Happy Holidays!

This is the first Christmas EVER that I don't have

a tree up, I haven't sent Christmas cards and I've

not wrapped even one gift!

Nope, it's not a Grinch Christmas - it's been beyond

busy at work and I have a nasty sinus thing going

on so when I get home - I've just been

dropping on the couch!

Today is clean the house, wrap the presents, put

up the tree and hang the stockings day because

for Mr. Biff and I - tomorrow is our Christmas.

I am sharing some pictures of us (I don't

normally but since it's Christmas and all :)

This is another first for us - Mr. Biff is working

on Christmas day!   The restaurant he is working

at is serving upwards of 200 people tomorrow

between brunch and Christmas dinner.

(The Fabulous Mr. Biff is on the right)

So...first Christmas on my own with my "girls"...

*sigh*  I am going to stay in my jammies and

watch chick flicks all day!

 Bee

Marcie

I hope whatever you are doing, wherever you

are going you will be safe, happy and healthy!

Merry Christmas!

Peg & Mr. Biff & "the girls"!

Do I Hear An Echo of Laughter?

Ever read someone's blog and they seemed to be

sending you just what you need - just when

you need it?  It's what I love about blogging -

if you can't conjur up something you

can bet there's some talented person

out there that will!

Well this morning, with my cup of coffee, I was

perusing blogland and stopping by all my favs - when

I came to Angie's blog Echoes of Laughter.

Wow - I have been hemming and hawing (I think

that's what I've been doing or is it humming

and hawing? and what is hawing?...er, I digress)

Anywho....

I couldn't believe how easy Angie has made

it for me, you,  really - everyone to make these 

 beautiful, thoughtful Christmas gifts.

It's not just the product - altho everything looks

stellar - it's how Angie packaged things too - really

lovely! With a how-to for each step

including the labels.

She is sharing 10 Homemade Gift Ideas for

Friends and Neighbours like this one:

Peppermint Foot Soak (Love It!)  You can

find her "how to" here.

Angie also graciously shared her grandmother's sugar

cookie recipe amongst other things....heck, just

go on over and check it out....you too can be

amazed and inspired!

Thanks Angie for allowing me to share and

thanks for all the great ideas! (I'll be making

those cookies today!)

What are you waiting for?  Head on over

to see Angie @ Echoes of Laughter

and don't forget to say "hi" from me!

Hugs & blessings,

Sunday Funnies....

First a Christmas funny....

Oh my, the weekend really flew by - I got SOOOOO

much done tho - that makes me very happy!  A while back

I purchased this awesome hutch (you can read about it

here) only to find out when I moved that my new dining

room had a built in alcove for a hutch and my darling

new hutch was about a foot too wide!  YIKES!

So what did I do?  I did what every savvy blogger

would do - I scoured Craigslit once again and found

another hutch....making sure this time that it was

the right size and this one was already painted white!

Yeah!  Gotta love it!

The other hutch, by the way, is now living happily

in my family room - can you have too much

stylish storage?  I think not!

Hope your weekend's been a happy one!

Hugs & Blessings,

Maintain Your Sense of Humour.......

It would have been even better if it had been a warm summer

evening here on Vancouver Island but it was a cold clear winterish

night when it happened......

Yup, I was out in the shed, in the backyard with my

faithful pooch Marcie by my side searching (in vain)

for a vacuum cleaner that seems to be missing in the

piles of boxes in the house......

Yup, in the dark.....when we heard it....the hissing sound

of obviously confused underground sprinklers coming on!

And, we were trapped!!  Why on earth they decided to come

on full blast...who knows?  But I do know one thing - tomorrow

morning the main shut-off valve will be...er, well...shut off!

In the meantime, my sweet Marcie could not figure out

how to skirt the edge of the sprinkler so she ran

straight through and got soaked!  I danced around

the edge and only got one side of me soaked! 

Brrrrrrr......and still didn't find the vacuum!

Hope you had a warmer, drier evening than me!

Hugs & Blessings,

A little bloggy love....

It's clear from the way my header appears at this

moment that I need help with my blog.  I have decided

to take the plunge and hire someone to help me design

a better blog layout.  At six months in I know I am

in it for the long haul - I love blogging!

Source

Wanna know what I love best about blogging?

It's sort of a painless motivator!  I get things done

that I might otherwise just contemplate and, if I do

a good job of representing what I have done - I get

feedback!  There's nothing better than hearing an

"atta girl" now and again.

I also like the way I get to share some of my

thoughts, what I find inspiring (hopefully you do too!)

and share creativity.  I cannot tell you how much

I have learned from each of you - I visit your blogs

pretty much daily with a cup of tea or a cup of

coffee and a pen and pad.....with a healthy dose

of "I can do it"!

Thank you for your inspiration and if you have

any suggestions about blog design, layout, what

you've found works or doesn't work...what you like

or don't like when you look at a

 blog - I am all ears....

Hugs & blessings,

You Light Up My Life....

You give me hope....to carry on.....

You light up my days and fill

my nights.....ok, enough already!

Wanna see what I did to some old

lamps?  I found these lamps at our

local recycle depot.  Another gal there was

rummaging in a box and pointed to the

lamps and commented to me

"Nate Berkus would love these lamps"! 

I said - "yup, I am sure you are right - are

you going to buy them?"  She said no - she

didn't know how to fix them up

.....well then move on over Buttercup

because I have an idea or 2!! 

They were tacky mostly worn off gold

with some missing crystals and filthy

dirty but you can see their potential and

the best part - they were only $5!!

I removed all the crystals, cleaned the bases,

taped off the cord and the socket and broke

out the ORB (oil rubbed bronze).  Taking

advantage of the one dry day

 we've had in a while.....

My pics are not "staged" very well but you

get the idea.  These babies (there are two) will

be moving into my new bedroom.  Stay tuned

for a reveal once I have finished fluffing and

puffing it up!  I will share what I did with

the shades as well.....

I picked up a whole garland of crystals at

Fabricland with 50% off.....not bad!  I thought

these more diminuitive crystals were more

appropriate (don't want my lamps screaming

bordello!).....so what do you think?

I'd love to hear from you!

Thank You! Happy Thanksgiving!

To my followers South of the Border.....

I am thankful for your readership!

And to all my Canadian friends....

Thank you as well for following me!

Blessings,

Virtual Hugs (aka Blog Awards!)

I was given a Liebster Award....how lovely!

From 'Simply Beautiful Now' who's blog I

love for the beautiful images and messages.

I am reposting her words as they convey exactly

how I feel about blog awards and the spirit of

helping one another! 

This past summer, as they watched a few beautiful swans

swimming along the shoreline, the kids learned about how

in nature, animals naturally support each other. One of the

swans was hurt, so an on-looker tried to help pull it out of the

water. In an instant, the other swans came to fend off, what

they thought was a perpetrator. 

The hurt swan was whisked away.

In German, the word "liebster" is derived from "liebe"

which means love, friend or dearest. I was recently

awarded the Liebster award, which spotlights

up-and-coming blogs who are still in their early stages

(less than 200 followers), ready to blossom

into beautiful swans. (reposted from Simply Beautiful Now)

Thank you for the lovely image of the swans

and for your thoughtful honour!

I also want to write briefly about what
I find to be the only (so far anyway) difficult or

uncomfortable part of blogging:

Awards

  either you love them or you don't.  (I 
love them because it affirms someone
is reading what I am posting and thinks
it's worthy!) So what I would ask of anyone
who I pay it forward to and "award" is
that you accept it in the

spirit it is intended - read: 

 "I think you and your blog are special!" 

There is not one ioda (is that a word?) of

expectation from me that you will do

anything with it - unless you want to!

It's just me (and others) giving you a shout-out that

"hey, we think you're pretty cool......"

and who wouldn't like that.....?
Some of the bloggers I have sent an
award along to might not even know how
much I enjoy reading their blogs (sometimes
we do forget to comment!) 

Sort of a virtual Hug!!!

So consider yourself "hugged"! 

Cindy @ Art, Books & Tea
Sherry @ Decorating with CENTS
Ashely @ Creating Love & Joy
Toni @ Blue Mountain Rise
Melike @ A Cup of Sparkle

The goal of this award is to spotlight

up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers

The official rules for this award are:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog

2. Thank the giver and link back to the

blogger who gave it to you

3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them

know by leaving a comment on their blog

4. Hope that your followers will

spread the love to other bloggers

Don't Be Sad...Feel Blessed....

I am a true believer that there is much, as human

beings, we don't know.  I like to listen to and read

the thoughts and teachings of a great many

modern philosophers in the form of authors,

spiritual leaders, inspirational speakers, etc. 

Dr. Wayne Dyer is one of my favourites along

with the series of books by Mitch Albom.  There

are some great thoughts about the purpose of

life and of death to ponder.

I don't want this to be a sad post but I don't

want to let this week go by without

acknowledging (on the heels of Breast Cancer

Awareness month) the wonderful life of my

dear sister Jewel (1954-1998) 

There's seldom a day goes by without her

floating through my thoughts.  I feel blessed

to have had her in my life and for all the

lessons and love we shared.....

This was Jewel in about 1978ish.

And here we are together (as we usually

were) in about 1976.

“When someone is in your heart, they're

 never truly gone. They can come back to

you, even at unlikely times.”

Mitch Albom, For One More Day

What's Up Wednesday.....

Okay - so if you have been reading my blog

the last few days - you know I am facing

the daunting task of purging things from

my over-full new abode.

It's not that I don't like to get rid of

things but there's this obstacle....called

Mr. Biff.... standing between me and the

truck on its way to Goodwill.

I want to apply my newly acquired lean

design skills and get rid of everything I

have not used in the last year or 18 months.

I mean EVERYTHING - clothes, books,

shoes, knick-knacks.....the list goes on

and on.  I want to be free to have some fun

with the things I do use and value.

This is not an endorsement for

1-800-Got-Junk but I think I'm gonna

call them! 

Hmmmm.....maybe I can send Mr. Biff on

a sunny vacation somewhere.....hey wait...

I wanna go to!

I guess it's back to the boxes for me.....

Hope your week is going well!

Lean Design.....

I just finished day two of a three day workshop

on "Lean" design.  Many of you are probably familiar

with the concept (it's aligned with

"Six Sigma").  Lean design is based on

 the premise that there is waste

in every process or design and there

 are elemental ways to eliminate or reduce it.

What's particularly funny (at least in my brain!)

is that I am living in what some might call

a "hoarder's paradise" right at the moment!

In my last post "It's Complicated" I explained

how we are in the process of reducing the

excess in our merged households.  It's a

daunting process!

Too funny that I would be in this workshop

at this time when I am faced with an

undertaking that would be

absolutely enhanced by applying the

principles of Lean design......

Hmmmmm, the universe has a tendancy to give

you what you need, when you need it, if you

are only open to it!

If you would like more information on

some of the Lean design models and concepts

simply Google "lean design" and away you

go!!  Let me know if you are

successful at applying it to either your

business processes or your home processes!

"It's Complicated"....

How many times have you said that

to someone when you just couldn't explain?

Mr. Biff and I are selling off a whole bunch

of stuff because we just received the last shipment

of our goods from Toronto.  The complicated part

is we moved from Toronto three years ago!  Our

stuff has been in storage and slowly, being the

COCs (collectors of crap) that we are - we have

replaced almost everything. 

Translation:  BIG HUGE

sell-off. 

When people have come to see something

the want to purchase from one of our ads

 - I get the whoa....you gotta lotta

stuff look or comment.

Yup, trust me, it's complicated but....getting

less so and the vacation fund is getting bigger!

Win/Win!

Gotta love it!

Remembrance Day

I have been so lazy with my posting

(or lack of) lately!  Busy with work and

unpacking our stuff and purging the merging

of two households full of stuff (it's a long story!)

I wanted to take the time tho to do a little short

post on Remembrance Day.  It's an important day

to me, a chance for me to pay tribute to not only

those who are currently serving our country but to

all those who came before - including my Dad,

my Grandfather and Uncle. 

So for all those who gave so freely that we

may remain free.....I will remember.  11/11/11

Mr. Biff & I will be attending the Remembrance

Day ceremonies at our city's Cenotaph tomorrow

rain or shine.

Although no sculptured marble should

rise to their memory, nor engraved stone

bear record of their deeds, yet will their

remembrance be as lasting as the land

they honoured.  ~Daniel Webster