Bath and decorate day....lol

Squirt doesn't much care for the tub but he tolerates it because he gets lots of kisses, smoochy talk and a treat when the ordeal is over with. He's getting furry and fluffy again so I imagine the clippers will be coming out tomorrow for a bit of basic trimming. I'm just not good enough to make him look properly groomed but I can at least keep him from getting too shaggy looking. Here he is just after a vigorous toweling off.

He doesn't like being brushed out much either but again he tolerates it with lots of kisses, smoochy talk and a treat.After the brushing I managed to lodge this Santa hat on him long enough for a picture. It's not something he's going to sport around in...lol 

He sounds like one of Santa's reindeer's with this jingle bell collar on but you can't really see it (from the front) with his fur so long. This I will leave on him whether he likes it or not. He can't hide from me when he tinkles every time he moves...lol

He's some pretty when he's all cleaned up. And smells a lot better too...lol

So far all things wood....

So this is the extent of my Christmas decorating thus far. The funky window opening in my kitchen (facing to the living room) seems to be the landing point so far. It is far from done but right now shows off the DIY projects that I've either got off Hometalk or came up with myself. I must say that the lacy curtain behind really helps keep the focal point on the decorations. It'll all come down after Christmas. Personally I really like the rustic look of rough wood and even though the detail isn't great it seems to remind me of when Christmas was simpler and decorations were made with what you had on hand and wasn't so much about all the commercialism of today's world. I'm quite pleased with the hanging snowmen that nobody bothered to bid on....lol.

Funny thing, that lobster pot end with the painted driftwood never ever sold either and it's my all time favorite decoration!! It must be 5 yrs now since I made that and it still looks as beautiful as ever to me.

Canadian Christmas Carolers...

Even though I've been brutally sick with the worst case of the flu I've ever had in my life I'm still trying to keep up with a few little crafty projects. I'm in the midst of making another group of Canadian Christmas Carolers and will maybe post pics in a day or two. These are rather fun to make, look rusticly festive and can be burned after the holidays if I start to run out of wood. The trickiest part was taking off the 45* angle cut to paint the faces on. The chop saw gets a little finicky when I make it cut wood that's not perfectly straight or I happen to hit a knot. I was lucky and managed to keep out of range when the saw shot the nubs across the basement. 

The window like opening between the kitchen and the living room should look cute with the slice snowmen hanging above and the Carolers on the bottom. Again, once it's completed I will post pics.

Dashing through the snow....

Squirt takes dashing through the snow to a new level....lol. He sure loves the white stuff. 

Slice Snowmen, all 6 of them

These guys are going to the Storage War (Auction) page but I won't be able to post all the pics so here's what they look like if you're interested in making a bid. They can be hung up or lined up behind and in front of the fence..lol. It's not a fence it's just a stand that I threw together with a couple of pieces of pine. I'm sorry some of the shots are over exposed, it's my stupid camera and I have a hard time finding a happy medium. They will be sold as a set of 6. The twig arms are not glued in and are easily replaced by shoving new ones through the bead at the neck. The stand comes with the set and would look awesome with some small green garland or a layer of batten to imitate snow. If I had a fireplace with a mantle I think that's where I'd be putting them. Let me know what you think. 

Slice Snowman

These are all over the internet so I thought I'd try my hand at it too. This is just one of 6. Gluing and clamping takes the most time. Pretty cute I think. I got the bodies and heads done just gluing the hats together now. 

Make Love not war and here's why... Never get in an argument with yourself...

Two things that people should never discuss! Religion and Politics. So why do we do it? Seems nobody can understand another one's reason for making their choice. I might tell you that I don't believe in the Bible and you on the other hand do. I might tell you that common sense says it's bullshit and you might in turn try to shove it down my throat. Before you know it there's an argument. I won't have you shoving it down my throat and you won't accept the fact that everything written in the Bible is written by man and subject to error. I however am willing to let you believe what you want to believe (if that's makes you happy, why not?) but if you want me to see the light you will keep pushing. The argument gets hotter. Before you know it you want to kill me and I only want you to shut up. See, this was a one sided conversation between me and me and I've already decided who's the bad guy...lol No friggin wonder wars happen! Better just not to discuss it in the first place!!!

The Bumble Bee Garbage Box

It's been a day of severe ups and downs!! The bad almost outweighs the good but not quite if I force myself to relax and realize tomorrow's another day. 

My signature garbage box now sits at the roadside awaiting the first bag of garbage. Maybe tomorrow's pick up will find a bag in the box and maybe it won't. I just found out today that a bear was sighted down here in the Bight. If that's the case I may wait before putting garbage out. Don't want no curious bear destroying my box! 

I got a few other little projects started and completed but I guess what ruined my day was the letter from the heating rebate program telling me they needed more information. Apparently not all levels of government have updated my new address and so called marital status! Even though I've spent months notifying everyone! As usual, one hand of the government doesn't know what the other is doing!!! Very frustrating to say the least! Here I am between EI claims, broke beyond comprehension and hoping everyday that the rebate will help buy me some time. BUT NO!!! Bureaucratic bullshit gets in the way every time! So I made the necessary call, found out what was needed to rectify the situation, (and big kutos to me, I never lost my temper!) then discovered one of my fish had died! Talk about poetic justice!!! I lost my rebate and my fish all on the same day!!! The rebate I may be able to salvage although not in time to help me out financially and the fish is lost forever! I'm sad and angry all at the same time. I'm trying to get through the rest of the day without pulling my hair out by the roots. Thankfully some other stuff went well today so all is not lost!

Anyway, it was a struggle getting the box to the road, it will be a pain in the ass keeping it shoveled out over the winter but it is there and it looks damn good! 

Tomorrow must certainly be a better day!

All wound up from the wind....

I took Squirt down to the dock for a run yesterday in all that wind and even though I found it brutally cold and uncomfortable he of course loved it! He ran with the wind and he ran against the wind and I stood shivering while I watched. Any blurriness is due to me shaking trying to hold my ground and take a picture at the same time...lol. We were having gusts up to almost 100 k's an hour. 

It always tickles me to see him having such a wonderful time.

When we got home he was still energized so I put him on the chair...lol. He hasn't moved since I put him there... Just joking, of course he has but the picture hasn't.

A Chalk Chair...

This is my fun chair. It can be decorated for fun or it can be cleaned off and used. I don't get enough company to worry about it getting used by anybody but the cats...lol. My landlady offered to throw the old chair out when I moved in but I told her to leave it. I love wood chairs. I started out by sanding the hell out of it. That chair must have had 50 layers of different colored paints on it. Once it was sanded I did consider buying paint stripper but remembered it was something I really never had much success with in the past. Being a devoted 'Hometalk' follower I was noticing that everybody was using chalk paint or UnicornSpit for their DIY projects. Well I'm not a fan of UnicornSpit but the chalk paint aroused my interest. During a trip to Grand Falls I picked up a small can. So once I had the chair painted I remembered that I had a piece of chalk somewhere. SOMEWHERE!!!  I spent the entire first 3 hours of my morning searching and searching for this one piece of chalk that I had come across within the last two weeks. For the life of me I couldn't remember where I had seen it! Then it hit me like a ton of bricks! And it was in the least likeliest place a person would look for chalk...lol. Yep, it was in the bottom of one of my jewelry boxes...lol. Obviously I'm not big on jewelry and stick all kinds of weird things in them rather then putting stuff somewhere sensible.

Here's how the chair started out and as you can see the sanding process had begun. I had some fine nice weather when I started this project.

Here it is with 2 coats of black chalk paint. It took 2 days to paint it from top to bottom and underneath as well. Then I let it dry for another 2 days just to be sure.

I've been googling chalk drawing on the internet and will be doing some practicing but I was in a hurry to post it so I didn't worry much about detail. I didn't actually do this one first as you can tell. However it deserves to be first in consideration of our fallen soldiers. 

 Of course Christmas looms not too far in the future and I always like painting snowmen...lol

I want my sister to come for Christmas in the worst way so I'm gonna send her a chair message by email...lol. She's not on facebook very often.

Here's a closer shot.

None of these pictures have been edited in any way.

As a little add on to this blog here's a couple of shots of those 2 clapboard paintings I did. I hung one with burlap and the other just has a hanger glued on the back. Not sure which one I like best. Both are trimmed in sand but you won't see that in the pictures. I'm not that happy with the way the burlap hangs. I'll probably switch it to a plain hanger eventually.

 

Took 3 days to take 3 pounds....lol

Yep it took 3 days for me to unload Squirt of 3 pounds of hair...lol. My appreciation for dog groomers has quadrupled. I found it very nerve wracking trying to keep Squirt in one spot while approaching him with buzzing clippers. As you can see, I won't be getting into the business according to the job I did. No matter though, he at least looks balanced where when I just did his face he looked very odd indeed. Before we could start my cat Shadow had to inspect the barber chair. This is where I perched Squirt in order to have better access to his face. She approved but Squirt didn't...lol. I love this old high chair though and am hoping to strip it down and give it a face lift some time over the winter. 

So here's Squirt's face before and yea he needed a trim in the worst way.

Not a great job but at least it's out of his eyes.

You don't notice it much in the picture above but his head definitely didn't match his body...lol We gave up the highchair after I hacked at his face and I used two kitchen chairs to go at the rest of him.

There is a definite improvement and 'maybe' I will get better with practice. 

I just found out the other day that my first cousin used to do dog grooming so maybe sometime she will give me some helpful pointers. In the meantime Squirt was a pretty good sport and got lots of treats for being my guinea pig. No harm came to Squirt but all that discarded hair went into the wood stove.

A one of a kind Bumble Bee Bight Garbage Box

I mean really would you expect anything else from me??? I'm just glad I don't live in Dildo...hahahaha. 

Started out as just a plain old box made out of old boards.

Nothing to it. It was whipped up in less then an hour... Couldn't show you the whole box because I had already started painting the top...lol

It certainly took me longer to paint the rough wood then it took my friend to make it.

I still need to paint the bottom and inside but I'm hoping it will be out to the road by the end of this month.

Isn't she a beauty???

Comments Welcome.

Don't underestimate those battery tea lights....

Because of the bear situation in Pilley's Island the littlest trick or treater's were out really early. Like 2:30 in the afternoon early. I had planned on having my tea light balloons on the line and lit by 4 but felt compelled to hang them earlier even if the lights couldn't be seen. Each balloon had a ghost face so I hung them on the line anyway. You can imagine my surprise when I got up at 5:30 (damn time change) and discovered they were still flickering away. Not just a couple but all 6 of them. It's not a good picture but here they are all the same. 

This is what the balloons looked like before being hung on the line. PS: The cats didn't mind me using their butts for the pic.

This year like every year I asked my visitors if they were scared or spooked out by my Halloween decorations. They all say the same thing - NO ...LOL. Oh well it's all in fun.