Coping with the new "normal"

Like everyone else, I am grappling with how to cope with this new scenario especially now that things are escalating in Ontario. I worry about if my family is safe, how the International University students are going to get home now they are kicked out of residence? I worry about how people on marginal incomes will be able to buy supplies and how small businesses and charities will survive.  I even worried while I was vacuuming this morning about what happens if I run out of vacuum cleaner bags and there is no way to buy more.

So I decided to make a list of what I CAN do...

1. I can try and stay in as much as possible. While I have a big list of groceries and supplies that I would LIKE to have, I can make do.

2. I can keep in touch with my family and friends via text and phone and I can even send a few more handwritten cards and notes.

3. I can take some time to purge and organize (STILL COLLECTING FOR MY CHURCH, the community will be even more in need when this blows over) if you want to save things for me.

4. I can spend more downtime, crafting, resting and reading. I had a feeling the library would close so I got all my holds and I have many more books on hand.

5. I can spend more time with my dogs, I plan on trying to get a minimum of 10 000 steps a day until school reopens or the middle of April. One Month.

6.  I have 8 more blankets to tie. Yep, I can do that in the safety of my home...

All washed and ready to go.

7. I can get my tax stuff together and file all the things in my office that have been shoved into a drawer for a rainy day. Well it looks like that rainy day is here.

8. I can have time to Spring clean my house. In order to avoid distraction, I'm going to pick one room at a time and go from there.

So I'm choosing to look at this difficult time as an opportunity. I'm also limiting the amount of time I allow myself to watch the news and I'm going to hope for the best! If we all pull together early in the game hopefully it won't go into overtime.

Wash your hands and stay safe!

March Swap Card

Whaaaat? I'm ahead of my regularly scheduled posting.  We decided to move our monthly card due date to the beginning of the month, rather then the end. It always seemed like we were behind. So our April card will now be due at the beginning of April rather then the end. Looks like we are going to have some time to make that happen with the current Pandemic that is going on in the World.

Keri had requested a Pet Sympathy card to have on hand so I obliged with this one using my favourite kraft and a lovely sentiment from Taylored Expressions...

Keri used her Splotch stamp and then heat embossed it for extra sparkle to make this card....

And some cute little butterflies from Michaels. So nice to see the fresh Springy colours. May the little things, bring you joy!

Stay calm, people and clean your door handles!

February Swap Card

Let's keep it going....
I always get asked for Sympathy cards and I just love the monochromatic tones of this card. Very classy!

I used the MFT stitched blooms that I just LOVE. I didn't have the right size sentiment so guess what? I did it on my computer. I have no knowledge of how to download fonts etc, I just choose one in word that looked pretty good and it worked out great.

Keri used a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp... I just can't get over how cute that little puppy is in the bicycle basket and the rainbow clouds. Stunning!

And the inside...

We have so much fun every month revealing our cards and its a good reason to get together and catch up.

March Goals and Habits

Before we get to the March goals, lets see how February played out...


1. Send one card. (I actually sent 4 cards; 1 Sympathy, 1 Thinking of You, 2 Valentine

2. 15 minutes of stretching or yoga or strength training (Hard FAIL!) I think I did this twice although I did locate my weights and bands, I'll keep trying this one.

3. Spend 15 minutes cleaning up computer (emails, photos etc) I regularly try and delete emails but I need to spend a little more time cleaning up this old computer

I also did pretty well, keeping up with my Jan Goals; keeping sink clean, Reading( 3 books in Feb) and blog posts (only 6 so short by 2 but not too bad)

March Goals
1. Go the the Gym once a week. After keeping my gym on hold for over 3 years, I needed to make a decision. I'm committing to once a week, likely Aquasize but we will see how it goes.

2. Do 5 Donation requests for Loonies for Lindor (I'm a little early with this but it's very time consuming so I wanted to get a start. Plus you have to approach a large number to have any success.

3. Find a Retail store(s) to sell some of my cards. I finally got around to organizing my cards and I found that I have over 500. So I pitched my product to one store and was successful. More on that once I sign the contract and have gathered a sampling together to pitch to another store. Well I don't expect to make a ton of money, it's fun to see if someone will buy your product and I really need to make room for more.

January Swap Card

We are getting caught up. FUN FACT! Keri and I started this exchange in August 2016. We've fallen behind but we've never missed a month. I think that's pretty good. Surprisingly we both did Lawn Fawn cards.
Keri used the Skating Mice that she actually won in an on-line give away. So cute...

Here's the stamp and die set she used..

I used the Taco Birthday set. I found my card a little basic but I added some stickles to the party hat and some sparkly enamel dots and I thought it ramped it up a bit...

Here's the stamp set that I used....

I'd better get posting. I'm falling behind in my biweekly post goals. Where does the time go?

Where did February go?

The winter months are when I usually get caught up on some of the household organization and chore list but they are flying by and I'm not sure where the time is going so I decided to take a quick look back and see what is filling up my days.

First off there is lots of this...

Lots of getting together and catching up with friends and family.

I'm attending Planner classes at Two Scrapbook Friends and I'm completely addicted. I want to work on this ALL THE TIME!

I've been busy volunteering and doing a little contract work for my favourite charity; Autism Dog Services.

I've been collecting a lot of items for my Annual Charity drive for Waterford Church. They will be so pleased once I manage to get it all down to them.

I had a fun cookie decorating session with my little peeps for Valentine's Day.

My weekly puppy classes, this one was at Waterloo Regional Airport.

Watching this guy play his last high school game of Basketball. Bronze medal finish in WOSSA.
SO that's just a quick glimpse into my month. I ran out of blog topics so I thought this would work. Trying to meet my goal of 2 a week and we haven't swapped our cards yet for the last 2 months.
Well, I'm off to shovel.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I've been working on my Planner, trying to get the year completed so my cards have taken a back burner (for now).
I needed to make something chocolate for a Family celebration and I don't usually make chocolate frosting but I decided that double chocolate was the way to go for these light and airy cupcakes...

So much tastier then the canned frosting and takes no time to whip up.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, soft
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 Tbsp heavy cream

Whip butter, add vanilla, alternate cream with dry ingredients. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes.