In an attempt to save the family from boredom, I moved the Iltis-Camping-ColdWar stuff to a separate blog

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You're welcome! :)

Happy Birthday Gryffon!

Gryffon turned 13 today. Happy Birthday to my buddy. He got his favourite thing today in celebration of his birthday: snow! He loves the snow and as you can see he's spending his day doing what he loves...napping in the fresh snow. 

I hope I've made his last 13 years as wonderful as he's made mine.

Functional Jewelry

So my latest silver charm is the perfect little pill box for storing medication! Check it out...it holds two small pills. It's very pretty and the clasp holds really well so there's no worry of the pills falling out. I often carry emergency medication "just in case" because I get a lot of migraines. This little piece of jewelry is really handy so I don't forget to bring some with me. Now I just have to remember to wear it! :)

Mardi Gras Socks!

Happy Mardi Gras! Well technically it's now Lent so "Happy Lent" if that's even a thing! A while ago I bought these hand knitted socks online. They arrived on Mardi Gras which I thought was perfect because they're so colourful!

2012 Olympics Cowichan Sweater

Ever since the 2008 Olympics I have been trying to get my hands on a Canadian Olympic Cowichan sweater. They sold out of them during the last Olympics and I never managed to find one, despite trolling on eBay for months afterwards. Anyway, in advance of the 2012 Olympics in London, the sweaters have been released in new colours and so I was finally able to get one...or should I say that Stef was finally able to get me one as a gift for Mardi Gras! (Yes we celebrate Mardi Gras. I mean we're not in New Orleans so it's not as exciting, but it's still important to me.)

 The front of the sweater zips up and has two beavers knitted in beautiful Cowichan wool. The sleeves have red maple leaves at the elbow and the back looks like this...

I love my new wool Cowichan sweater...Happy Mardi Gras! :)

Valentine's Plush

I got myself some new plush! Here's "Luckier" an Irish bear Beanie Baby. He's so cute. 

And this is Cthulhu, a creature of unspeakable horror from the mind (and books) of H.P. Lovecraft.

This is a bat. I know it looks like an owl. I keep calling it an owl too...but it's a bat. And his name is "Midnight".

So, apparently I still like stuffed animals!

Nice Staff!

A while ago I found a stick outside on our street. I was out with the dog walking when I saw this lovely red pine stick that had fallen down in a wind storm. I picked it up and brought it home with me. I figured it would make a good walking staff.

So after using it as a walking stick a few times and really feeling like this stick had the right shape and strength for the intended use, I asked my Dad if he would be willing to finish it for me. He agreed and took the dirty old stick and did this with it...

My Dad finished and varnished the staff with 4 coats of varnish and added a brass tip to the end of it and returned it to me. I then added some deer hide string and pony beads as well as some feathers donated by Lily, my parrot.

So here you can see the finished staff. It's quite lovely and it works really well for walking in icy conditions. It has a nice metal spike in the end of it that helps with balancing and gripping on the ice. Also it's very stylish! :)

Thanks Dad, for making me this wonderful walking staff!

Superbowl Wings!

We got invited to a Superbowl party today so I made up chicken wings (with Stef's help of course). I actually started earlier in the week with deep frying a bunch of wings from Costco. After frying them I froze them just so I could get that step done early, and then last night I made the sauce and poured it over the thawed wings. Today I baked them in the oven to reheat and caramelize the sauce and then Stef took them to the party wrapped up in a wool blanket to keep the heat in.

I wasn't able to go to the party because of a migraine headache however I did taste the sauce of these wings and they were spicy! They taste like hot barbecue flavour. Yum!

Charlie the Sock Doll

Today Steffan helped friends of ours move to a new house in Richmond. They were in Barrhaven before now and just bought a lovely home in a new location with a big back yard and more space to move around and fill with toys and dogs! They were getting rid of a couple of things and ended up giving Steffan this little doll...whom I love!

This is Charlie. He's a chain-smoking sock doll with one good eye and one eye that is nothing more than an "X" now. He's so cute...and our friend Michelle made him...out of socks...or something a lot like socks! Anyway I have always wanted a sock doll from our friend Michelle because her sock dolls are hilariously creative and adorable and Charlie is now my favourite new doll! I put him on the mantle in the living room because that is how excellent he is. Anyway, say hi to Charlie!

Late Arrival

A late arrival showed up today. Stef got me this porcelain Holiday Caroller Barbie doll as well as the previously listed red Holiday Ball Barbie. This doll did not make it here in time for Christmas so I get to enjoy it today. She's so pretty and comes with a book of carols (not shown) a pair of heeled shoes and spats that cover them as well as her own faux fur shawl and hat. She's so beautiful with her green eyes and blonde hair. 

 Here's a closer shot of her face. You can see how lovely her outfit is as well.

I'm very happy with my dolls and will probably put them away soon so they don't get sun-bleached or otherwise dusty from being out. They make wonderful seasonal dolls though so I will look forward to pulling them out each year.

Score!

This year for Christmas and actually last year as well I was hoping to get some "fun" coloured leather gloves. I put them on my wish list both years and though people did come through with some beautiful leather gloves, I still found myself wishing I could find a pair of either yellow or orange gloves.

So this year after Christmas had passed and all of my family had been unable to have any more success than I did at finding the elusive items, I just went online and bought some. Of course they're Italian and were not cheap, however I now have pale blue, orange and yellow pairs of gloves! Okay so it was a bit of a splurge, but now I have them! FYI, if you're ever looking for orange leather gloves, you can buy them at leatherglovesonline.com. I'll warn you now though, there's some import duties/charges that are fairly high on this kind of item...presumably because you should be able to find this kind of thing here in Canada.

Clearly the people who made these rules about clothing and taxes never tried to find a pair of nice orange gloves in Ottawa!

I sprayed all the gloves I got this year for Christmas with protectant and have them stored in their own felt bags ready for use.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

For Christmas this year Stef got me something that I wasn't fully aware I needed. I say that I "needed" it because apparently some things just make me so happy that I am unaware how I ever managed to be fully complete without them! Such is the case with this new doll.

 What you are looking at is the Mattel equivalent to crack for people like me. It's a "Holiday Ball Barbie" in genuine porcelain. I say that I "needed" this doll because getting her has made me happier than a Barbie doll should rationally make anyone, especially someone my age! I really cannot explain why it is that she makes me so happy...but look at her. Isn't she beautiful! She's dressed in gorgeous red crushed velvet with gold embroidery and Swavorski crystal accents and jewelry. She even has lace bloomers on under her gown and matching high heeled shoes.

In this photo you can see her beautiful fan and her lovely green eyes. What a wonderful gift! Stef also got me some other truly beautiful gifts, but this one was just so surprising and excellent that I had to share!