Do we really need new furniture?

Our son will soon be moving into his own cozy home with his fiancé. He has already started moving some of his stuff out so this gives us the perfect occasion to deep-clean and declutter our home. Even giving us cause to maybe buy a few pieces of furniture. Presently, our television is an older model that fits exactly (very tight fit) in the hole in the wall. If we are to get a new television set we would need new tv stands as we also have a television set upstairs that's in need of a good solid surface.

His room will become my sewing/crafting room and my present sewing room will be turned into a library.

We won't need too many new pieces of furniture. What we already have is still in pretty good condition and I don't believe in buying ''stuff'' just because. If and when we buy new furniture we give away as many pieces as we bring in. Today, we gave away a lazyboy chair and a used tv (only good for playing video games).

I might also be looking for a new sofa and chair set... we'll see.

Heading for the woods

It's here... that time again !!! when we head deeper into the woods to fetch a few tiny spruces for our outside christmas decorations. As is the tradition around here, it was an overcast and cold morning but still very much fun.

Lake at the end of the dirt road.

My handyman finding the perfect little spruce.

Pretending to cut a bigger tree with his hand held cutters.

Ready ! Let's go back and warm-up our hands and toes.

Taken from outside through the kitchen window. The lighted tree in the background is where the Christmas village will be.

So to recap my week and a half vacation at home alone :

- the house is nice, clean and dusted.
- a lot of laundry was made.
- warm hearty meals were cooked and enjoyed.
- christmas music played throughout the house all week.
- finished a couple of handmade gifts.
- made our christmas cards.
- some (emphasis on ''some'') decorations are up.
- the outside decorations are not all up yet; I'll post pictures when they are.

Back to work tomorrow. Happy Monday everyone !

Vacation day 3 :: still cleaning

Today was day 3 of my one-week vacation. Taking vacation time at the end of November is not something I usually do but I have leftover days from last year that I needed to take and I felt that this was as good a time as ever. To be honest, I love being on vacation when no one else is.

I'm doing a lot of cleaning, dusting, decluttering... in preparation for the Christmas decorations coming out on the weekend.

Today was a very windy, cloudy and cold day outside so the toasty warmth of the wood fire kept me inside.

Moncton

My annual christmas shopping trip to Moncton was this past weekend. I left Thursday and came back Sunday. I look forward to this every year - I love spending one on one time with Ginette. Some of the things we did :

- went to yoga class.
- stocked up on household staples from Costco.
- had Starbucks coffee and delicious lemon poppyseed cake.
- went to the Mall.
- ate lunch here. If ever you happen to be in Moncton you must include this restaurant on your schedule... it's a must people.
- we also ate at an amazing noodle place (sorry, forgot the name).
- went to the Green Conference and met David Suzuki again (he remembered me from last May).
- Ginette and André treated me to a fabulous dinner-theatre as my birthday gift from them. I loved it and of course it was about old-time Christmas.
- visited the new Casino but we did'nt play; we only walked around so I could see inside (side note here - I have never played any type of gambling machine; not interested at all).
- went to the Moncton Farmers' Market.
- experienced my first snow storm of the season (it was a mini one but still...).

Ginette and Meeko

Ginette eating her coconut cupcake from the Cake Box (I had one too). Snow was starting to fall and this was at about 3 pm and by 6 pm the ground was covered and the roads were slippery.

Still here

It's been a while. Hope everyone's doing well. Since my last post, we've been keeping busy around the household :

- we are gifted with six eggs a day now.
- one of my christmas cactus bloomed; wish it would have waited til Christmas.
- finished all my knitted Christmas gifts.
- witnessed a four-day wind and rain storm the likes I have never seen before.
- we still miss Tabi... a lot.
- helping Luc and Liette getting their new home ready for moving day.

But the best thing since my last post ...

... my brother got his Gift of Life on November 5th. He is still in the hospital but doing extremely well (fingers crossed).

I'll be away for a few days. See you when I return.