Good day, good evening, hello! It's Sunday morning and I'm
settling in for my weekly blog post. This post will feature
books at the beginning, but further down we'll get into cross
stitching, so if you're more interested in stitching then books
do feel free to scroll down a ways to that section. Note: I
think all pictures are clickable for closer looks. Here we go....

The library has been set up with the new book cases and the
books arranged as best I can manage. To start, the wall on
the right hand side of the room as you enter. The first three
sections are an older set of bookcases which holds fantasy
and science fiction. The lighter two sections after that
are new and hold more fantasy and biographies. The final
two sections way down at the end hold general fiction and
mysteries.


Close up of sections with fantasies, biographies, general
fiction and mysteries. Again, the lighter shelves are new.


Left hand wall as you enter the room. One bookcase at extreme
left hand edge of picture is mostly cut off but I couldn't help that.
In this section we added one more short bookcase, and added
extensions to all three short bookcases. That is to say, Ikea sells
a box shape which you can attach to the top of any of their book
cases to make the tops of them into another shelf. So a three
shelf bookcase becomes a four shelf bookcase. Am I explaining
okay??

This section holds paperbacks (bookcase partially hidden behind
lamp and chair) and my coffee table books about anything that
catches my interest, some childrens/teens books, and more paper
backs, and smaller books in general fiction and biography.


So here's a close up of the new book case and the extensions,
all lighter in colour to the older ones. And in case you're
wondering....I goofed and bought bookcases in the wrong
colour. What can I say??? I'm a idiot at times. And we
weren't about to turn around and drive an hour back to
Ikea to switch them, and then an hour home again. So
we have a multi coloured library. I can live with it. At
least you can see the extensions and get perhaps a
better idea of how they work then I can explain.


And this is the back wall with bookcases that I've had for
as long as we've lived here, and these books are all fiction.
As you can see by these pictures I now have a bit more
room to add books, which is a good thing because at least
four of my favourite authors have new books coming out
shortly. (Insert eye rolling here).

I'm very happy with the final layout and having the books
spread out a bit more, at least for the time being. Unfort-
unately since this is the basement of the house this room
does get quite cool during the winter. Someday we hope
to add an electric fireplace to help add warmth when I
want to sit here and read. It'll have to be built into the
ceiling I guess, since floor space is at a premium now,
or perhaps a fire pit in the centre of the room??? Right
now if I want to sit down there I carry the portable
heater down with me and set it at my feet while I'm
sitting reading.


Moving on....I have a couple of thank you's to add here.
Cindy and Maren, thank you so very much for nominating
me for the Friends award. I'm very touched and delighted
that you would think of me. There are so many incredible
bloggers out there, and I've made so many wonderful
friends in the past three years, it's hard to pick out just a
few to mention. If you visit here I am delighted you came,
if you leave a comment as well you make my day, if you
are a Chatty Cathy when you comment that's awesome!!!


Being on vacation this week I've been able to stitch a lot more
then normal, and I chose to concentrate my attentions on this
piece. November Window is getting pretty close to a finish now
and I couldn't be happier. I LOVE this design. I just have the
branches on the trees to backstitch on, and the verse to add, and
it'll be done. I decided to keep My Needle's Work as a travel
piece, even though it's getting pretty close to a finish. After a
weeks absence from it I'm looking forward to getting back to it
this week.


Ebay! Got two wins to show here. Firstly all the alphabet
series from Prairie Schooler in one win!! Oh my!! Pretty,
pretty, pretty. I wanna do that one, an' that one, an' that
one, an' that one too.....ohhhh, and that one!!!


The rest of the alphabet books, plus my second win. A Prairie
Year II!!! I've wanted this one for ages. Love all the designs
on it, but my favourite is the Bee Skep design. I've wanted to
stitch that for ages. And now I can.


Saw the new designs from Prairie Schooler, and I love April
the most. July is great too, but a little inappropriate for a
Canadian stitcher I guess. But April is so sweet and pretty,
(love the bunnies!!) so it'll go on my wish list. I borrowed
the above picture from Stitching Bit's and Bobs website.

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My week's vacation was blissful. I spent mornings cleaning
the house, and afternoons with needle and thread, music or
talk radio, and the cats. I also read a bit since my latest issue
of Victoria arrived in the mail and I love to settle down with
a cup of tea and this beautiful magazine and drift away in
it's pages.

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Was very sorry to read on another blog that Mary Engelbreit's
Home Companion is no longer publishing. I adore this
magazine and have been collecting it since it first came out.
I understand that they're looking for another publisher, but
who knows if that'll happen or not. I read that Country
Home magazine is gone too, and Country Living is teetering
on the edge.

I use to buy so many magazines years ago, including Country
Living and Country Home, but had to cut back due to expense
and space restrictions. I'm sadden to hear that these wonderful
magazines, who have given pleasure and inspiration to so many
people over the years, are not going to be around anymore.

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I had a huge and wonderful surprise thanks to Facebook last
week. I'm on Faceback as Judy Hattey-McClure, but I am
not an avid visitor there. I prefer spending my time blogging.
But the other day I got a message from a friend from high
school who'd just joined Facebook and was searching for
old friends there. I haven't spoken to or seen Neilina for 30
years, although I'd been keeping an eye out for her through
the internet and various sites. Yesterday I phoned her and
we spend two and a half hours on the phone catching up and
saying....remember when???? What a happy, happy
surprise this was. Thank you Facebook.

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I spent Monday visiting my Mom at the residence and we
had a lovely time. I took her my currant cross stitch projects
so she could see my progress on them, and we had a nice
lunch together in the dinning room, and we worked on a jigsaw
puzzle, along with her friend Flora. We are all jigsaw puzzle
fantatics. Mom is doing very well now and is so very happy
to be back home again.

On Thursday they had a mock wedding at the residence, with
one of the residents as the bride (wearing a donated wedding
gown) getting "married" to a member of the waiting staff. The
owner of the residence was the "minister" and staff and residents
alike all got dressed up for the occasion. Oh yes, and the guest of
honour was President and Mrs Obama, who were a great hit with
all concerned. A special, fancy dinner was prepared and an
entertainer was hired to come in and play piano and sing after-
words. Mom tells me that everyone had lots of fun, lots of
laughs and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Even the President
and First Lady, who looked very elegant in her evening gown.
(Juliet is a nurse at the residence and is very beautiful, in a
gown or in work cloths)

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Watched the visit of President Obama to Ottawa this week
too. Guess he stopped in there on his way to the "wedding"
here in Georgetown. Lol!!


No, we don't have a new cat. Phoebe wouldn't allow that. But
I do have an old and very dear friend who lives up the road from
us and he is the most affectionate guy you could ever meet. We
named him Smudge because of the smudge of black under his
nose, but I understand that his real name is Nosey.

Smudge is about 9 years old, and he loves people. If I pass his
house when coming home from work he walks me home and we
chat. He goes around the neighbourhood and "visits" people.
He's quite the Bon Vivant and I'm always delighted when he stops
by to say hello and get scratched. This is the first time I've been able
to take pictures of him and I had the dickens of a time doing it
because he would not hold still!! He was rolling around on the
ground, meowing and rubbing against my legs. I came in the
house covered in white fur. Phoebe was not amused.

I guess that I should end this epic post and get on with the last
day of my vacation (sniff...sobbbbb!!!). I'm going to do laundry
and stitch and this evening I'll watch a bit of the Academy Awards
just to see Hugh Jackman in a tux.....SIGH!!!


The snow was mostly gone at the beginning of last week
except for a few lingering, very sad looking mounds at the
end of the driveways. Then we had some snow on
Wednesday, and more during last night and this morning.
Only one more month until Spring arrives. Hurry...hurry!

Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping by and plowing
through this very verbose (long winded) post. Have a great
week.

Cheers!!!