Rough #Ocean Views, #Crafting, And Starting To Think About #Christmas

Her ideal was a wild and lonely sea coast. No matter if the winter gales sent waves beating against her walls, flinging stones at her windows and over her roof; warm and snug inside, she was perfectly happy and loved it there.
~C.R. Milne

It's been a stormy sort of week. I love listening to the storms, and to the rough ocean.

Speaking of the rough ocean: here are some photos of it. The three photos I'm about to share with you were taken on the morning of November 9th, when the ocean was sort of rough, though not at its roughest. It's been worse than this.

Even at that point it was quite a blustery day , and a bit of a drizzly one too. At least, we got a bit damp when we went for our walk, and poor Lilie came close to being blown off her paws at one point. I bet she felt just like Piglet from Winnie The Pooh at that moment, though at least she was already tethered to something solid, since Kelly had hold of the other end of her lead. She certainly made me think of him anyhow. As I said, it got worse later, eventually becoming one of the storms we've had over the past week.

I heard some idiots deciding to still do their firework displays in that weather. Even I think that's stupid, and I'm a big fan of fireworks. Luckily, there was enough rain that any potential issues from the wind were prevented. But still. Like I said... Idiots! If you want to have your own firework display. Fine. But at least do it when weather conditions are appropriate, and not in the middle of a storm. Fireworks are dangerous enough without adding those extra risks.

Anyway, on a more cheerful note, did you know: it's six weeks to Christmas Day today.

Yes. Really.

Hmmm... Maybe that's not more cheerful to some of you? I like Christmas though, so it is to me.

So... Have you started making holiday plans? If not, when will you start? If you have, how are those plans going so far?

I've started figuring out what I'm getting for who, but that's as far as I've managed to get with my plans so far. Not that there's much to do beyond that, apart from putting up the decorations. Oh, and buying a Christmas tree. Got to do that at some point. But I already decided those things will happen in December. We don't decorate until December anyhow, so there's no point me worrying too much about getting a tree before that either, even though Mini Mr. Pumpkin-Head had to go, so the only Halloween themed thing still up is my sugarskull, who's still happily grinning at us whenever we go in the living room.

What I have done though is unpacked my every day ornaments. The ones that are supposed to be on display in the living room. My ornamental Westies, and things like that. They're now unpacked, and on display like they're meant to be. That's one more box unpacked, and its contents organized. We're getting there. Could do with more shelves to sort most of the rest though. It will probably wait until the new year now.

In other news:

I've canceled my subscription to the Mister Maker boxes. I subscribed, despite them being aimed at children, thinking they'd be easy and accessable crafts, which they are. However, they're a little more simple than I'd hoped. I even tried increasing the age the site had me listed as (they make you add a child's age when you sign up) and that didn't make any difference that I could see. For a child, especially one who's a fan of Mr. Maker, they're great little kits. For an older crafter just looking for easy and accessable crafts... Not so much. So, I'm stopping them. Not because they aren't good kits, but because they aren't for me. Basically, you really do need to be in the recommended age group for these boxes - which is three to eight years old - to fully enjoy them. At least, that's how it seems to me. Older crafters could potentially enjoy them. But younger crafters would get more enjoyment out of them. So, I cancelled my subscription.

I was going to subscribe to another box in their place, but decided not to. I have my SewMine and Makerly boxes coming for fun craft projects, and my Harry Potter box too. That's plenty of fun post, and a nice variety as well. The rest of what we'll call my spending allowance (for lack of a better term for it) can go towards getting books and DVDs, or getting supplies for any other craft projects I decide for myself that I'd like to do. Besides, you can never have too many of those things. Especially the books. You can definitely never have too many books.

Besides, since it takes me longer to do the craft kits than it does a lot of people, the kits from those two boxes are giving me plenty to keep me busy. Plus, I brought a couple of the old boxes from both of them. The felt flowers from Makerly, and a Christmas mouse kit from SewMine. So that's even more to keep me busy.

I - or, more accurately, we - have been working on the Autumn themed table runner that was in the first SewMine box I got (the same runner I was hoping to have had finished before Halloween). There's slow progress on that one, because we decided Kelly should do the ironing parts, for safety reasons, so I have to keep waiting for him. That's Why I can't accurately just say "I" have been working on it. Anyway, while I wait, I'm working on the Christmas mouse kit, which is one I only need help with colour identification for, so can easily do by myself for the most part.

Ha! I still got out of doing any ironing! Actually, I'd have done it myself regardless. But Kelly spacifically asked me to let him do it. So I'm letting him. Not because it's safer, or because it gets me out of doing any ironing - though those things are true - but because it will be nice to be able to have it on the table next Halloween, knowing we made it together.

By the way, speaking of crafting: do you want to make sure your craft projects are eco-friendly? Use ecoStardust for all your glittery crafting needs! No, I'm not getting anything for advertizing for them. I also haven't actually tried the stuff out myself. But I saw the article the other day, and thought it sounded cool, so decided to share it.