You GET me.

Slightly offensive, but pretty funny.

I love my people.
I had a nice dose of time with a few today, but the thing that made my heart swell with love was a message I received on Facebook.

      "I didn't have the nerve to post this on your wall, but it made me laugh. And think of you"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/robynwilder/delightfully-sweary-cross-stitches-you-need-to-have-in-yo

around the sun

I didn't get around to posting yesterday... I was busy celebrating my birthday.
Yay me... another year alive.

How did I celebrate?

By seeing some of the faces that I love.

Oh, and by buying fabric.

Which is awesome for a few reasons... When I was a teen, if I got grumpy I'd march out to fabricland and buy some fabric... no joke, "let's go buy some fabric" was pretty near code for "something teenaged drama-tragic has happened to me."
Another reason? Awesome because I got to see Manda.
Another reason? I was given birthday money.
Another reason? oh.my.gosh. you should see the fabric I bought.
Another reason? I'll eventually make back that money and more with my stash/market bags.

Something NOT awesome... the quilting/fabric store is closing in Milbrook. D and A are retiring. (Although the 35% off sale was pretty fantastic)

Toasty Toes

I'm in high gear for Christmas crafting.
Actually, maybe it's the coffee...

Either way, slippers are being hand sewn and YOU could give those slippers to your favourite persons. Just $25! A real deal!

So, if you live in Northumberland or Ptbo, you should email me at ladylesley at hotmail dot com and place an order.

Look how cute those are! Your loved ones NEED them.

sew.

a day in the quilting/fabric store, and all I want are those cute buttons. forget the skeins of fabric... bring me buttons.

where are these stress hic-ups coming from?

da da da daaaaaa!

and the winner is....

(thanks Crilly Sr.)

"slippery worms"

why didn't I think of that?

odds and sods

1) it was VERY cold out. It's warming up a bit now with the storm getting closer... but it was so cold it couldn't snow. Instead, when I went outside (and it was near -20)  there wasn't snow.. it was more like being in a snow globe... the kind with sparkles in it. Not big enough to be flakes... not big enough to really even be seen... just enough to glisten... lovely.

2) My new official uniform of winter. My super comfy jean skirt (down to my toes- it acts like a tent keeping heat in- and works really well if I happen to stand over a vent...) with long johns and wool socks (with the socks pulled over the long johns so no draft gets to my ankles)

BEST outfit ever.

3) I whacked my knuckles making my bed yesterday. Insignificant at first glance, bloody mess the next second... one of those small cuts that bleeds and bleeds. It's more like a small scoop of skin pulled from my knuckle. In itself, that's not very interesting... mostly annoying each time I put my hand in my pocket to pull out my keys (which is often at work). BUT... I have a very tiny freckle on that knuckle. So tiny, and right in the crease- that sometimes I forget I have it and end up spending time trying to wash the dirt mark off my hand. Little Freckle has been scooped out of my knuckle. I'm excited to see if the cell memory is so deep that it comes back when my knuckle heals.. or if it's lost forever.

Someone remind me after Christmas to give an update.

4) Elven footwear. (more on this after Christmas)

5) I went to the 'Worth (tiny town North East of The 'Burg) today for an outing with work... and I've decided that somehow I need to live there.

6) This week I recognized, after doing some number crunching.. that at my current rate of pay- Unless I have two jobs- I will never be able to purchase a house. I am however a little frustrated with how much energy (emotional and otherwise) it takes, maintaining two jobs. And I'm REALLY not looking forward to tax time... because it looks like I've earned so much on paper... then I nearly started crying thinking about people I know who don't have jobs... or who are cut back in hours... or the single moms... or minimum wage earners... I'm not nearly the "working poor" ... but I just don't know HOW they do it!

7) Elven footwear. No really... I was weeping I was laughing so hard. (seriously, more after Christmas)

8) Very very sadly... The Good Lovelies' concert was cancelled due to the storm last night. Little Buddy and TravWho think that they don't really exist ... and that I've made them up- last year we bought tickets for a concert of theirs... and there was a storm... and it was cancelled. Mother Nature... you suck.

9) I should be sleeping.

lost

it's been nearly 2 weeks since I sat down to write. I've got about eight hundred random stories... lost to my sieve like mind.

so, instead I'll leave you with this....

The snow is falling, the wind is blowing, the twinkle lights are twinkling, the bunny is dancing- trying not to chew on the presents sitting under the tree, I've got a cup of tea steaming on the table, and a big ball of wool... it couldn't really get much better...

Christmas shopping is pretty much done, and now I just have to finish with this project and sew up the last few items...

life is good.

fix it

Another thought for the collage party, I need a new tool box.

Yes, those two thoughts are related.

My current tool box is lovely, lovely but broken. I podged it about 10 years ago with pictures of tools and sparkly things... because, you know... I wouldn't want it to look too manly or anything. Anyway, it wasn't till I typed the previous sentence that I realized how old the tool box was. And I was feeling bad that the tray was broken in it and that my tools were sort of breaking it from being too heavy and whatever.... but just realized 10 years is a long time to NOT break something like that... and I don't feel bad at all.

So, for the collage party, I may be collage-ing on a new tool box! Maybe a strong metal one. I was pricing them tonight when I was at Canadian Tire (that would be the hardware store for you non-Canadians).

Driving home, I decided to pull out the tool box. My door knob has been broken for some time now- to the point that I couldn't close my door, as I couldn't open it from the outside.. and could barely open it from the inside... I got locked out a few times, but I was able to break in from the sun porch.

I don't know how door knobs work. So I took it apart. That didn't help, but I was able to put it back together... and for some reason... it now works.

I'm very happy to have a door that closes.

And one that opens.

So I don't die in a fire.

paper

I'm going to a collage party (not college party).. and I'm very excited. 

I'm sure I've ranted on and on about my fascination with paper... but being as I can't get the blogger search bar to work, I'm not going to give you links to old boring stories... stories about my "pretty paper" hoarding problem.. or how the perfect paper makes for perfect journaling... 

So, a joint idea came about the other night while talking about ideas for a collage.. I think I'm going to try to put together some of my favourite facebook status lines into something... I do like the status lines...

underneath it all

so, despite the fact that there's crap around. There is some good.. nay, there is some great, left in the day to day.
In two weeks we launch our Drama Club for the folks we support at work, and it's super cool because it's a joint venture with another agency... making linkages... that's life right? Not only that, but we have a site for it that is perfect, the YFC drop in centre...
perfect how?
By being a large open space, with a raised platform that runs the length of the room.... and a number of mirrors (it used to be a gym). Not only that, it's neutral. It's downtown. It's accessible. Fantastic.
AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD
And what?
I was talking with one of our guys the other day about the craft night thing, and he said he really wanted to put his art in a gallery (to get a ribbon). I tried to explain to him that really, that wasn't what happened at gallery's.... and then thought... hmmmm. It would be cool if it did happen.
So I contacted Aengus, and he said we could use the Lawless Gallery for a night.!!!!! Super. so... sometime soon, stay tuned. I'll have a date available.
oh, but don't tell the guys yet.. it's a fair way away still and that's a lot of pressure/waiting for them.

silly game

so, awhile back we had a girls gathering "the 4th-we-wish-it-was-annual Christmas craft day" at our house.
This is a day of us getting together and trying each other's baked goods and making crafts for ourselves (as a Christmas gift to each other- time spent with one another and we come away with something pretty).
At this gathering we made the wise choice of not including the cooking or baking that we had so Martha Stewartly been inspired to do in the past. Instead, our baked goods were pre-made... and.... we ordered Chinese for lunch! I'm not sure how we fit it all in the first year... I think it was pre-baby for everyone, we each brought a recipe to bake, a craft and the supplies to create with, and if that wasn't enough... we cooked a several course meal for our "men" afterwards. (Jenny was my man... I was Jenny's)
AHK!!! maybe that's where the rumour started!

anyway. there was much food... and several fortune cookies remained. I opened one last night.

"Keep your idealism practical"
for those of you who know and love it....
in bed.