Mummas Christmas.

I have been working away crazy on this bad boy for my momma for Christmas. She had told me how my grandmother and gone over to my mums house and she had this HUGE infinity scarf and she was SO jealous of it. So I trekked over to Michaels and I napped this awesome yarn. 

Just to give you an Idea on how truly long this guy is! Soo long but I love it. 

I made it long enough so that you can loop it up twice and it will be super duper chunky.

I REALLY actually want to keep this so badly but I don't want to make another one so close to Christmas. 

I love how chunky this is so nice!

And here we are getting all wrapped up in  a Christmas box for mum and dad. 

Christmas Ornaments

I actually found these ornaments with a how to on pinterest. Glitter Balls

These are the supplies you will need, I looked all over the isle for the one in the first tutorial but I had no luck, but thankfully this floor polish was practically the exactly the same. 

You want to squirt a bit of the polish into the ball then let it drain out., usually the bubbles will come out if you let it drain them out but if you don't feel like holding the ball upside down for longer than a couple of seconds, just swab them up with a qtip.

I then took an envelope and took a quick little snip off the bottom so it would be just big enough for the glitter not to spill everywhere. So I popped the top off the glitter and dumped some into the ball. I did a little swirl around and then dumped the rest out. I loved watching the glitter swirl around and coat the ball.

How awesome and simple is that!? Then all you need to do is pop the little tops back on!

I absolutely love these!!

Hair Practical Exam

Weeellll, personally I feel like I flunked the exam but my mum, my grandma, and the hubbs thinks I did just fine and that I passed. As I was walking out of the exam room I just had this sinking feeling in my stomach. I mean My men's taper looked like the picture they had sent me from the government, the perm looked pretty decent except for the one or two on the left side, the color demonstration went fine, the layered haircut went fine, but then the last part of the exam was catastrophic! I mean we were told to do a wet set of rollers and pin curls, I was the ONLY one who practically did a whole head of pin curls and everyone else did practically a whole head of rollers. Plus one of the markers pushed my hood dryer down lower on my model, smooshing my pin curls and making the front roller practically fall out, I know that they looked at my set and thought it looked like a joke and I thought that it looked like a joke in the end there. SO I suppose that only time will tell if I get my license or not hopefully only the 10 days it usually takes to get the results instead of the 30 days it can take! I feel like biting my nails and I am NOT a nail biter!

A New Crochet Project

I decided that I had wanted to step away from the scarves that I have been working on for the last month, and I had found a pattern for a slouchy beanie. So I would have to learn to 

a) double crochet 

&

b) crochet in a round

NOW, let's just say that after about 15 attempts I did get a little frustrated since I did not want to pull it all apart yet again, I started feeling a little disheartened. 

This was my first attempt.

My second attempt

My third attempt.

Although my third attempt is not looking all that pointy, as I started getting longer and longer in the rows, it started to look like a tepee! Oh well I think I just need some more practice!

A Snow Storm and a Weeks Catch Up

Sorry that I have been MIA for the last week? I've been so stupidly busy, I've been prepping for my exam which will be on Monday, I've been crocheting and we got a complete dump of snow on us which was a foot in a day! The roads were so bad I actually called my father to drive me to work on Friday. Since 20km/h was too much for my little Mazda3 in ice ruts. 

This little girl got spayed on Wednesday.

I've been pumping up my workouts, and well this happened today at the gym. 

I came home last night and found this gem in the hallway.

I also wrapped some presents for Christmas!

I will try not to be such a stranger from now on!

Sickos

We are SICK in this house right now, the kit kats are sneezing like mad, Mathew has the flu, and I have a mean, mean head cold. It was a good coincidence that I got sick yesterday because 3 months ago I called my doctors office for a physical. Well I showed up, and my doctor saw me in the hallway and laughed, she said what good timing you have Leanne! Well thank you. 

Wah wah wahhh. 

I've been downing liquids like there has been no tomorrow, and yet I am still SO dehydrated. It stinks. 

I also had an appointment for my tattoo touch-up, but I am seriously contemplating breaking up with him, since he is always such an ass to me and everyone else. He didn't want to do my 5 minute touchup because it's free... well hello I am sorry that I can see my skin through the blue! 

Also, I stink at getting blood tests. I mean I have passed out before, tattoos are SUPER fine, but blood tests, nope nope nope! Keep me out of that crap, I cannot handle it. I used to only need one vial taken but now I need THREE. It's horrific for me, but I figured if I had my tattoo done today I can get my blood drawn today. I am certainly feeling it today though. My arm is sooo soo sore, the girl was such a sweetheart though, she told me she saw me getting pale so drew the blood as fast as she possibly could. Then grabbed me juice and a cold compress. I'm a sissy on so many levels.

I also have a confession to make, we put our Christmas tree up... on October 27th. I know what a lot of people are thinking about that, it is disrespectful but in all honesty, it is jammed in a corner where only we can see the tree and none of the construction workers can look up and see, and we certainly did not get any trick or treaters with living in an apartment condominium.

This little munchkins going to be a cone head as of tomorrow. 

Ridonkulously Excited

I am so redonkulously excited, my ring came in from getting sized yesterday and I have not wanted to take it off since. It fits perfect at the moment but I did notice when I went for a run my fingers do get super duper swollen, and then when I walk into the snow it feels a little looser. I guess I never really realized how much your fingers fluctuate from the weather.

Yes, I painted my nails in preparation for this photo!

We also went to visit our favorite little shop owner here in Edmonton, Gayle from the Wishlist and we got a tree topper for our purple tinsel tree. It was 50% off of 100$ and it is NOT Christmas at ALL but we are quite Gothic, and our house reflects that A LOT. Our tree topper is actually Halloween not a Christmas angel.

A skeleton bride, she's perfect for us. 

I also decided to dress in some of the comfiest clothes I had today because I needed to run to get stuff for my practical exam on the 19th, and I ended up looking more like a lumberjack than anything else. 

Well now, where to start, I have been super stressed out for November coming up!

This wee munchkin is getting spayed :( I always cry!

I also have my practical exam! Yikes! I am so worried about not passing my exam!

This was my first perm wrap in over a year! My mom lovingly agreed to get a perm for me for my exam. She is so awesome for giving up her hair for her daughter!

I also made this scrumptious roast the other evening for the hubbs and myself, used some yummy LeGrille spices and some water for the gravy, oh man it was yummy and it would just fall apart I could hardly pull it out of the slow cooker after 6 hours.

ALSO, one more thing, did anyone catch the show Mockingbird Lane last night? Awesome show, it's a spin off from the show The Munsters from the 60's. This show absolutely falls into the category of our year round Halloween home!

Stranded

Have you ever gone somewhere and maybe needed to borrow a family members car? I did, today actually. I REALLY needed to get my tires changed before the upcoming winter season. we have had a few small snow falls so far, but nothing has really stayed.The only thing is that it is starting to get chilly and there's no sign of +10 degree weather anytime soon! So I knew it was time, and Mathew also just put me on his STELLAR Union benefits plan(I haven't had an eye exam in 2 years and the plan covers it!). So I set off to my parents house since my dad has my winter tires lovingly stored for me and I set off to the eye doctor. I was so pleased to hear that there was only a slight difference in my eye sight and my stronger eye was catching up to my weaker eye! They took these super cool photos of the INSIDE of my eye, hello how cool is that? 

I love being called Miss, since I'm not married it makes me feel like a saint. 

Once all was said and done, and I had my new prescription I moseyed along to my parents van, I mean it is not one of the nice mini vans that have DVD players in the head rest, it is a mean old CUBE safari mini van being held together with DUCT TAPE! I climbed on into the beast, popped the key in the ignition, and nope it would not turn. I tried every little trick i could think of, turning the key backwards, locking my seat belt, locked the door, unlocked the door, locked the steering wheel and so on. NOTHING worked! Finally as I was about to walk across the city it turned on. I was crying by this point, I had called my father on his cell phone, home phone, called my grandparents, and finally left my father a nasty text since it was -4 degrees outside and snowing! 

Once I got back to my parents house the mail man had delivered a package to them that had my name on it, sometimes if I know there will be duties of sent my courier I will get it sent to my parents house to sign off on, as my last name is not on the intercom at our condo and I usually need to drive about 30 minutes to go pick packages up! 

Mathews phone has been dieing quickly at work and with the cold weather coming the batteries will be draining quicker so I bought him this little guy which is an external battery source! I bought this an 3 colored charging cords from Ever Buying. This site is AWESOME, if you do not mind having Apple phone charger knock offs. I was reading the back and it says Abble instead of Apple (the cords are longer which is awesome) 

I will be leaving you with some super cute kitty love. 

Hectic Week

This last week has been a little chaotic for us, on Tuesday I had gone out on my day off work to get my shears sharpened for the next day. When I got to the sharpening shop(which is a 20 minute drive from my home) they told me I got in behind a big order! I had to wait for an hour and a half, and when you do the math, I REALLY do not want to drive home and then drive back! I decided it really needed to be done and I guessed that I could mosey along in that part of the city. I went to the fabric shop because last year for Christmas we didn't have stockings in the house! It was our first Christmas in our home and we took a lot of hand me downs from Mathews mom but we still didn't have absolutely EVERYTHING. I had bought a pattern on sale for 2$ and I got a really good deal on last Christmas' fabric. After being in the fabric store for 40 minutes, I still needed to kill some more time and found my way at a biker shop, I wish I grabbed a photo of the outside of the shop because they have a GIANT cowboy boot! The owner is a really sweet guy and I got the hubbs a Sons Of Anarchy leather jacket (it was on sale for 300$! Holy smokes so expensive!)

Only problem with the pattern was that you were actually supposed to sew ALONG those funky lines and not turn it inside out... our stockings and pint sized! 

Elvira hides away from the vacuum cleaner, she is terrified of it but too big to hide behind the bed. 

Mathew also caught these darlings napping together!

Crockpot Honey Chicken

This week was the first time I actually pulled out my slow cooker to experiment with recipes, Mathew bought me a pretty stellar Damask Crockpot 2 weeks ago and I didn't know where to start! 

First I tried a butter chicken, but I really didn't dig it too much, Matt loved it but I wasn't a fan! So for dinner tonight, I found this STELLAR recipe. 

Honey Chicken

What I used was; 

3 chicken breasts

small onion

3 cloves garlic

1 cup honey

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

2Tbsp oil

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

I really recommend cooking the onions before you put them in the slow cooker, even if you don't feel like frying them, throw them in the microwave for 5 minutes with some butter, drain the butter once cooked, and pop them in the slow cooker. 

I cooked this for 4 hours, the chicken was still nice and moist, and then I added a 1/3 cup of water and 4 tablespoons of flour for the sauce. 

This one was mine!

Absolutely DELICIOUS!!

Christmas has come early!

Well after my little laptop accident, I was pretty persistent about using that laptop still(that was a bad idea, the whole screen ended up splintering off with hot pink and lime lines. SO, Mathew looked at me, told me to quit complaining and he drove me to walmart behind our home to look at new ones. I had really wanted to buy a macbook, but in all reality for what I use my laptop for I don't need to spend that much money on a computer! So I picked out a laptop and now I am back! Hooray! I'm so excited to have my life back! 

That really is not the Christmas part though, Mathew is REALLY bad, and I mean REALLY bad at keeping secrets. I've already gotten two Christmas presents from him and it is October for pete sake! 

These little cuties for my stretched ears!

Plus he bought me this GORGEOUS promise ring!

Technically it is a anniversary band because he didn't like any of the other promise rings. He said 'they look like something a 14 year old would get from her prom date'. I am so in love with this ring, we counted and there are 60 diamonds in it! HOLY SMOKES! I'm so so giddy, I am just getting it sized up. Since Mathew and I met, I gained a lot of weight(which I am currently trying to lose at the moment) so my fingers are suffering from the weight gain!

I'm so smitten!

Welllll...

Although I just started this blog, I may quite possibly be MIA for a week or two, I went to check my e-mail this morning on my computer and CRACK! There goes my lap top screen! It looks like I am in the market for a new computer. Sure I can still see this as I type this, but it will be driving me bonkers!

Wah Wah Wahhh! 

I honestly am going nuts right now, there are about 10 pink and lime green lines across the screen!

Did I mention it snowed yesterday in Edmonton? 

Yes, I live on a current construction site of a condo complex. 

My Pinsperation; crochet cowl

This was definitely my inspiration! I have been addicted to Pintrest since I got the app on my iphone  plus it is super slow at work lately! When I was growing up I longed to be able to crochet but ever time I would attempt to learn I would get angry and frustrated and throw the biggest fit of life! Growing up, I just could NOT crochet. I set out to Michaels and I grabbed my essentials, a  number 9 needle and some yarn. 

I ended up using one and a half skeins.

Plus I had my two little helpers.

I was so determined to be able to crochet that I set out to google for a little play by play and it was not easy to learn a basic stitch! But after making the scarf three times, and pulling it apart, I was finally satisfied enough with the tension (not perfect but my first time crocheting!)

This website was my saving grace!.

My final results! I am VERY proud of myself that I got anything done at all with a needle and some yarn! 

AMAZING hubby

I have been bugging Mathew for a crock pot for AGES now, okay almost a year. I had wanted one so badly that it was my number one thing on my Christmas list this year. I came home from a late night at work to find the most amazing gift from him! (Drum roll please...)

A black and white damask crock pot!

I was SO excited! I am a huge sucker for damask! Last year my whole Christmas theme was black and grey glitter damask (glitter is not tape friendly unless packing tape!) My wheels are just spinning thinking about what I should cook first. While growing up my parents never had a crock pot, or if they did they never utilized it. What should I start with first? Chicken? Roast? Stew? Curry? The possibilities are endless!

Pet Peeves & A Better Day

My biggest pet peeves are;

- rude people in service positions

- people who cannot drive

- nagging

- rude people in GENERAL

I will be completely honest, I am actually one of those rude people that I HATE! Although, recently I have been starting to make a conscious effort to be nice, and polite, and keep my lips zipped when I really need to. As a hairdresser, and working with public endlessly I know the consequences of being rude to people (I was laid off within 10 days of my second hair salon). Today started off as a lazy day since I have the day off today, I had decided I was going to go for a run ( I beat my personal best time running!!), then I was going to go on a petrol run before the long weekend! ( I hate the gas  prices going up!) Then I was going to go into the tattoo and piercing shop that I go to. I  had a silly little 20gauge hoop in my nose and it was so flimsy that it ended up ripping open a few times! I decided to go to the shop and get my nose stretched back out and get a tattoo touch up booked in. The guy was such a sweet heart that changed my nose stud, and I got my tattoo artist to check out how much work needed to be done in a touch up. I mean, I am a pretty dang good customer, I've tipped this guy 200$ for the 5 hours tattoo, and he said he didn't want to do the touch up! I'm sorry that you're not going to be making any money off of the touch up but in all honesty, it is literally a 10 minute job! I was actually quite upset that I almost wanted to call and complain, but then I sure wouldn't get my little touch up done! Time to go back to the drawing board for a new artist i suppose! 

These are a few things that cheered me up today;

My peanut loves her some yogurt!

She also LOVES the water droplets from the shower.

Mr Edgar cuddled me all day today, so sweet. 

Oh and this song; 

The Lake

When my great grandfather passed away, my mom had a falling out with her father over the family cottage. She was so upset that she decided when I was about 6 years old that we would no longer be going out to the cottage. Now, 13 years later, I decided it was time to pick my own battles and do what I want to do without worrying what my mom would think. So we packed up the car for a day trip and made the hour and a half trek to the cottage. Personally I get very aggravated  when I have absolutely no clue where I am driving and am not getting much help from Mathew while we are driving. My grandmother had text me the directions and Mathew continued to second guess them! He would say Leanne I think we should have taken that overpass! Well Mathew the sign says to continue driving until we see the sign for the turn off!! We finally pulled up and I had a rush of memories. 

The view from the deck

Of course my grandfather had decided to make a few changes, and he told us some funny stories about my great grandmother, apparently about 30 years ago, my great grandmother had told my grandfather to plant 4 trees, and she told him EXACTLY where to plant them, two were on there property line, and two were on the neighbors, when the cottage was built, the built it 10 feet onto the neighbors property line! I see my great grandparents were very conniving! 

Mathew catering to my young cousins every need. 

Once we got to the cottage, my grandmother loaded us all into her SUV and we drove down the road to Pembina river. Apparently I was there when I was young, but it's not like I can remember very well. 

Mathew choosing rocks to skip.

When we got to Pembina river, we went down to the water and Mathew dazzled me with his rock skipping abilities! I absolutely cannot skip rocks to save my life, but apparently when he was growing up in the river valley he would skip coal across the North Saskatchewan River. 

He's actually taller than me!