Things That Have Been Making Me Happy

It's been ages since I've done a "Happiness for Under $10", and I'm just shooting from the hip today while I have a chance (i.e. while the Mogrunt is napping).

1. Enjoy naptime: it's free, it's decadent and sensible at the same time. Oh, and grownups can enjoy it too.
Cost: Free

2. Grab a coffee and go for a walk in the park with a friend: I've met a friend from our prenatal class for walks in the Public Gardens a couple of times. I used to visit the gardens more when I was in University and I'd forgotten how perfectly lovely they are.
Cost: bridge or bus fare + coffee = less than $6

3. If possible, take a baby to the beach: Introduce him/her to the water. Enjoy the smiles.
Cost $? gas to beach.

4. Buy adorable hat from H&M for baby: Have him pose with his dad who sports same style of hat. Go to Saturday market. Listen to people exclaim over hat.
Cost: $6.95

5. Have friends who knit: Especially wonderful friends who knit things like 1920s style bathing suits for babies.
Cost: Free (except regular friendship maintenance).

6. Buy something for yourself on sale: Hit the end of season sale at Joe. Buy fun new shirt. Feel good about yourself while wearing it.
Cost: $7.94

7. Hershey's Dark Cherry and Almond chocolate bars: Need I say more?
Cost: less than $2.00

8. A knit night on your own: Leave dad and baby at home with a bottle of Mom's finest white milk. Go to knit night. Enjoy evening without spit up on shirt. Drink hot coffee. Call home and find that baby is bathed, fed and sleeping. Fall in love with his daddy all over again.
Cost: bridge fare, $4 for fancy coffee


Ok, that's all I can come up with right now. I want to get some knitting in before the Mogrunt wakes up.

In other news:
I'm doing some destashing. I've got some stuff up on Ravelry, but most of what is up there right now is nothing exciting at all, but I'm going to weed through my yarn and be completely honest with myself. Also, I'll be passing on the discounts that I received when I bought the yarn... and most of my yarn was purchased either at the Tangled Skeins holiday sale OR when I had an employee discount. Just sayin'.

I'm going to limit my destashing to Canadian addresses only. And I'm trying to figure out what to do about shipping. Let's just go with this rule: We'll do whatever seems fair.

The first person to leave a comment on the yarn on Ravelry will get it. I'm stephvw.

I'll put up a post here when I've got the rest of the items listed on Ravelry. M'kay?

A Couple of Cupcakes

Before I talk about knitting, I must tell you that last Saturday, I met up with a couple of cupcakes for a couple of cupcakes. If you know what I mean.

You don't? Ok. Let me show you.

This, my friends, is a cupcake from Susie's Shortbreads in Halifax.

Please note - I managed a modicum of restraint - I remembered to take a photo before pulling all the paper off and devouring it. That is a Neapolitan cupcake - real strawberries in that butter cream, people - REAL. It tasted BETTER than it looks.

You'll see in the background, in her isolation chamber, a Peppermint Patty cupcake. Avert your eyes, Patty, you don't want to see what will happen to your little friend!

Here we have a Strawberry Daiquiri cupcake. Isn't it pretty?

This is the lady who sacrificed that cupcake:

She is also known as the Cupcake Enabler. Don't be fooled by her innocent smile and obvious beauty... Her purpose in life is to lead you down the garden path. A garden path lined with ornate, scrumptious cupcakes, but down it, nonetheless, she will lead you and although it may seem good at first, a thousand calories later, you'll be groaning on the chesterfield, waiting for the sugar rush to pass.

This is the other hapless cupcake eater:

The divine Ms RM - she dressed for the occasion - polka dot scarf matching her lovely orange cardigan, extravagant jewelry involving rickrack - all with the usual RM flair

It was an impromptu afternoon out - to celebrate some birthdays and a chance to see some friends I hadn't seen in ages.

if only every gathering of friends included cupcakes, I'm sure the world would be a better place.

If you would like to visit Susie's Shortbreads, here's her website. She not only makes Shortbread (as her name implies), but she also makes cakes as well. We saw one of them before it headed off to a bridal shower. It looked divine.

Note to self

Go back to Carbonstok and buy all my Christmas presents.

This cool new store can be found at 1235 Barrington Street in Halifax

Mr. Happy and I wandered in there today on our way home from the market and the grocery store. Awesome place.

Very, very cool stuff.

Here's their goal (taken from the Halifax Locals post about their opening):

"Many of our products come from forward thinking designers and manufacturers that consider our collective impact on the environnment. Other products have such timeless relevance that ensures they will be around for a very long time and never go out of style. Finally, some of our products are simply there to entertain you. Because life doesn't always have to be serious. Our goal is to continually bring you new and interesting products for your home, for your body, and for your friends."

I meant to take a photo of the outside of the store, but my camera was buried in my bag under produce and such from the market.

Next time. Because there will be a next time.

Introducing Adjustoform!

Adjustoform is adjustable to your size!

Simply open the snaps, slip it on like a vest and have a close and honest friend adjust it to your size by pinching or pulling the wires. It's quick, it's easy and if you wear it out as a vest, it's also haute couture!

Many thanks to Mr. Happy for bringing home this little gem from Valouie Vilaghe!

Running Away From Home

Last Thursday Mr. Happy announced that he was taking Friday night and Saturday off (nothing revolutionary for those with 9-5 jobs, but quite out of the ordinary for him). As soon as he said it, an alarm went off in my head:

Me: Let's run away.

Mr. Happy: Ok, where to?

Me: We have a gift certificate to Oak Island! [1] Ohhhhhh... we can watch cable TV!

Mr. Happy: Ohhhhhh, that's right! Let's go!

So we set out for Oak Island. After checking in, we decided to drive back to Chester for supper. We ate in the F'ocsle Tavern (delicious pan fried haddock) and then, as it was a relatively rain-free evening[2], decided to walk around the town.

Just as we were about to enter a corner store, Mr. Happy noticed a Chester Playhouse sign stating that Old Man Luedecke would be playing there, that night! We turned around and saw that there were people standing outside the Playhouse - it was our lucky day - intermission!

We ran over and talked to the lady in charge. She let us in for 1/2 price and we got to see the rest of the show! While we waited for intermission to end, Chris (aka the Old Man) came into the lobby. He was surprised to see Andrew there and came over to talk. It was the first time I had had a chance to meet and talk to him. What a great guy; he's just as genuine as his music. With intermission ending, we went in and found a seat in the playhouse.

If you haven't heard him before, please check out his music. It's not every day that I fall in love with the music of a banjo player.

Here's his web page and here's his myspace page

Mahone Bay in the fog

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Mahone Bay where, of course, I went to Have A Yarn. I've been meaning to pick up yarn to try out a particular baby sweater pattern[3]. If you are pregnant and a friend of mine, this may or may not be for your baby. It may just be going into my gift stash. Yes, I have a stash of gifts for young and old alike. No, I don't think it's weird.

Here's a picture of the cuff:

I also picked up some Lana Grossa sock yarn to make socks for my niece. They're quite splashy. Despite having already cast on for this project, I have no photo of it. The yarn is from their "Sunset" collection - It's the sock in the middle of the picture Girls just wanna have fun, if you know what I'm sayin'.

We left Mahone Bay and headed back "up the coast" to Chester where we wandered in and out of a few artists' shops. Then we had lunch at the Kiwi Cafe.

I fell in love with the colours in the cafe. It was so cheery on that overcast afternoon. Mr. Happy ordered the Adult Grilled Cheese (so delicious - on homemade bread) and I ordered the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. We did a little sharing:

It was a short trip, but it was really nice to get out of the city and slow down for a while. I'm headed into a very busy time at work, and I know that I'll be thinking of the music in the Chester Playhouse and the visit to Mahone Bay when I'm standing at a booth at some conference this fall.



[1] Thanks again to the very, very kind friends who gave this to us for our anniversary.

[2] There's been so much rain here lately that we no longer classify things as sunny, we classify things in terms of dampness.

[3] I fell off the "Knit the Stash" wagon quite a while ago, but must note that I have definitely curbed my insane yarn-buying habits. I've decided that this "knit the stash" plan is more of a lifestyle change than a cold-turkey diet. Whereas before I treated the LYS as a all-you-can-knit buffet, I’m trying to make better, healthier choices. It’s much easier to do now that I don’t visit my LYS every single weekend. I've got my eye on some of the new Trekking tweed, but I'm going to wait until I get a couple more projects finished before buying it. See? Old Stephanie would have bought it the first day she saw it.

Party, Party, Party

The last four weeks have been nothing but party, party, party. At least it seems that way. I haven't had a full weekend on my own since, um, early July?

I spent the weekend of the 19th at the cottage... then we came back for a party on the 26th. As Mr. Happy and I haven't had a big back yard party at our place in years and certainly we've never had one with as many people. We thought that it was about time that we put our back yard to good use [1] and our anniversary was a good reason.

So, we invited a whole pile of people, asked them to bring some food and crossed our fingers that it didn't rain.

The morning started out a little overcast, but by the time our first guests arrived, it was sunny and warm.

Becca and Troy weren't sure if they could make it down for the party, so you can imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and saw two people arriving early. Mr. Happy had gone out to get some ice, so when I saw them crossing the street I started to panic thinking people were arriving early and thought, "Oh no, I don't even know who they ar... eeeeh! It's Becca and Troy!!!!" and I went running out of the house. Then Mr. Happy arrived the look on his face when Becca opened the door was priceless.

As this is the first party we've hosted in quite a while, we may not have had all our ducks in a row, but we were smart enough to invite the neighbours:

'cause if you're going to have loud obnoxious party guests, it's better if the neighbours are part of the noise! We have the most wonderful neighbours. They arrived with chairs and a table and flowers for us. They proceeded to crack open a bottle of wine and get a little tipsy right in the center of the party. It was awesome.

We didn't realize how many of our friends had kids until they were all running around in the yard. The kids seemed to have have fun playing catch:

...and um, tackle:

And so did the grown ups:

In fact some of the "adults" stuck around and played ball until dark.

The KOLers came and found a cool spot under the tarp. They even graciously took over the BBQ so that Mr. Happy could have a chance to eat.

While I think everyone had a good time, I really wish we had taken more time to organize the event. I got home from vacation the day before the party. I was a little stressed on Friday. (OK, alot stressed.) Also, we had planned to have some friends play music at the party, but they got stuck in traffic leaving a festival in Antigonish. Next time, we'll send out the invitations a bit earlier and check the music festival list for a date that doesn't conflict.

Regardless, we did have a lot of fun and were really glad so many people could make it out. It was really nice for Mr. Happy's family because they got to meet some of our friends. My dad and my SM couldn't make it to the party, but maybe next time. My family did represent, in the form of my great-aunt Mary and her daughter, Denise. It was so nice of them to drop in. Out of all the guests at the party, only Andrew's family[3], Becca and my great-aunt Mary had attended our wedding. We'll have to do something fun for our 15th and make sure that the whole family comes down!

One last note: At some point during the day, one of the guests spotted some of my old comic books in the spare room. After checking with Mr. Happy, he was shocked to discover that they were mine. [2] He alerted the rest of the gang and this is what I found going on a while later:

I love the juxtaposition of heavy metal rockers and chenille bedspread. I'm still wondering if I should have frisked them before they left the party.

Petitebean? You'd tell me if Sausage stole my Power Pack books, right?



[1] It's certainly not working for us as a vegetable garden.
[2] I went to my parents pharmacy after school every day, so I spent a lot of time reading the comic books on the rack. I've got a pretty good collection, but nothing is mint. It's all well-loved.
[3] My nephew Ben was technically present at the wedding, although he wasn't born for another 2 months. ;)

Eau de Printemps

On Friday night we got about 10-15 cm of snow - gorgeous, sparkly snow that covers the sadness of our winter yard - dead lawn and sad, leafless trees. Mr. Happy and I had been out to see a movie and were surprised by the amount that came down when we were in the theatre. It was perfectly lovely and wintery, even though we've all grown quite tired of shovelling. Perhaps it was the stroll through it with my hubby that made the snow so pretty.

Yesterday turned grey and cold in the afternoon - making me cranky and listless. I hunkered down in front of the TV with my knitting needles, anxiously awaiting Mr. Happy's return from work. I cursed the winter and the snow that had seemed so pretty the night before.

Today, however, the sun was shining brightly and Mr. Happy and I were inspired to go for a walk. As we set out, we both wondered aloud why we hadn't brought sunglasses with us... and that's when I felt it. Well, less felt and more smelled, really. "It?" you ask, "What is this it?"

It was SPRING. I swear to you, on my yarn, that I smelled it today. It was the smell of snow melting on pavement. It was the smell of soil, exposed to the sun. IT SMELLED LIKE SPRING TO ME! 

I know, I know, there are naysayers who would suggest that Spring is much too far off for me to have caught it's scent. They would say that I have gone off my rocker, that I should listen to the groundhogs of this world... but I tell you, it was there.

Mr. Happy and I broke up our walk by spending some time at our local Starschmucks, draining coffee cups (us), reading magazines (him), and knitting (me). Around 5pm we set out for home and when we did, the Springy scent was gone, suppressed by the early evening chill.

But Spring was there this afternoon and its scent was strong enough to give me the push I need to get through the rest of the winter.

That faint scent of Spring and these glorious socks... that will keep me going:

Yarn: Vesper
Colour: Aquamelon
New Technique: magic cast on - kind of like a figure 8 cast on.

The End of the Watt Furnace Moratorium

Mr. Happy left for England a week ago tonight.

For the last week I have been sleeping in my flannie jammies in a bed layered with the following (Top to bottom)

- The feather filled comforter that once belonged to my neighbour's grandmother
- A quilt made my my grandmother - folded in half (i.e. two layers)
- A cotton bedspread - carried home from Portugal by my father only to be spotted in Sears a month later.
- A Velux blanket
- a feather duvet
- New Brunswick sheets
- Me.

I have been doing so well:

I've abandoned the house for coffee shops and longer hours at the office;

I've been eating supper and then heading to bed where I watch TV and hang out for the night ;

I've even employed the oft-overlooked "canine heating system" on Saturday night (Pippin came for a sleep-over)

I've considered putting sweaters on the houseplants;

I've drank many many cups of this*:

Tonight I started baking a batch of bread.

It was 12C inside the house.

Then I realized that the temperature was going to dip down to the freezing mark tonight, I caved; I went downstairs and turned on the furnace.

Mr. Happy and his internal radiant heating system are an ocean away.

Don't blame me. Blame him. If he was here, I might have made it.


*If you haven't already discovered this little gem, Abuelita is a product from Mexico. It's the best hot chocolate I've ever had. The package contains 6 round "cakes" that make 4 servings each. You melt the chocolate in milk... and then you slurp down ever last bit. It smells like, and even tastes like, Ganong Chicken Bones.

Cubanos, which is a hop, skip and a jump from my house, sells Abuelita. I'm predicting a run on it once the word gets out.

By the way - Abuelita falls into the "Happiness to be had for under $10" category.

Running Away From Home

Has it really been 12 days since I updated? Whoa.

Let's do the easy stuff first. Last Sunday, Mr. Happy and I ran away from home. It had been ages since we had been out of the city, so we jumped in the car and headed across the Harbour. With Steve-O-Rino's coffee in our cupholders, we drove to Mahone Bay on the South Shore. It's about an hour's drive from our house and while we drove the weather changed from foggy and cool to sunny and HOT...

We were thrilled when we drove into town and discovered that there was a Flea Market in full swing. Mr. Happy is one of those guys who appreciates a good Flea Market - so we parked the car and practically ran to the market. They had some high quality fleas at this place - antique stands were mixed with fruit and vegetable stands - and everyone seemed to know someone else at the market.

We walked around, squinting against the bright sunshine and roasting in the heat (26C?), eyeing the tables of antiques and not-so-long-ago household items. We settled on a set of 38s - the soundtrack to South Pacific in a hard cover book with sleeves for the records - and a more recent album - Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

We stashed our records as well as some local produce in the car and had lunch at The Cheesecake Gallery. Yum.

I can't remember who had blogged about eating at this restaurant, but I am so glad for the recommendation. It was delicious. We didn't just eat cheesecake - we both had sandwiches and salad. My salad had mixed greens, sliced avacado, grilled pears and pistachios. It almost outdid the cheesecake. Almost.

After lunch, we walked around town and of course, took some time to visit a certain store...

...where I bought some yarn:

We continued our walk around town and discovered that Mahone Bay has been invaded by monsters:

After a lovely afternoon of reaffirming our belief that Mahone Bay is indeed a lovely town... we drove home.

Heh heh... I'm behind you... squishing yer motorcycle.

Things that make me happy

First, some Sunday Sky and line-dried sheets:

Second, a baby hat made out of leftover yarns:



This is the second Sweet Baby Cap (Pattern found here) I've made. This time, I used a variety of yarn including Koigu (two colourways), Fleece Artist (discontinued Kid Silk blend), and a Luxury Alpaca for which I cannot find the tag. I told Mr. Happy that this is the kind of hat that makes you want to procreate just so you can keep it. (NO, the answer is NO. As I told my neice last night, "Do not expect that you'll have a cousin in the next nine months.")

Last but not least, Charade Socks, pretty flowers and a favourite mug filled with coffee:



Details:
Needles: 2.5mm Addis
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (Purchased years ago at Lucy Neatby's Christmas Sale!)
Mods: Knit toe-up, 56 stitches
Notes: Fastest socks I've ever made. I wonder if someone is rubbing off on me? I knit from the toe to just past the heel in a day.

I'm wearing those socks today and my feet are very happy.

Bits of Happy For Under $10

I'm feeling kind of blah today. Mirroring the weather, I suppose.

I spent two very beautiful days (Friday and Saturday) inside, working at an Expo for people over the age of 50. It's the 5th time I've worked at this annual event and I've gotten to know some of the people who work at the booths nearby - especially the ones with the seniors groups. It's good to see them every year and to hear how they passed the winter. I hold my breath every year, though and worry about the sweet little old guy from Cumberland county or the two guys from Antigonish that I played crib with last year.

That's a funny story: These two guys had the crib board out last year and I went over to see if I could get in on a game during a slow time at the Expo. So I said, "Who's winning? Oh, okay, well, when you're done, I'll beat the winner." So first I played Michael... and I kicked his arse... then I played Charlie... and I skunked him (that means I beat him, and I more than kicked his arse). Heh heh... They were sorely disappointed when they realized I was back this year and they didn't have any cards. I think they left the game at home because they didn't want me to humiliate them again this year. They said that they had been practising all winter. Heh heh...

Anyhoooooo... Let's examine our Bits of Happy for under $10.

1. "Membership" in the quasi-official HRM Stitch and Bitch.
That's right. I said it OUT LOUD - HRM SnB is happening and it costs less than $10 to join... Actually, it doesn't cost anything to join... it's totally free. But bring a copy of Sir John A MacDonald's portrait to the meeting so you can buy yourself a great cup of coffee and maybe something to nibble on.

We're meeting at 7pm on Wednesday nights at the Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse on South Park Street. So far it's just me, Morgan, and Moe, but if you're a knitter in HRM, you're welcome to join. We aren't able to meet on June 15th, but the next date will be posted on someone's blog.

If you would like to come but you're worried that we are a bunch of scary freaks... well, we are, but we bring yarn and there is always lots of caffeine-enhanced conversation. I didn't know Morgan and Moe at all when we started this thing... so if we can do it... you can too!!!!!!!!! Please leave a comment if you're considering attending. No one bites. Yet.

2. A can of pineapple, a bag of sugar and a box of strawberry Jell-O. Price: Less than $10.
What the heck are you going to do with those things? I'll tell you what you do. You sneak over into the neighbour's yard and gather up an armload of their RHUBARB and then you take those ingredients and make some deadly good rhubarb jam. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know.

I told my co-worker that I was up making jam and rhubarb crisp last Monday night and she said, "Are you like, channelling someone's 80-year-old grandma?" Harumph. See if she gets any jam. She'll be drooling in jealousy while my other co-worker, who is supportive of my inner-80-year-old, slathers jam on her toast.

3. A ruby-red grapefruit. Price: Less than $2.00
Why is this a little bit of happy? Well, this is a two-fold bit of happiness
a. I love grapefruit. Love, love, love it. So much so, that I used to call them greatfruit when I was a kid. I ate the grapefruit in question about 2 months ago. I still remember how good it was. I don't put sugar on grapefruit. Geez, Louise, what do you need sugar for? It's waaaaaay sweeter than it was when I was a kid and I wasn't allowed sugar then. Unpucker those lips, baby, it's sweet.
b. I planted some of the seeds and although I had some doubting Thomases, I checked the pot a couple days ago and beheld three perfect little green seedlings!!!! HA!

4. A box of fudgesicles. Price: I dunno, Andrew picked them up.
When shared with three children, aged 6, 8 and 10, you definitely get your share of happiness. Plus, the 8-year-old ended up with a chocolate goatee. Very entertaining.

5. Bus Fare. Price: $2.00
For a twoonie, you can catch the bus and enjoy the soap-opera that is bus-riding in a moderately large city. The goth-kids with their little Winnie The P00h clad baby. The guys who look like geeky D&D players from the 80s (read: longish hair and fingernails, white socks with their sneakers) who turn out to be a couple. The guy who smells like liquor and looks like he just got off work. The kid who stares at you out of the corner of his half-closed eyes because you're the only one on the bus who is knitting. The little old ladies who catch your eye and smile knowingly as you knit. The call centre girl who puts on her headphones and pulls out her book so she can get home without talking to another soul...

6. The new Belle and Sebastian compilation. Price: ummmmm
Oh, ok, you got me. That was well over $10. But each song costs less than $10. And they're all good songs and they are making me happy right now.

7. A bag of "Just Us" Coffee. Price: $6.99.
It's fair trade coffee and it's roasted just outside Wolfville, NS. I hadn't bought any in ages, but I just had to when I read the name of this particular blend: "Rise Again" I think I know where the name came from (it's a song by an East Coast family band called "The Rankins") but it sure did make me giggle when I bought it. "Rise Again Blend: Coffee to resurrect those who feel like the walking dead in the morning." "Rise Again Blend: Coffee for... wait, what's that noise? Is that laughter? Les, stop that snickering. For heaven's sake, get your mind out of the Beneyville ditch. You're going to be gulping this stuff down after that third baby arrives. hee... Beneyville. (sorry gang, that's a hometown joke for my peeps).

8. Cocoa lip balm from the Body shop. Price: Ummmm... $6.00????
I'm addicted to this stuff. IT SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE. Thanks alot, Becca, you Body Shop pusher. I can't stop myself. I've developed a nervous lip balm application habit because of it. I can't leave my office without reapplying and then puckering my lips up so I can smell it. I look like my mentally-unstable grandma. When I was a kid she used to occasionally pucker her lips up like she was scratching the bottom of her nose with her lip or something. My cousins and I would do imitations of her in our very mature ways (we were 9, 10 and 11) - "Hey, hey Jon... who's this?" squinching up our lips.... "Ha ha ha ha ha ha... it's Grammy." Nice kids. We didn't know she was a bit kookie when we were doing this. We just thought she was weird. Isn't it nice that I have this memory? My cousins and I are all going to Hell. If you're looking for us, we'll be the ones puckering our lips and laughing sad, ironic laughs. I think I'll need the cocoa lip balm there. Eternal Hellfire and damnation has got to be a bitch for chapped lips, eh?

9. A packet of seeds. Price: varies. Morning glories are less than $2.00
Morning glories. Love 'em. They grow on my ugly fence and they smile at me every morning when I come out the back door.

10. I'm out. I've got nothin'. I need to go reapply.

Have a great afternoon. I'm going to knit now. Someday soon, I'll have photos.

Free Bits of Happy "Family & Friends Edition"

Ok, so Christmas was great this year. We had a great time on Christmas day with my husband's family. The kids liked their gifts - the adults seemed to as well - every time I see my father-in-law he's wearing his Fuzzy Feet. My sister-in-law says she feels glamourous (glamorous? Cdn spelling?) with the pink fun fur at the top of hers. We had a nice restful trip to my dad's house. My step-mom made this amazing meal on Monday for all of us - yummy ham (hubby was in a carnivore's heaven)... oh and my step-sister (K - every time I call you that think of Cinderella's step-sisters - and geez, I'm way more evil-step-sister-ish than you could ever be) made this awesome tettrazini for lunch one day that I totally forgot to get the recipe for. *hint, hint* It was delicious. Especially with "special coffee", heh heh.

The kids were adorable. I got to play Play-Doh with Lauryn! I love play-doh! And Brooke, well, what can I say - the girl likes her ham and she IS a ham. She took quite a while to warm up to my hubby, aka Uncle A, in fact on the night before we left, she finally went to him and crawled up on his lap. This is totally funny, b/c Uncle A usually has the kids hanging off him. I've never seen him so desperate to get a kid to pay attention to him.

So, in light of having spent time with our family over the holidays - here are the Free Bits of Happy, Family Edition:

1. Watching Brooke look at Uncle A out of the corner of her eyes - she refused to turn her head toward him.
2. Playing Play-Doh with Lauryn.
3. Hearing about the conversation between Uncle A and his 6-year-old nephew, Ben:
Ben: Uncle A - do you want to play Lego with me?
Uncle A: Sure Ben, what should I do?
Ben (thinks for a minute): Well, you just play... Uncle A, you don't have to if you don't want to.
Uncle A starts playing with the Lego.
Ben (after playing for a bit): Uncle A, thank you for the little remote control car and the Chubby Big Buddy Doll* with the cd.
Uncle A (grinning at his polite nephew): You're welcome Ben.
4. Seeing my dad wearing the hat I made him for Christmas last year in true Dad style - barely pulled on his head so he looks like a zucchini.
5. Watching my husband roll on the floor with his sister's dog.
6. Playing Cranium with my sister-in-law and her friends on New Years Eve.
7. Yummy meals prepared by family and friends.
8. Giving the scarf to my grandma and seeing her smile.
9. Hanging out with my family and my husband's family.
10. Snow in New Brunswick.
11. Having supper with my neighbours on New Year's Eve.
12. Seeing my pal, R and her parents on Boxing Day.
13. Getting an entire salmon from my dad's pal just because he knows I love salmon.
14. Having breakfast with friends every morning (ok, the meal wasn't free, but the friends don't cost a thing).
15. Having one of my oldest pals cut and dye my hair (again, not free, but the time spent with her was totally worth it).
16. Just being home.
17. Hanging out with my hubby.
18. Watching my dad and my husband head out for a drive to the hunting camp, carrying a rifle. My husband said, "Your dad is taking me hunting - I'm getting a 10 minute head start." (They weren't really going hunting.)
19. Having brunch on New Years day with our former boarder and his girlfriend, then sitting around talking for hours.
20. Hearing my sister-in-law's mother-in-law laugh when my husband said it was okay that she had missed the Queen's Christmas Day speech because the Queen didn't have anything to talk about. He proceeded to say, in a lovely British accent, "Merry Christmas. I don't really have much to say this year. Charles is behaving. The world's a mess, that's not really new. The Corgies are doing well..."

Wow, that's 20. All done.

* Chubby Big Buddy is a cartoon that exists in my husband's imagination. It's based on his friend's late manx cat who was called Charlie but soon earned the name Chubby Big Buddy. He made Chubby dolls for all the kids for Christmas this year - he also included a cd of Chubby's theme song.

Happiness For Under $10

In the spirit of the title of this blog, may I present to you some things that make me happy (and could possibly entertain you as well) and just happen to cost less than $10:

1. Burts Bees Lip Shimmer - all the goodness of Burt's Bees lip balm, but with colour! Colour AND the soothing menthol. I'm a total BB lip balm addict in the winter - It's the Canadian winter! I'm already dried up and it's only late November!

2. A bag of Hershey's kisses and a loto ticket - The chocolate kills the disappointment when my numbers don't match the winning numbers.

3. Metro Transit - for a mere $1.75 I can hop on the ferry and enjoy a "boat cruise" across the harbour to Halifax, where I can find all sorts of happy things for under $10.

4. The Brewery Market - Open only on Saturdays and completely free to enter, but once inside, I can enjoy the musicians who busk there and...
a. Buy two maple leaves for $1 (candies made of maple from the trees, not an actual leaf - those are still free).
b. Grab a fresh squeezed orange juice and a chocolate raspberry croissant from Mary's Bread Basket - the breakfast of champions, well, champions who like a good dose of chocolate in the morning.
c. Buy garlic gouda from "That Dutchman's Farm" and be trusted to put my exact change in his change bowl (trust AND cheese - what more could a girl want?).

5. Magazines - for the most part my favorite mags are still under $10. Phew.

6. Brown Sheep Lamb's pride - One skein is often enough for one Christmas present. Woot!

7. A party pack of Timbits - For those not in the know about Tim Horton's - this is a Cdn chain of coffee / donut shops, with good old straightforward packs-a-punch coffee and donut "holes" called Timbits... or as I like to call them, Little Bits of Tim, or Tim's Bits. 'cause if you can make 'em sound gross, then you don't have to share.

8. Cover charge when my husband's band plays - ok, so this is free 'cause I'm on the guest list - but if they don't have a guest list I do my "I'm with the band" schtick. But if they were to make me pay it's usually less than $10.

9. A movie ticket on cheap night. - It's a date with my husband OR a girl's night out with my sister-in-law.

10. Yard sale fodder or something from my fav. consignment antique shop in Halifax - I bought an LP set called "Night Moves" at a yard sale - it's a disco dancing instruction record and came complete with an illustrated how-to book!

Free Bit of Happy for Today

Sometimes I can be a real Ms. Crankypants. Cranky McCrankster... especially on days when I have to wake up using an alarm clock. Or days when I'm rudely awakened by someone barping their horn on the street outside my house... And then there's the crankiness brought on by my "Monica Geller"-like need for order - although, if you saw my house, you would think I was telling a very heinous lie... there is a HOLE in my KITCHEN CEILING.

Anyhoo, in an attempt to remind myself that life is too bloody short to be so bloody uptight, might I present free bits of happy for today (this is as opposed to the bits of happy that cost us under $10)... now, mind you, there will be no naughty bits on this blog, so the "free bits of happy" will not include anything of a salacious nature... then again, I suppose that depends on what turns your crank. MOVING ON!

Happy bits for today:
1. My dad sharing a story about seeing two cow moose fighting for territory - doesn't seem like something I should be thrilled about, but my dad told me that he had never seen moose do this outside of the television. He was very excited about it and seemed to only momentarily regret not having had his camera with him.
2. Sharing above story with people I was working with today and forgetting to describe the animals in full. As a result, trainees were envisioning COWS with their hackles up, standing on their hind legs with their udders flapping wildly about as they mooed loudly to protect their territory. MOO!
3. Finishing up weekend training session an hour and a half early on a sunny day!
4. Telling a friend about this blog - waves to J, "Hi J!" - and having friend admit to wanting to start her own blog, therefore reinforcing that I'm not a complete and utter yarn geek and perhaps I'm not a geek at all.
5. Hearing manager laugh during training session today - hmmmmm... if I could bottle that laughter we would be rich, rich I tell you! Actually, if I gave it away for free, there would be world peace b/c everyone would be laughing too hard to do anything mean.
6. I posted photos last night. Yay!!!!!!
7. My husband took those photos for me! I think he did it 'cause he loves me. Well, maybe he's just trying to get a pair of fuzzy feet for himself.

That's enough for now. I'm feeling giddy and there are movies to be watched!

Next time - Happy you can buy for under $10 (here's a sample- Burt's Bees)...