Wake me up in an hour...

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday! Whoa...does that huge turkey dinner make you sleepy or what? John had the day off today. Sometimes the best intentions of things we want to accomplish get pushed to the side by the call of the bed and the TV clicker.

He: "Cathy... Look...there's a Mork and Mindy marathon on the Sci Fi channel."
Me: "Oh, cool, I used to love that show."
He: "I know, I've seen your Mork doll in the garage."

(A few moments later)
He: "Wake me up in an hour, OK?"
Me: (yawning) "Sure, no problem. (yawning again) In an hour, OK."

Two hours later, I woke up covered in wee beasties. Most get up when one of us leaves the bed, but there's always a die hard who waits for the last person to get up.


As I watched some of those TV commercials for stores that opened as early as 4:AM today for early shoppers, I think that there would be a snowball's chance in hell of me getting up to shop that early. (wake up like a crazy person to go to a dog show at 4:AM and, oh yeah, I'm right there, but shopping, fuggedaboutit....) Maybe after a grande Starbucks. Maybe. I feel really bad for the sales people who had to be at work that early today. I am glad today 'officially' starts the Christmas holiday though. I do love the whole Advent and Christmas season and everything about it and I tend to start celebrating a bit earlier than most. Did you watch any of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? I'm sure all of the Hannah Montana fans were watching for Miley Cyrus on her Bolt float. I'm not sure which float was my favorite, there were so many really cute ones. I did really like Idina Menzel's float (and her song!) it had the M & M's dressed as Broadway characters. The green M & M dressed as Elphaba in Wicked was really cute. OH! And the new Smurf balloon! How Smurfy is that? So cute. I really liked the Sesame Street float, and the one with Kermit the Frog, too. And the Rockettes, you've got to love them. I marvel at how they are never out of sync. Incredible. Of course, anyone from New York (or anyone who loves Miracle on 34th Street) knows that as soon as Santa comes by at the end of the parade, the Christmas season has officially begun. At least now since it is 'official,' I don't have to hide my Christmas CD's that are in my car. I can eat my Pepperidge Farm gingerbread cookies and pfeffernusse cookies in public and with reckless abandon, and I don't need to think of an excuse as to why Prancer or The Grinch or Rudolph or Christmas in Connecticut or any other Christmas movie is on my DVD player when someone pops in. Huzzah! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! Ding Dong Merrily On High! Let the season begin!

Well, as soon as I wake up the Mister, that is......

xo xo -CS ^..^

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a blessed and happy Thanksgiving! xo xo

It is raining Cats and Corgis outside...

Good morning my lovelies. I'm back from a weekend of dog shows, the Thanksgiving cluster in W. Springfield, MA held at the Big E. It is usually held the day after Thanksgiving, but for some reason it was the week before which is fine with me. It was less hectic than trying to get it together right after the holiday. Well, it should have been. Mary Elizabeth and I tried to leave 'early' on Thursday, but she had electric problems and I had plumbing problems so we left just in time to hit rush hour. Neither of us had breakfast or lunch. Half-way there we realized how hungry we were but didn't want to stop till we got there. Luckily I had two candy canes in my tack box which we dubbed 'hors d'oeurves.' What a cold weekend in Massachusetts! Saturday night was Mayflower Corgi Club's Christmas dinner and meeting. Dinner was held at the very nice historic Storrowton Tavern and Carriage House. It was so cold that we went in the first door we saw nearest the parking area. We found a few friends who had done the same and were warming themselves by the fire. This warm coziness was short-lived however because we soon realized we were in the wrong building and had to go outside to get to the right one.

The nice thing about having our meeting at Storrowton is that it is right on the grounds of the Exhibition center and if anyone is still running in agility, they can hop right over to the restaurant when they are through. Mary Elizabeth had Feisty, her Border Collie entered and also had to stay in the agility building for a meeting of the newly formed Nutmeg Border Collie Club. I brought some stitching with me to do while they blathered on. None of our dogs did too well this weekend. Knocked bars, missed weaves, 1st, 2nd and 3rd placements in conformation (no points) but it was still fun to see friends before the holidays. When I got home, the Mister was cooking dinner and the house was clean (thank you, kids!) Today it is pouring rain. I think I will bake something and start looking for our Christmas decorations. What are you up to today? -CS ^..^

Meet John-John

He's a new Original Christmas Corgi Art doll ornament. He is completely hand made from my original pattern. Approximately 6" from the tip of his paws to the tip of his ears, he is full of Corgi cuteness. Click the eBay link to see this new listing which ends on Monday, Nov. 24, approx. 9:30 PM EST.

Happy Monday, my lovelies! xo -CS ^..^

Once more with feeling please.....

Is it me? Is it just me? You know those verification letters you have to type before your blog post comment gets posted? Those 'please type these letters as you see them' whatchamacallits? Are they getting freakier, swirlier, more smooshed together? I know that blogger, typepad, etc. are trying to protect us from spammers' comments on our blogs, but wouldn't it be great if there were a feature that let you release regular reader friends from this torture? If any of the powers that be are reading this, I hereby charge you with this task. I'm just sayin'.......
^..^ CS


**p.s. I'm releasing you all, my lovely readers, from this time-wasting verification procedure on this blog. There. I've turned it off. We'll see how it goes. Spammers, beware. Don't mess with me or my peeps or I'll send a posse of tracking Corgis to find you on a day when you are wearing a dark suit and let them shed all over you. Twice.



(thank you!)

Veterans....we salute you!

Today in America we celebrate Veterans Day. It is a day to honor those who have served and are serving in the military today. So, from all of us here, a big heartfelt THANK YOU!!! Because of you and your service we are free and safe and able to enjoy our freedoms in the greatest country in the world.

My husband is an army veteran. So, to honor the Mister, I made homemade pizza (he loves) and salad for dinner. I think I got a bit carried away..... CS ^..^

One of those days....

You know those days. We all have them. Those days when you should have stayed in bed if only the Corgis would let you? I'm talking about the days when the best laid plans of mice and men just go by the wayside...those days. This morning I picked up my mom and had plans of doing tons of creative things. No sooner did we arrive at home when the power went out. Again. Sigh. I called the power company and they said that about 1500 homes in the area were without power. In order to get any type of cell phone service I have to drive about 4 miles up the road. You know 'the spot' instantly because lots of cars have pulled over there. 3:00 ish was the estimated time for power to go back on. Everyone was hungry so we got into the car and decided to find a little place to get a bite to eat. Driving through New Canaan, I spotted a big black dog in the middle of the road. He had obviously escaped from his house because he was wearing an invisible fencing collar. Sometimes a dog will not mind the 'shock' to escape or run after a squirrel, etc. but won't risk it to get back in. Personally, I do not like invisible fence but it is better than no fence, I suppose. He was obviously friendly, trying to get the men in their passing trucks to stop and visit with him. I know it was lunch hour, but I couldn't believe that not one of those men stopped to try and help this dog. We all know better than to approach a strange dog but believe me, this dog was wagging his tail and very sweet. Since I always have a leash or crate in my car, I stopped traffic with my car so no one could get by before I had him by the collar. I was a bit worried because you never know if he was injured or would bite because he was nervous. He was fine. A very big black Labrador Retriever. Not a young dog, he had some grey whiskers on his chin and the eyes of an old soul. He wore a tag. His name was Bear. I called his phone number and left a message on the machine. His address was on the tag so I put Bear into the 'way back' of my car and drove to his house. Did I mention it was raining, he was soaked to the skin and I had a new bag of chicken feed and a stack of new fluffy white towels back there? Lets just say, neither one fared well after Bear got comfortable back there. Finally, a woman stopped and asked if I was broken down. She said she knew someone who knew the people who lived in Bear's house and called her from her cell phone. The woman had the same number as was on Bear's tag. Then she had the brilliant idea (the kind of idea that only a mother could come up with!) to call the school where she knew their child attended as they would probably have an emergency cell phone number. Ta da! Within 1/2 hour of the call, a very grateful man came home to take Bear inside. Hopefully he won't notice the red bits of Twizzlers (the only treats left in my car from Halloween) in Bear's teeth. By the size of Bear, I have a feeling the Twizzlers weren't the first snack he has ever had. By the time I got back, it was too dark inside to do anything really. When it rains here, it is very dark in my house so finishing my paintings was out. Went to Starbucks and just as we got home, the power went on. My email box was full...sorry if you tried to send me a note. Anyway, the power is on, the house is warm, Bear is where Bear should be, all is right again. For now 'anyways'....... CS ^..^

A bye bye and a black out...

Today I had planned to cook spaghetti and meatballs and make an apple pie for dessert. I've been wanting to try this recipe from Alicia over at Posie Gets Cozy as it is very different from my regular recipe. My plan was to make the pie first, then start cooking dinner. No sooner did I finish preparing the pie then the power went out. Here's a photo of the pie before it went into the oven.

My husband and son took a ride up the road to see what happened. A tree had fallen on the electric wires. The power company gave an estimate of a 'few' hours to get the tree up and the power back on. Everything here is hooked up to electricity so the pie baking would have to wait. After peeling all of those apples, I saw a lone orange that should have been eaten days ago, so I made the first orange and clove studded pomander of the season. I love to put them around through Thanksgiving with bowls of nuts and little pumpkins. After Thanksgiving, I switch out the pumpkins and replace them with bowls of juicy Clementines through Christmas and the New Year.

After the clove business, I decided to take down those Halloween decorations. I feel like October just flew by! I even forgot to show you Bailey on her 12th birthday. Doesn't she look cute? I know, fuzzy photo, but she still is a cutie pie. My husband and daughter wanted a Carvel ice cream cake that day so that's what we had. And yes, the Corgis had a piece. Her cake said, "Happy Birthday B" as that's what John calls her.

What can I tell you about these Halloween photos? Well, you can see how much Liam enjoyed dressing up in his lion costume. (!) Renee dressed him in this adorable snuggly suit to keep him warm for trick or treating. I love to decorate with black crows and ravens in October. They were in wreaths, on the mirror with the black leaf garland, even in the bathroom! I also like putting tiny not too spooky touches here and there, like putting a mask on the little Welcome Corgi sign that Mary Elizabeth gave me for Christmas years ago painted by Nancy Oelhof. The Sleepy Hollow Road sign was going to be tossed when the town it came from was replacing the old street signs with new reflective ones. Since John and I were married in Sleepy Hollow, I couldn't resist. The Wizard of Oz Wicked Witch of the West is a porcelain doll from the Franklin Mint. The little mouse silhouettes on my steps are from Martha Stewart at Michaels. They were really fun this year.

The little Corgi wizard is from Barbie Sonnett. The cut wool owl you may remember from this post last year after visiting Tasha Tudor's garden with my kindred spirit friends. All of the Halloween decorations are officially down. So bye bye October! Welcome November! Oh! And the power came back on right after I was done putting everything away. Just in time to cook dinner and bake the pie which, by the way, was delicious!-CS ^..^
p.s. I also worked on something else, an adorable Corgi Christmas ornament which I will show you on Thursday! Sooooooo cute!