Giving thanks while getting crafty

It's a big weekend in Canada this weekend. Thanksgiving weekend! Wish I was back home to celebrate and chow down on some turkey and stuffing with my wonderful and always a laugh a minute family.

Since Paul and I have been married we celebrate Canadian and American thanksgiving usually with his family at our house and some friends or just friends depending on who is available. This year I just wasn't feeling it though. Mama B was going to fly down from Indiana to spend Canuckgiving with us, but alas had a sudden knee injury that requires surgery and had to post-pone the visit. So I thought okay we will just skip it this year since it wouldn't be the same. There is always next year. We thought about inviting a few friends that we met here, but that doesn't seem to be working out quite like we planned either. As most of you know October is a tough month for me which is why we usually celebrate Canuckgiving to have something to look forward to and take our mind off all the not so happy stuff. We finally decided if nothing else we will celebrate just the two of us, and our delicious veggie roast.

I haven't really been feeling the Halloween vibe either! I put my decorations up early trying to lighten the mood a bit, but it is just not the same. We miss being near his family and not having any family nearby is starting to sink in. Even all our friends are scattered here there and everywhere. We are feeling a bit out of touch.

So today I got up and drove Paul to work and it was a beautiful crisp fall morning, I was off today and felt I needed to do something to celebrate this beautiful day. I got out my baking supplies and whipped up some Halloween cookies while I tuned into our favorite radio station on line from Chicago and before I knew it all the homesickness started to fade. Having lived in so many places and have met so many amazing people I consider several places "Home" not just Nova Scotia. Which means you suffer from homesickness for a bit of everywhere some days, but mostly we miss our friends who are in each place. That was when I realized what I was grateful for, all the wonderful people in my life, and for Paul cause without him I wouldn't have been on this grand adventure. Okay maybe I would have but it wouldn't have been as much fun.

After the cookies were baked I had to run out and get some decorative icing for them. A co-worker of Paul's is having a Fall Break Party and I felt I needed to jazz the cookies up a bit before we took them over. I walked into the craft store and I am one of these people that get these great ideas for crafts but then when it comes time to execute the craft, it looks like crap. A pre-schooler makes prettier things than me. My father is a painter and so is my grandmother I however did not inherit a single strand of their talent in that department.

While I was there all the Halloween stuff was on sale and they were pushing it aside to bring in the Santa Claus and friends stuff, way to early if you ask me. There was a huge bin of those artificial pumpkins, all marked half off. Beckoning me to take one home and try to make it something beautiful. I walked away from the first bin, then there was another, it was like they were planted there just for me! Then I noticed a display sign saying "Get in the spirit" and I thought yup, I need to find my Halloween spirit. So I picked up a white one. Last year as I do almost every year I bought a home magazine with ideas to decorate for Halloween. There was a photo that I recalled of a white pumpkin and they made it look like a cameo broach. In my head it looked easy, so I thought alright let me give it a try and if it doesn't work out, I am not out that much.

The whole time I am justifying my purchase in my head. "Well it's and artificial pumpkin therefore it's environmentally friendly, and there is no mess" The pumpkin itself was a bit more than a real pumpkin but you can use it year after year. I got home with my pumpkin and looked up the image online. Turns out it wasn't at all how I imagined it, and it was way more complicated than I thought it was. I was discouraged for a minute. Then I thought, nope you are going to make your own version of this image. Off I went. The final product I have to say I am really excited by! There are a few details I want to add, but I am still really happy with it.

It was so easy to do! All you need is a artificial pumpkin, some pearl headed floral pins, velvet ribbon, and I found free clip art for the photo and enlarged it, printed it off, then cut out some self stick felt which I had no idea there was such a thing! Now I have a really cool, elegant looking pumpkin that still has and element of eeriness. Yet some how seems fitting for our house and location given the history around our area. There you have it! My first successfully executed craft! I would like to add a bit of black lace to frame the silhouette a bit which I will add later for now I am just going to sit back and enjoy my creation.

Our Spooky fireplace mantle.

Speaking of spooky! (Anna G. This one is for you!) Like I mentioned earlier October is a tough month for me. My Grandfather passed away October 1st 1991 and my Mum passed away October 2, 2004. But I know they are always around me along with my Stepfather who passed in November 1999. The other day on my Mum's anniversary I was at work and noticed I forgot to leave my wedding ring at home which I always to do when I go to work. I can't work with it on. So I leave it in a safe place at home. When I noticed I was wearing it I stuck it in my pocket and thought "I really should put in on my key chain to be safe." Nah, it will be fine I will put it back on when I am on break. So my break time came around and I was walking to my car to get dinner and pulled out my car keys. I work in a very busy box store/mall area, so lots of pedestrian and car traffic. I drove away and realized I didn't put my ring back on, went to reach for it and it was GONE! Totally gone! Not hiding in the seam of my pocket, nothing. I knew I put it there just and hour or two earlier. I was in full panic mode. It was the sentimental value of it more than anything that upset me. So I looked up, took a deep breath and said to my Mum, "Can you please help me find it? I really didn't need this to happen today of all days." I pulled back into the parking lot a work checked all around where I was originally parked. Traced my steps back and by now it was dark. I stepped on the side walk in front of an abandoned store front and in the one glimmer of light, I saw my ring on the ground. So needless to say I found a safe place to put it until I was done work for the evening. I was talking to my grandmother the day before that happened and she was telling me how she thinks Mum likes to hide her jewelry. I asked what she meant. Nan has a pair of my Mum's earring she wore all the time. Sometimes Nan said when she is going out she will think about wearing them and go to put them on and can't' find them anywhere. Now, Nan is getting up there but she still has all her faculties and is as sharp as a tack. She went on to say, other times she is getting ready to go out and they are sitting out in front, like they are telling her Mum wants to go out with her. Coincidence? What do you think? Are there such things as coincidences?