Chicks

I got one chubby chick completely finished today - appliqued the eye on and trimmed the block to size. Is it sick to make a chick out of duck fabric? I didn't want to use buttons as the eyes like they suggest in the pattern. I had some circle templates to make applique ones and I used some spray starch to keep things in place since the eye is so small. It went quicker than I thought and the eye stayed pretty round (I'm no expert and appliqueing tiny things). I'm looking forward to putting this top together, but I guess it's going to be a while before it's all ready. I've got other things going on!

One of the other things is the girl. She's so funny - already saying lots of words like car, doggie, more, all done, cracker, and of course, no no no.  She's been eating quinoa, hooray! Too bad she's over the tofu. What other hippie foods can I try?  :)

A week with stuff.

Hark! I hear the sound of the moving truck!!! A week ago today our stuff arrived, yay!!!

The box says... kitchen pans and..... COFFEE MAKER, WOOOOOO!

Speed skating on a beautiful day at the Oval on the Commons. Can't wait to bust out my skates, which have been resting in a box in Virginia for like 7 years.  They have regular public skate every day too, not just speed skating. I might look like a dork in my figure skates, oh well. Hockey skates are the norm for men, women, and children in these parts :)

The milk pitcher makes an appearance. 

Getting Stuff

Sweeeet! Our stuff is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning. Luckily it's supposed to be relatively warm, but unluckily it's supposed to rain too. The thought that someone else is going to lug all the boxes and furniture up and into our apartment makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I'm going to do my best in directing the boxes either upstairs or in the basement so we don't have to carry a bunch of stuff up or down. We'll see how well the boxes got labeled.

Top ten things I've really been missing:
    1. coffee maker and/or one-cup coffee filter holder dripper thing
    2. more books to read to the girl - the five or so we have are getting REAL old after 3 weeks
    3. kitchen knives and cutting board
    4. bed, pillow, blankets
    5. my ten-year-old super amazing slippers
    6. my exercise clothes and sneakers (oops, got packed by the movers by mistake)
    7. high chair - baby dinner time is a messy explosion every night
    8. any chair or couch
    9. my sewing machine so I can fix the curtains we've been left with, make some bibs, and be crafty
    10. pots and pans and kitchen gadgets

but really, you need amazingly few things to get along for the most part.

And.... I think we're going to have a CAR next weekend. Woo! It's not totally in the bag yet, but we've been working on this for weeks (mostly Scott has). One of the first things I'll do is take it to the grocery store and buy a bunch of liquid stuff, just because I won't have to carry it home in my arms :)

In the meantime, this is how we roll when it's not too wet or windy outside. Covered in fleece from head to toe.

Gappy Goodness

I discovered the Halifax Shopping "CenTRE" on Sunday and headed right over there with my Gap gift cards (thanks California coworkers!!!).  When I whipped out the gift cards, what do you know? The $25-card was worth $25.49 Canadian. Small consolation considering the 15% HST.

Our stuff had better get here soon so I can take up my hobbies again instead of going shopping. I am frugal-challenged! I could definitely use some exercise and warm quilts anyway.

Canadian Culture for Beginners

BEHOLD, Americans... I bring you the wonder of Canadian Tire: www.canadiantire.ca

Canadian Tire is not just a place to get tires (though I did once get a flat tire near Kingston, Ontario and had it replaced at Canadian Tire). It's a land of plenty - from hockey helmets to milk pitchers, camping gear to ice fishing augers. They even sell TV's.

It's the store that pays you: every time you buy stuff you get Canadian Tire money: actual pieces of paper with different denominations. You can use it to buy stuff at Canadian Tire and.... AMAZING - the local video rental chain I joined last night accepts Canadian Tire money same as cash.

I've got 35 Canadian Tire cents already. Woo!!

One of these days I'll tell you all about President's Choice brand. I'm still investigating what it's all aboot. 

Speaking of video rental... We rented Dogtooth last night. Ummmm, it was kind of ummmm..... It was nominated for an Oscar last year for best foreign language film (Greek). We'd also seen Incendies (Canadian) which was also nominated. Both dark and a bit twisted. I thought they were both good, and interesting, but definitely not for everybody.

One more Canadian culture tidbit: today we visited Peggy's Cove. Home of Canada's most photographed lighthouse, according to one of the informational signs. It was SO foggy today, so I stole some photos from Wikipedia:



Not much going on there in January.