BACK, RETIREDONE ~ glad you came back and remembered us over here. We used to heat with wood too; and I did many times even when I was single. Our last wood stove burned hot. We lived in a small cottage at the time and often I had to open our door to cool things down -- thankfully, we had a porch out there to stop the wind. Huh, huh ... been there, done that ... but now we have a gas forced air furnace; so my wood cutting, hauling, and filling days are o'er ... yahoo ...


AUNTY ~ ya, those were cold temps -- is the snow still there? Ours melted but we got a good dump all day yesterday but it is melting a bit as we speak; DH says it is heavy, wet, yucky snow.

This year, I am hanging lights just indoors around the windows so you can see them both inside & out, but we do have a Nativity Creche that we are putting on the front deck. There are some porch lights out there, so we'll put one of those on too (the one in front of the creche). You can see it during the day, and the one light should brighten it up for the night time.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping at all; but I do have some xtra gifts that I picked up at the boxing week sales last year, so I do have some little ones to start with at least. I was making up my list this past week; and having trouble thinking of gifts for my parents -- they have everything many times over ...

We are so blessed in this country -- I count my new PC as my gift to myself for my last birthday (Oct). I don't really need much myself; I really just want stuff for my house, so maybe I'll go that route. My sister says that she thinks my camera card needs formatting; and may be what is causing the lines, so I will check that out before I buy a new one.

DH just wants more tools -- he wants a small compressor that plugs in to regular hydro, so we'll see what we can find. No surprise for him there though; I can never surprise him becuz he's always there when I buy things for him anyways ...

Hope you are all having a great weekend; take care ...

Hey Fellow Canadians.. I haven't posted on this thread in ages, but glad to see familiar and new names.

Rosebud, great to see you starting this thread for fall. Fall was absolutely gorgeous in the Ottawa valley this year. I had a chance to do some hiking in the Gatineau hills and take in all the gorgeous colours. When I spent so many years teaching abroad, I always missed the fall/winter.
We had one snowfall , but it is all gone now. The 10+ weather has been great these last few days! I haven't started Xmas shopping either, rosebud. Don't feel behind.
I've been working slowly, but surely on losing weight and getting under that dreaded 200 mark. 86 pounds lost is amazing, Rosebud! Inspirational!

Raine, I love that pic! I may post one I took a month or so ago just to get more colour on the thread.

Welcome Retiredone!

AuntyJam, good to see you? How's the running going? And your dogs are well?

ttys

BACK to you too, JOJO ~ Ya, I think that fall is almost over really; but technically (according to the calendars), I think winter starts on or about December 21st. Here we have a little snow, and the temps are just below freezing today (-1 C).

WE still have lots of time to get a few gifts yet; will tackle that when I get to the stores, I think. We will be having friends over at Christmas (not sure how many yet though), but I think I'm gonna try to keep it simple this year, and make something not so traditional, since we just had turkey at Thanksgiving. I'm tossing around the idea of ribs & wings or a roast of some kind for this year; but I have lots of time to decide yet.

We put up some big red bows on our porch, and we have our large candles that will go on each side of the door, sor far. The tree is up here, but just have to decorate it yet (it already has the lights on it). Since it is only about 4-5' tall, we store it with the lights on; and we put it on a round pine table that DH made many years ago (that's what's really nice about having a big basement now).

THANKS, I'm still tackling the inches, sizes, and weight too; I have increased my toning exercises, esp with the winter on it's way, as I don't get out as much in the winter. Our new house is long so I walk back & forth several times a day; hope that helps a bit. I am doing my hand weights 3 times a week now that I found them again. I got lots of exercise packing, moving, and unpacking, and sorting over this summer & fall.

My eating is going really well this year; I seem to be in a good groove. I didn't buy any Halloween candy, so I didn't eat any. I am gonna use the same strategy at Christmas too; I don't bake a pile of stuff anymore (only a dessert for that day). I made a crustless pumpkin custard that DH says he likes just as well as the regular. Last year, I put out only few snacks like nuts, crackers, olives, cheezes, shortbread, etc. Most was eaten up; and the rest, we gave away. Plan to do a similar thing this year; as this helped me a lot.

Have a great day everyone ...

Hi Jo. Glad to meet you. We were in Ottawa the week before Thanksgiving. DS was one of the recipients of the Prime Ministers Award for Teaching Excellence. We really enjoyed the visit. We stayed at the Residence Inn Marriot on Laurier Avenue. We could walk almost everywhere we wanted to go.

Rosebud, DH does all the chopping and hauling of wood. We buy it already cut in furnace length pieces but it has to be stacked, split, etc. You know what I mean, for sure. Sometimes I help in the spring or fall but usually he does most of it. Our furnace is a wood/oil forced air but oil is so expensive we only use it if we will be out of town for more than a day.

I have about half the gifts bought. And like you, Rosebud, I cannot surprise DH with a gift. He usually brings me the Canadian Tire flyer and points out what he wants me to buy, sigh...

I usually don't put up the tree and decoration until mid December and I like to keep it up until January 6 which is called Old Christmas Day in Newfoundland. Getting DH to put lights up outside is a yearly chore. He keeps saying it's too early. One of these years he's going to skip it altogether, because he'll be so late getting them up. We only put a string of lights around the front and back decks. You'd think it was an all day procedure. lol.

Today our weather was very nice. Tomorrow should be a warm and balmy 10 degrees. Monday it snowed and turned to rain and last week it seldom got above 0. I'll take the double digits any day.

Take care.

HI ISABELLA ~ wow, that trip to Ottawa sounded like fun; congrats to your DS winning that teacher's award too. DH seems very eager for Christmas this year; he's been hauling stuff upstairs all week. He repaired & stained the Nativity Creche on the weekend too. Yes, he likes to get out the Canadian Tire flyers; and he's always showing me stuff in them too. I think he wants to make sure he gets something he really wants ...

DH set the tree up (it's fake, but people think it's a real pine); and I put the lovely skirt around it. We got the lights going, then DH started fooling around with the fuse box and blew one set out, so tomorrow we are gonna have to spend some time finding some burnt fuses and the burnt bulb in that section: fun, fun, fun ...

THe temps dropped a bit today, but we had some lovely for most of the day, and that was really nice. Resting my feet tonight as I was on them a lot today. Have a great week everyone ...

Rosebud, we have a fake tree, too. I'd never go back to a real one with all the needles falling by the end of the Christmas season. I love the thought and the smell of a real one but, no...

Rosebud: Congrats on the new house and the move! Sounds like nice decorating that you are doing around the house. My tree is about that size, maybe smaller. I'll put that up this Sunday. I'm also going to my parents to help them put the tree up which is always so fun. My niece lives with my mom and we are tight (age 9). That's good that you have cut down on the unhealthy stuff and are eating better snacks. It is hard around Xmas to stay away from all the good stuff..hehe. I need to really watch this year what I eat as I have too many goals to reach. Did you get anymore snow yet? We have none here.

Isabella: What an honour that your husband received from one teacher to another. The residence Inn Marriott is a great place to stay.
It seems like you are getting the weather we had last week (above normal). It is getting closer to freezing now. Decorating is so much fun. I like to put my tree up soon and take it all come early January.

Jo, it was my son who received the award, but it was still a great honour. Thank you.

HEY ... well, we had some ***** fall over the weekend; lots of big, fluffy flakes and the trees were covered, but it kinda looks nice really. They still look like big, white Christmas trees out there, with the wet snow that froze to their limbs. It was a lot of shovelling for DH, but a nice, young fella around the corner, came over and pushed away all the big mounds at the end of the laneway for him (GOD bless him).

Another neighbour helped him bring up the Nativity Creche to the front porch on Saturday, so that's all set up now too. Turns out the lights on the tree were not blown after all, they just got loosened a bit with the power surge. Phewee ...

Now, I just want to get the mini-lights around the windows; that should look nice, I think. We have to take DH to the docs tomorrow and may get a bit more shopping in, if we have time. I did manage to buy some gifts last Friday when we went up town; so I'm almost there (just a few more left to do yet). DH just found my box of Christmas Cards, so I may get to send some out this year after all.

Just did light house chores and laundry today. I had steak and mushroom-veggie medley for dinner tonight -- I made DH a pork chop with his tators & veggies, which he prefers over steak. Managed to make it all in one skillet too ...

Have a wonderful week everyone, and keep warm out there ... Rosebud ...

Well, we have a little more ***** ... not a whole lot, but the trees are still nicely decorated with the fluffy stuff. We have some lights up here in my haven window; looks very pretty. The neighbours are following suit ...

The temps are bit warmer so far this week; gotta take advantage as they are predicting they plummet on the weekend, but I am trusting that they will be mistaken once again ...

Had homemade soup for dinner tonight; vegetable with dumplings ... yum.

Time to go put my legs up and do some puzzles and reading; maybe a nice Christmas novel ... yes, that sounds good!

Have a great week everyone; and keep warm ...