. I'd sit at night with a cold wash cloth wrapped around my right wrist, then start work again next day. I am so grateful that job is done. We have been living in a mess all week, everything on shelves and counters had to be cleared out and is spread all over upstairs, I am so ready to get organized again. Especially since my 21 month old granddaughter might drop in on Saturday...on the positive side, she can't mess the house up more than it already is!

Another positive is that the tops of my kitchen cupboards got a good scrubbing and my antique bowls will be gleaming when they go back up there, every item will be washed giving me a head start on my Christmas cleaning. After living in such a mess for a whole week, I find I must look for all the positives I can. Today with the fresh snow, it reminds me of Christmas coming up fast.

Dear hubby filled in all the nail holes where I had hung pictures in the kitchen so I can start over and hang something different. I can decide if I need all those mugs and glasses and hopefully get rid of quite a few. After all we need to downsize a LOT before we retire. (or so I've been told)..

As I sit here typing I can see my white Christmas cactus blooming away, matching the whiteness of the snow on the front deck. Which reminds me I should water all my houseplants, which will lead to all kinds of other jobs. At least I don't have to get down on my knees and scrape the kitchen floor, in my mind's eye, I'm trying to visualize how amazing it will all be when once more everything is back in place...well minus what I can pry my hands away from!