Nov 5/19

So, apparently my last blog post was in August, a week or so before I started back to work after taking some time to move and to find a job. My new job is challenging and, at times, draining both mentally and physically. I have been struggling to find a balance between work and home, life and things I love to do and settling into a new city. My previous job was 8am to 6pm from Wednesday to Friday so I had these wonderful four day weekends every week which allowed me time to decompress from work and to do all kinds of fun stuff like stitching and hanging with my dogs. I was so spoiled with the time to recharge and to explore things that caught my interest. It was lovely to make enough money to live comfortably and have the time to putter away at all of my projects.

Two months into the new job and I am finally finding time to stitch and craft again. A batch of castille soap is curing in my kitchen, the back stitching is being done on the baby quilt and I have done some knitting during my recent travels to Toronto and New Brunswick. My university aged seatmate from Ottawa to Toronto did a double take when I pulled out my knitting on the train. What a low tech way to pass the time during a 4 hour train ride! To meet more people, a friend and I are considering starting a stitch and bitch club in our neighbourhood. We founded a book club this summer and we recently organized a haunted house for the neighbourhood on Halloween so we are looking for other ways to meet people because we so want to feel connected to our neighbours during the time that we find ourselves living in Uplands, the military housing in Ottawa.

The fella' just never knows what he will find happening in the house when he comes home from work. Last week, he found himself in the backyard testing fog machines for the haunted house. Another time, he tripped over a bag of yarn for a poncho that I hope to start knitting soon. Yet another time, he found my hand mixer in the freezer after I had burnt out the motor blending olive oil and a lye and water mixture for soap. The motor did not revive and I had to stir the mixture by hand to get it to set. I flew home to New Brunswick on Sunday so of course, I was chunking up jack o'lanterns for dog treats and pumpkin soup on Saturday night instead of packing. Do not tell him that I have been recently intrigued by a thing called zenbroidery which is essentially colouring for stitchers or that I have been browsing through online yarn companies. Creating and working on projects is relaxing and nourishing to me, even if it means having a dining room full of strobe lights and fog machines.

I flew home to NB this week to help my mom with some things around her house which she has up for sale so that she can downsize to a seniors apartment complex that is being built at the end of her street. She sent a table top loom back to Ontario with my brother on Thanksgiving weekend, yet another craft. The fella' just shook his head as he carried the loom into the house after we picked it up from my brother. I get my crafting abilities from my mom so the fella' is doomed to being surrounded by yarn and fabric and materials for as long as he is with me!

Happy stitching!

Dec 27/17

Another Christmas season is almost over and now I look forward to the New Year. We spent the holidays at my mom's home in New Brunswick although most of the celebrating took place across town at my youngest brother's home. Lots of memories were made as we hung out, ate, assembled gifts for kids and chased dogs all over the house. My favourite memory has to be of my 18 month old nephew running up and down the main hallway with our puppy running along side him as she licked his fingers.

On a holiday and craft related note, I made an awesome find when I was digging around for gift wrap in my mom's spare room. My mom used to weave on a large floor loom when I was a kid. She recently sold the floor loom as she had not touched it for years and I thought that was the end of the weaving stuff in the house. I had recently been looking around on the Internet for a small table top loom, but was not willing to pay several hundred dollars to try out a hobby so it was thrilling to discover a loom that looks very much like this image that I have borrowed off the Internet!

Mom said that I can borrow the loom to try it out! I did not bring it back with me on this trip as I have just far too many things on the go at the moment to add something new into the mix. The puppy, the French lessons, work, my new position in the Rotary club, the Christmas letters and projects that still need to be completed and the general healing from this round of illness all kind of take up all of my time. I still can not believe my good fortune that Mom just happened to have one of these and somehow I had never noticed it in her house!!

Well, I should go get a few things done before I settle in to watch Canada play Slovakia in the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Happy stitching!