The Forbidden Fruit

Another one of the things I enjoy about this time of year is the tasty pomegranate.  I just finished one off this afternoon - after it made a few appearances in some delicious baby spinach and mushroom salads with asian dresssing.

This week we are really busy with our company as just contracted two new clients, a nice way to finish off what had been a rather trying business year.  Hubby is flying out to New Brunswick on Wednesday to attend my Stepson's Canadian Armed Forces Graduation ceremony on Friday.  It takes 3 flights and a full day to get there - and it is only partway across Canada!  I shall hold down the fort here, taking care of puppy and catching up on work/decorating the house.

The exterior of the house is completely decorated for Christmas including lights on the house and wreath on the door.  I did manage to put up our small bedroom tree (one of two trees that used to decorate either side of our garage - until Alberta winds reduced one to pulp and damaged this one) and now have enough small vintage balls to cover it.  It is placed on a stand out of Buddy the dog's reach.  The true dog test will be when the big tree goes up.  Fortunately, he generally leaves our stuff alone but I will not be putting any valuable ornaments anywhere near his eyeball range.  I am also interested to see how he will react to presents under the tree - only time will tell.  There will definitely be no chocolate under the tree - just in case.

The big tree will be going up next week some time.  I filled out exactly one Christmas card yesterday- I believe in pacing myself :).  Next time I will make a spiced rum and coke as incentive to fill out more of them.  As long as I get my cards in the mail by December 14th to my American family that I rarely get to see they should get there according to Canada Post.  I have little faith in that deadline so am going to have them all ready to go by the 5th.  These cards were purchased for .99 cents after Christmas last year so the biggest expenditure on 10 Christmas cards is postage.  Worth it in my opinion as many of these older relatives are not on Facebook.

I have very few gifts to buy this year - the biggest job will be baking right before our trip to Alberta as we are giving the kids money and baked treats, both of which I am sure they will be happy to receive.  I am covering the adoption fee for a cat for my Mom since she lost her old cat this summer due to old age.  Yes, it won't be a surprise but it will be something she loves. We just have to find the right mid-age cat as she doesn't want a kitten.  Hubby is always the hardest to buy for as buys whatever he wants but he has given me a couple of ideas.

Our counter tops were installed and now we are in the process of picking out tile and getting a contractor for our large back splash job - 38 feet of it.  We did run into a bit of a snag in our bathrooms as our intended contractor does not wish to frame our mirrors as he is not certain he can do a job that we would be happy with.  We are trying to take standard builders grade plain mirrors that are glued to the wall and build frames around them to give them a bit more pizzazz.  I think we can do it ourselves with a bit of molding and a miter saw but hubby is not confident.  I think that will be a project in the new year and for now we will leave it alone.  In the States there are a couple of companies that you can order molding from for this specific purpose (mirrormate.com is one) but there are none in Canada. I am just so happy this reno is coming to a close.  Hopefully the tile will be installed by Christmas, if not early in the new year.  There always seems to be one more project though - will it ever end?

For all my American blogging friends - Happy Thanksgiving!