She's so ugly she's pretty!

What i think makes Christmas fun is a bit of whimsy !

I have always liked things that are out of the ordinary.

My family knows this well about me. Whether it is with clothing or decor for my home
i like to be different and original.
Life can be stressful and serious at times . We all need to be playful once in awhile.

My son says all the time that I am a silly mom! He wouldn't want me any other
way. It's warms my heart to him call me a fun mom.

My MIL sent me this crazy angel a few years ago for Christmas. She knew
when she saw it that i would totally get it. She also knew i would love it!

Here is my silly ugly but oh so pretty monkey angel!!

Is she not the best?! Come on i know you all love her! I had a friend back home
who clearly could not get it. Her eyes went huge in horrible dismay...and at the
same time said Oh (choke) she is pretty Pam (choke) !

My monkey angel believe it or not comes from a very upscale expensive ladies

boutique here in town.

I think this will definitely be an heirloom ornament for my son...it will always

remind him of his silly silly mom!

Burlap Christmas tablecloth

My mother-in-law is the queen of finding treasures at our local thirft shops.

She really enjoys going and is always on the lookout for the latest thing i seem to

be into.



Lucky me!



The other day when i visiting her...and picking up some lovely french

style lamps she found for me (a post about these will come later) i told her to be on

the lookout for burlap!



Burlap she questioned? Really? I said oh yes it is so in right now. Oh too bad she said...

i just threw out a pile of it!!

Oh well... I put my order in too late!



Yesterday i picked her up to go to a local Christmas art show and she had this

beautiful tablecloth waiting for me!

She went to the Sally Ann and there it was! A lovely burlap tablecloth with cute

elves painted on it!

It fits my table perfectly! Aren't the elves adorable?

Very pretty stars painted in the centre of it.

I believe one of the reasons she likes to do this for me is not only due to her enjoyment

of shopping in these stores but because i really appreciate it and i always use or display

whatever she finds. Good job Nana you are lots of fun!!

Our loyal dog...

Our temporary home is beautiful , enchanting , old and very very cold. This home
is quite large as well. So large that the south side of the home we refer to as the guest wing.
This side we have closed off right now for winter. The only time we enter is to do laundry
and feed the pets. This area houses the formal dining room, large guest bath , two
bedrooms and the laundry room. It is really like another house. This home being
so old maybe around 100years old has no proper heating. What we are used to back
home as central heat... a lovely warm gas furnace! Here we only have a few electric baseboards
that cost a mere fortune to use. We are only using a bare minimum and shudder at the
thought of our next electric bill!

We have of course in this home fire alarms. One of the alarms is located in the dining
room. This area of the home is just if not colder than outside.

As you all know who have been following my blog we have a 4year old German Shepherd.
A beautiful highly intelligent beast who is faithful, loving and yes challenging at the best of
times. I have heard it said the more intelligent the dog the more challenging to train. Or better
yet the more they will test your leadership skills! Pilot does all that and more... but we love her
very much.

Around 3am yesterday Pilot came running up the stairs to our bedroom. Our bedroom is
located on the second floor on the North side of the home. You cannot hear anything from the
South side from up here. She immediately woke up my husband. He grumbled thinking
she needed to go outside.

He followed her down the stair case and immediately heard the alarm going off.
Thank heavens it was a false alarm. He figures the alarm was triggered from such cold
temperatures. But just the same we were so pleased with our Pilot alerting us to what
could have been a serious situation.

So today I want to say thank you Pilot girl ....we love you!
Wishing all of my American relatives (in Lewiston & Niagara Falls, NY) and blogging
friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Pamela xo

Christmas hearts

Hello everyone!

Today I am giving you a peek at some of my treasured ornaments.

I adore hearts and love the colour red. It must be the romantic in me. I have a beautiful

collection of red heart ornaments. These are hand made in Poland.

I just love them! Isn't the gold pretty on the ornament? So much fine detail...

Here's a real fancy dancy one....

Thought i would show you my red ruby velvet shoes from when i was a little girl...

my special Christmas shoes! I bring these out every year and place them under my

tree..

Have a wonderful weekend...thanks for visiting!

Pamela xo

Hi Everyone!

It is hard to believe but yes in no time at all Christmas will be upon us! My local jazz station

on the telly has already switched to Jazz Christmas music and it is still

November! Well I'm enjoying the carols and it has me

thinking about what type of tree to put up this year.

In our last home in Ontario we had two trees. Yes that's right two trees!

My husband calls me the Christmas lady. I love Christmas and I put up the

trees December 1st.

I had two trees because I had two themes going on.

Having a child changes alot of things. That includes the decorations and lights

on the trees. I like either all white lights or just red. My son hates white

lights and wants all coloured. The coloured lights really don't go with my

Victorian style tree. So that is how we ended up doing two trees.

Here is my formal tree with white lights....

Unfortunately these photos were taken before I became

a blogger so no close ups of my beautiful

ornaments...

The tree in the back is our folk art tree with
multi-coloured lights that make Sam very
happy. No close-ups either sadly.


This year is going to be a tough decision of which ornaments to use.
Will it be old fashioned Victorian tree or folk art multi coloured tree?
Sam said just this past weekend..."Mom don't go putting those
ugly white lights on the tree this year...I hate them!"

Okay Sam...sigh...but I think I just might compromise here
multi-coloured lights (shudder) on my pretty Victorian tree.

Until then I will ponder which ornaments to use and sit back
listening to the Christmas Carols!
Pamela xo

A lost art of sewing?

There are still alot of things I want to learn in this life time.



How to knit and sew are a couple of things. My mother-in-law

knits beautifully but she says she can't teach me because I'm left handed! I'm still

determined it can be done!



Starting next week Melissa of Pink Satin Sashes

(formerly of Cranberry Cottage) will be giving me sewing lessons! I can't wait to

learn how to properly use my sewing machine. There is so much toile material

calling out to me!



Another form of sewing I really want to learn that is quite an art is shown

here on this gorgeous piece of antique linen...



This piece of linen material is just incredible to touch. Thick and so luxurious!

On all corners of the fabric is a stencil just waiting to be sewn. Someone had

started a small section of it. Whoever started this piece was doing a beautiful job.

Can you see the thickness of the thread and the type of stitch that was used?

I have no idea how to do this and unfortunately I don't know of anyone who does.

There must be someone out there who knows how to do this type of stitch.

Until I find a way to have this piece finished I will safely store it away!
Pamela xo

Lest we forget

Lest we forget" Happy Remembrance Day Canada..

Hope you are all wearing your poppies...
in support of our fellow Veterans who fought for our freedom ...;.and in support of our Canadian
and American troops overseas.

But lastly let us bow our head in silence and thank God for our freedom
and for living in a country that embraces peace, equality, diversity and
love. A country that welcomes all religions and cultures.



Today I will proudly wear mine and stand in silence..

God Bless
Pamela xo

New table cloth for the fall

Now that fall is here it is a perfect time to put out my new french country tablecloth!

I love the warm yellow colour perfect for the darker days ahead.

There are also blues and touches of red in the cloth.

PLEASE ignore the horrid wall colour in the dining room that I did NOT PAINT.

The previous owner was mad about colour. There is sooo much vibrant colour in this

home . My husband calls it noise pollution. It is very stressful to have so much vibrant

colour in a home. I have not painted this room as it will take GALLONS to cover the orange

and it is a HUGE room!

Thanks for visiting !

Pamela xo

Where the pumpkins go!

Hello everyone! I want to thank all of you for all your get well comments and even from some

offers of homemade chicken soup! Thank you! I am still not 100% but hopefully will be

much better come the weekend.



Do you ever wonder where all the pumpkins go after Halloween? Well Ican tell

you where they go in this town. This is our first Halloween living in this little seaside

village. A village that apparently takes Halloween very seriously!! Wish I wasn't sick

so I could have strolled the neighbourhoods Halloween night!



The Monday after Halloween as I was driving my son to school we first saw this

carved pumpkin on the side of the road....

AS we kept driving more carved pumpkins where appearing at the side of the road....

They were lined up on the wall on both sides of the two way road!!

It is a busy road but very rural with lots of hills and on all of them more pumpkins

could be found!

Sam and I had the biggest laugh on the way to his school! I guess this is an annual

tradition in this town! All the pumpkins had the kids names on them too.

Isn't this adorable?I think the entire village had there pumpkins displayed here.

This is one of the mountain walking trails we pass everyday. People come here

with their dogs and horses to go hiking up Maple Mountain. So the pumpkins

where even lined up at the entrance.

This little seaside village has a real sense of community. I can't wait to see what

they do for Christmas!!

Hope you all enjoyed seeing where the pumpkins go!

Pamela xo

On the mend

(Photo courtesy of Belle Notte Linens)

I am slowly on the mend after taken ill early last Friday. Right now I wish my bed was
covered in these gorgeous Belle Notte Linens. I am sure I would feel better right away...
but then second thought I might just enjoy lingering a few more days in this bed!

This was the first Halloween I could not take my son trick or treating...but I did escort him

in full costume to his first Halloween dance....sick and all..but that's what moms do.

Hope to visit all of you soon and get caught up on my own little blog!

Pamela xo