in which there is paint

Sometimes we have attacks of spontaneous painting......

Like sometimes I'm  in the middle of something else and then the urge overtakes someone and then we simply must paint....

It isn't usually Sebastian with this compulsion...he hasn't shown a whole lot of interest in painting and drawing in the past...so it's always interesting when the mood takes him.

He worked on a canvas, I messed around making backgrounds for my visual journal.

There was much applause and mutual admiration of our efforts.

A cast of thousands....

Knowing her love of this particular art form, Savannah's bff, M, gifted her with a sock-puppet making kit.....a much fancier one than her other one....complete with pre-cut embellishments and super-fuzzy socks.

I've forgotten the names of these two.....I shall have to consult the latest playbill.....

Holiday Countdown - Days Two and Three - December 2, 3

Wednesdays and Thursdays are tricky days as they're my work days so we are limited to what we can accomplish......Wednesday's task was to dig out our holiday/winter book collection and start reading one each night at bedtime. We also have a  copy of Do You See What I See? Christmas so we're working our way through that one. The seek-and-find books are big favourite of Sebastian's but these ones are a bit more challenging so we do a few pages at at time.  Thursday was 'decorate windows with paper snowflakes' -- which we sort of did. Savannah wanted to save the actual crafting of the snowflakes until her bff M. came over in the afternoon {she and her mom look after the kids when I go to work on Thursday afternoons} so I missed out on any pics.....this is one she'd made earlier....

Holiday Countdown 2009

In a shameless pilfering of Other People's Ideas, we've decided to do a holiday countdown...sort of an advent calendar-esque type thing.  It took some convincing as Savannah is rather fond of the shitey chocolates that come in the shitey-yet-ever-so-fabulous cardboard calendars that we've added to our repertoire in the past, so we negotiated the additional creation of a  Countdown Jar of Chocolate which we will fill with some yummy niblets and sample each day as we ponder our assignments.

Absolutely determined not to make a Huge Production out of the thing, we just made-do with what we had around the house (as my mind soared off in all sorts of grand and crafty directions of how we could make each envelope a fragment of Divinity itself)....thusly we used construction paper scavenged from the Art Cave and glossy flyers of a Christmassy theme we found by rummaging through the recycling bin.

'Twas also a shameless opportunity for Savannah to practice scribing her numbers...particularly those which she has trouble with....2, 3 and 5.  We made up some silly rhymes to remember how to draw them and by the end, after each one was the proclamation... "Look!!! It's the perfect..{insert number here}!!!!"

Our little pile of lopsided envelopes grew over the course of the afternoon....my template was a bit off, trying to be as frugal as possible with our paper usage....plus, I'm wonky on a good day.

Then, Savannah stuck the numbers onto each envelope....we went from 1-25, deciding not to go past into the days past Christmas. It was harder than I thought, when factoring in work-days and times when we would want B to be around etc, but in the end I was quite happy with The List.







And here's our list:

1.Max-out our library cards on holiday books and movies (you're allowed 5 items per card)
2. Get out our own collection of holiday books and read one each night.  See how much of the Do You See What I See? Christmas book we can finish this year.
3. Decorate the windows with paper snowflakes.
4. Go to see the Festival of Lights at Spencer Smith Park.
5. Family dinner tonight at Auntie B's! Bake something to take for dessert.
6. Use up last year's Blockbuster gift cards on a previously-viewed movie.
7. Go to the mall with Nanna to see the decorations. Put our gift(s) in the Toy Drive Bin. Eat lunch in the Food Court.
8. Make a holiday parcel for the Food Bank.
9. Choose a gift from Heifer Int'l or Plan Canada.
10. Change over our nature table. Listen to some holiday music while we do it.
11. Drive along Lakeshore to see all the lights on the fancy rich people's houses.
12. Happy Hanukkah! Shop for some yummy snacks for our........family movie night!!! Go ahead...open up the surprise. {a copy of the new 'Buddies' movie}
13. Go to Kerncliff for a winter hike. Gather evergreens for our decorations.
14. Decorate the house.
15. Make Solstice lanterns.
16. String popcorn for the tree.
17. Make edible gifts for Bushy and her friends and the birds.
18. Choose the Best Tree Ever.
19.  Decorate the tree; dinner at Nanna and Granda's house! Don't forget to take your homemade gifts for the kid's exchange.
20.  Christmas party at the Navy Club!  Light our Solstice lanterns and leave our edible gifts out for our animal friends.
21. Happy Winter Solstice!! Welcome back the Sun and be thankful for our warm, cozy house and our cupboards full of food.  Prepare a festive dinner and open our Solstice gifts when Daddy gets home from work.
22.Make a batch of cookies for all the family dogs.
23. Watch holiday specials/movies. (Mommy votes for It's a Wonderful Life...please?)
24.  It's Christmas Eve!! Bake cookies to eat while we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Don't forget to leave the magick key out for Santa.
25.  Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful day filled with laughter and joy and the love of family and friends.

 I shall perhaps unleash my creative urges on the Chocolate Jar.....currently masquerading as an empty Mason jar smelling slightly of the pasta sauce that used to occupy it....it's sitting in the middle of the table, just waiting for inspiration....

Puddles, puppets and hot cups of tea

November has been a very kind month so far....above-normal to downright balmy temperatures and noticeable lack of rain...or as the case sometimes is...The Other (aka, the S-word - just can't bring myself to say it).

But, into every life, a little rain must fall...and so it did...making for a damp and dreary sort of day. So I  wandered out into our little garden patch to take some pictures of the greenery which has finally decided to give up it's green in favour of something a little more red...

 

 

Our outdoor *offering* basket....we decorated it with our painted pumpkins left from Thanksgiving...sadly, it seems that our visitors are not overly fond of the grapes, but *someone* ate the apple...

One of our Gargoyles....cozying up with some leaves...perhaps I should knit them scarves for the winter...

I did manage to convince my fairweather friends that we should get out for a walk with the dogs between rainshowers and we managed to do just that, getting home just in time for another downpour. At which point it was decided that it was a good day to stay inside and make sock puppets....as one does when it's raining and cold outside.

Savannah has an aversion to wearing any brand of socks other than Happy Feet socks -- being the sensitive soul she is -- thusly, she has a drawer full of failed experiments in acceptable foot coverings..which lend themselves nicely to becoming an entire theatre troupe of sock puppets.

We're working on some Glamour Shots....because every budding thespian needs a Glamour Shot, right? There are murmurings of a holiday puppet theatre performance of Rapunzel...which apparently will require elaborate set decorations and the sub-contracting out of the *extras*.....

In the midst of this creative frenzy, I managed to do a *final* edit on my manuscript, only to discover it is about thirty pages over the maximum to be entered in the contest I had my eye on...*sigh*...so instead of weeping with frustration, I made tea. Lots of it. Maple tea, to be exact...yes..you're thinking "Eww",which is what I thought until I tried it...it's quite delicious....and suitable for wallowing in creative self-pity.

In which we paint in our pajamas...

Sometimes you just have to listen when the Muse calls you.....even if you haven't had breakfast yet.

  

from the Smiley-Face collection

Catching up - October 18

So I decided I wanted to take up knitting....long story involving my left-handed handicap, various frustrating attempts to teach me and my own bloody-mindedness....suffice it to say,at the ripe old age of 38 I finally 'got it'. 

Behold my practice swatch....stunning, isn't it?

Which does quite well as a warm, woolly blanket for a toy horse.....

Thank you Savannah, your support and generosity made it possible for this inaugural piece to find a useful purpose....