Friday Finds . . .

 A few of the wow moments, or things I discover each week that tickle my fancy.  I hope that they may inspire or tickle yours too! (I can't believe we are already at the end of October!  That month just flew by!)

It's paper art by Helen Musselwhite!  Totally fascinating.  I love it.  Found on  a misura di bimbo.
 Paper sculpture.  It's gorgeous.

Little Paper Machier Birds from Middleburg Folk Art Studio.   So cute!

A hanging flower chandelier.  There is a complete tutorial on Honestly wtf.  (Can't say I like the name of the blog, but hey . . .  live and let live!)  This is so pretty.  Would be lovely in a little girls' room.

Just in the nick of time.  Free Halloween Printables.   From Birds Party Shop.

Tic Tac Toe Game Travel Game in an altered Altoid Tin.   Such a cute idea!!  Kids would love this.  It would make a great stocking stuffer too!  Found on Canadian Family.

A Crochet Puppy Dog Scarf!  So cute!  I wish my grands lived closer.  I would love to do something like this for them.  The cost of postage is just too high.  Found on Craft Bits.

Mini Caramel Apples.   So cute and I am thinking delicious.  A lot easier on the waistline than a full sized one I am sure!  From My Litter.

     














Free printable Party Box Templates.   Found on Tip Junkie.  These would come in handy for all sorts of things.  Loving them!

I know it's another printable box, but these are just TOO CUTE not to share!  Printable Animal Pillow Boxes.   FREE!  From Ars Pro Toto.  It's in German, but if I can figure it out, you can too.

Free printables to make your own Kids Recipe Book.  What a fab gift for a child or grandchild.   I love it.  I found this on Thirty Handmade Days.   Genius! 

Sorry it's a lot of printable stuff today, but that's what was getting me excited.  I think I am going to do the printable animal boxes and decorate them with some holly and then put a Christmas Treat into each and maybe I can afford to mail that over to Canada for some grands for christmas.  We'll see!

Hope you found something useful here today!  I know I did¬

A thought to carry with you through today . . .


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I'm not a one in a million kid of girl
I'm a once in a lifetime kind of woman!
~unknown

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Cooking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Green Pepper Steak.  Quite simply delicious! 

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Have a fabulous Friday!

and Happy Halloween!

Five Things About Me . . .

Yup, it's Thursday.  Five more things about me.  Can you stood it??  (Family joke that.   There was a little girl we knew who once said that and we thought it was funny and so now we say it too.)




I may not have always appreciated them  but I have good parents.   When I was a teenager I had a few years when I thought they were just the worst because they wouldn't always let me do the things I wanted to and I thought they were too strict and we had too many rules.   Once I became a parent myself I gained a much deeper appreciation for all that they did for me and how very much they loved me.  I am grateful now that I had parents who loved me enough to set boundaries for me and keep them.  Parents who always did their very best for me.  You can not ask for more than that.

 I am incredibly loyal.   If you have me as a friend, I will always have your back and help you in whatever way that I can.  In me you will find a friend for life.  I will always support you, even if I don't always agree with what you are doing . . .  I support your right to make your own choices.  I will never say I told you so, but will be there for you whenever you need me to be.  Unconditional love and loyalty.  That's me.

I am a very forgiving person.  I hardly ever hold a grudge.   I have learnt in life that grudge holding only hurts the grudge holder.   If you really want to get under someone's skin, act like you don't really care about what they have done, or do or will do to hurt you.  I think it is called killing them with kindness. lol Seriously though, hanging onto hurt and pain is life damaging . . .  and not to others . . .  to YOU!!!  Remember when you forgive you heal and when you let go . . .  you grow.  Forgiveness doesn't excuse their behaviour.  Forgiveness prevents their behaviour from destroying your heart.

Just before he left for Bosnia (for a year) my ex changed our automatic car for a car with a manual shift.  We lived in a house way out in the country and far away from all of the amenities and shops.  I taught myself how to drive it.   He gave me a rudimentary lesson prior to leaving, but I really had to teach myself.  If I hadn't done I would have spent a year not being able to go anywhere or being able to take my children anywhere.   The first Saturday after he left I put all the kids in the car for moral support and I practiced driving it up and down the little lane we lived on.  Our Doug had to get out eventually because I had made him car sick from all the jerking.   But I persevered and eventually I had it down pat.   I never ever was really comfortable driving it, but I did it because I had to . . . .  which brings me to another thing about me . . .

 I am stubborn and determined and don't often let anything defeat me.  I  am a really "Stick-to-it" kind of a person.  I don't like giving in to anything, or letting anything master me.   I wonder if that comes from being the oldest??  Actually my mother has a really stubborn streak.  I probably get it from her.  It has stood me in good stead for the most part.

And that's it for this week!  My five things about me.




I just have to share this beautiful photograph of our Sara, Bruce's partner today.   Isn't she a gorgeous young lady?  And such a natural beauty as well.  I love her to pieces.  I think he should snap her up and marry her. She's a fab girl. ☺

A thought to carry with you through today  . . .


❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥ 
"There is no such thing as chance; 
and what seem to us merest accident 
springs from the deepest source of destiny." 
~Friedrich Schiller
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Baking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Coconut and Lime Glazed Banana Muffins.   Seriously tasty"

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Hope your Thursday is filled with joy!

Wednesday wanderings . . .

Just wherever my mind takes me.  Enjoy the journey . . .

It began as only a few thousand and has grown to a virtual sea . . .

 It's almost overwhelming to the eye . . .

A blood-red sea of ceramic poppies is spilling from the Tower of London to commemorate British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First World War on the 100th anniversary of its start.

The installation, called “Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red,” began with 120,000 ceramic poppies with more being added as time progresses until the 11th November when there will be 888,246 — one for each of the British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in the war.

What price freedom . . .  it has ever been so . . .




That's the way my mind works.   I begin each day thinking about what's for breakfast and then it morphs into what am I going to make for lunch . . .  supper . . . to me it IS exciting too!

And I have a body which reflects that.




I see something like this . . .  and I want to know how it happened.   What soul thought of creating something so beautiful out of a jar lid . . .  it amazes me.   I think there must be honey in the jar.   If there wasn't I would be most disappointed . . . such artistry touches my soul.



Yes . . . .



What came out yesterday . . .  I am selling the original if you are interested.   I can no longer afford to hold onto them.  I can't afford to do prints these days . . .  the ink is so expensive.   If I want to keep painting and drawing and colouring I have to sell what I create or I don't have the money to keep buying paints and supplies as they get used up.  This hasn't sold yet.  Make me an offer . . .

"For the Fruit of the Spirit is . . .  Love."




Autumn hitch hikers  . . .  nature is amazing to think about . . .



 The tenacity of the spirit which enables us to bloom even in the most diverse and unsual of places . . . I like to think that I can bloom where I am planted . . .




Waiting to go to work . . . lined up and ready.

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I had three chairs in my house;
one for solitude,  two for friendship, three for society.
When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers
there was but the third chair for them all,
but they generally economized the room by standing up . . .
I have had twenty-five or thirty souls,
with their bodies, at once, under my roof,
and yet we often parted without being
aware that we had come very near to one another,"
~Thoreau, Walden.   
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I wonder where my mind will wander next . . .only time will tell . . .



In the kitchen today  . . . .  a delicious one pan autumn warmer . . . Brat and Spud Warmer.

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Have a wonderful Wednesday!
 

The Simple Woman's Day Book

 

FOR TODAY, October 28th, 2014

Outside my window ...
It's dark, dark, dark . . . and very quiet.  I can't believe that this is my last daybook entry for October!

I am thinking ...
Music gives a soul to the universe
Wings to the mind
Flight to the imagination
and life to everything.
~Plato
  
I LOVE music.  I surround myself with it.  My life has a sound track.  And it's beautiful.

I am thankful ...
For good morning puppy dog kisses.  They help to start my day off right.

In the Kitchen ...

 

Creamy Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese Soup.   Nice and warming for these cooling days.

On my "To Cook" list ...

These Coffee Cake Cookies from Cookies & Cups are looking mighty tasty!  I haven't baked any cookies in a couple of weeks now! 

 I am creating  ...



I did this yesterday.   It's a bit different than what I usually do.  It sold right away.  Pleased about that.  It took me forever to do the background.   That's like three layers of blue there.  It takes a lot to make it look solid.

I love these paper/button/spool flowers.   They're so cute.   From Urban Comforts.

I love these little stone houses.   I think one would be great in our garden.   FInding the stones is the hard part.   From Stonework by Stephens.

I love LOVE this paper bird.   From Manu Scrapper.

 I adore these paper clip/button bookmarks.   Such a simple idea.   From Ritzy Ragz & Thingz.

I am going  ...
Into town this morning.  I need to replenish my makeup case.  I've made most of it stretch to a year this time around!  Mascara, foundation, etc.

I am reading ...


A Year in the Life of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes

It's 1924 and there have been many changes at Downton Abbey since the family and their servants first welcomed us there twelve years ago. A generation of men has been tragically lost at the front; children are once again breathing new life into the great house; a chauffeur now sits at the Grantham dinner table; and skirt hems continue to rise.

Still, in the midst of all this upheaval, many things at Downton remain largely unchanged. Nanny still holds sway in the nursery, and there are still summer fetes to be organized, menus to be planned, and farms to be run.

This gorgeous book explores the seasonal events and celebrations of the great estate—including house parties, debutantes, the London Season, yearly trips to Scotland, the sporting season, and, of course, the cherished rituals of Christmas. Jessica Fellowes and the creative team behind Downton Abbey invite us to peer through the prism of the house as we learn more about the lives of our favorite characters, the actors who play them, and those who bring this exquisite world to real life.

A Year in the Life of Downton Abbey is packed full of exclusive new photographs, with a delicious array of traditional British recipes adapted for modern kitchens: kedgeree, orange marmalade, asparagus tarts, cream of watercress soup, Irish stew, lemon barley water, meringues with red berries, parmesan straws, Christmas pudding with brandy butter and more. From the moment when the servants light the fires against the chill of January, through the last family game of charades and the servants' Christmas ball, this magnificent book invites us to take part in twelve months in the life of Downton Abbey.

It's an easy and entertaining read.  If you are a fan of Downtown, I highly recommend!  Enjoying every page! I will be sorry to finish it!

I am hoping ...
That it isn't a rainy day today ...

Makes me smile ...



Halloween Pirates.   A har maties!  Tie that scurvy dog to the mainsail!
(I think my family has a thing for pirates!)

I am learning ...
That the more I think I know and understand, the more I don't.   It's a good thing.  We should always be stretching outside our comfort zones and exploring and learning.

Around the house ... 

 






 



I love that articles of interest have been added to this bookcase . . .  it makes it intriguing.

On the whole a bit too frou frou for me, but I think this is an interesting concept in window covering.

As much as this would be a complete and total nightmare to dust and keep clean, I find it oddly attractive.  A bit too busy perhaps, but I love the chairs flanking the fireplace.

Now this is a really novel idea of presenting your flat screen telly.  I wonder where all the wires are hidden?  I really like this. 

 














An old table turned upside down, painted etc.  It's a dog bed.    Now that's different!
Found on Rosebud's Cottage.   Not sure I could live with this though.  It looks like it would take up a lot of space.

I am pondering ...
I want to eat more vegetables and fruit.  They are just so expensive.  How to do it on our budget and not have it be boring . . .

A favourite quote for the day  ...
 

`*.¸.*✻ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ..
(¯`v´¯)
 `*.¸.*´Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ
  ¸.•´¸.•~♥♥♥~•.~      
ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ.
(¸.❀⁀⋱‿✿“   

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things 
makes home happy and life lovely."
~Louisa May Alcott  

One of my favourite things ...

 




















I love big old Victorian houses.  I would love to be able to refurbish one and live in it.   It won't happen here in my lifetime though . . .

A Peek into my day ... 

 




















I spend time every day doing this.  I love writing.   Journals.  Poetry.   This blog.  
I just love writing and I do it every day.

And that's my day book for this week!
  
⋱ ⋮ ⋰
   ⋯ ◯ ⋯ Take time to enjoy the small*´¯`.¸¸.☆
   ⋰ ⋮ ⋱ blessings in life.*´¯`.¸¸.☆
   ✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿ ✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿
   ╬♥═╬╬═♥=╬╬═♥╬╬═♥╬╬═♥=╬╬♥═╬
   ░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░  

Wherever you go and whatever you do I hope there's a wonderful day planned for you! 

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