OMG

The house SOLD, the house SOLD, the house SOLD!!!!!!

What? What? What?

And it sold in less than 2 months...which is freaking amazing considering the price point.

All the stress fell and we caught this freak cold...If a cold and the flu had a love child!

That really kicked our butts...all the while trying to pack boxes, boxes and more boxes and trying to deal with the balance of my dad's stuff.

and working full time....so it was good times all around!

This is also a very emotional time as I am purging, cleaning and finding this I was not aware of.

 My Dad was as shy as he was exuberant...Yes it happens

When he told me he had been nominated for an Emmy award for Cirque du Soleil's Dralion

he also told me he would not go and pick it up in L.A.

This is when he received it at his workshop.

 I took this picture from the TV.

I was watching the documentary that was released 

the year after his death. It was like visiting with him.

 This picture is from Google. He was in his early 20's.

His teachers had him pegged as a fashion designer

but he loved the theater.

So selling his house and moving is a huge thing but

it was a necessary thing.

I do not see our life as scrimping and scraping trying to get by 

, to pay insurance and those crazy municipal taxes....

So of my Dad's friends do not approve...

And to those people I say fiddledee!

And to this fuzzy bellied cat I say hello gorgeous!

Yoda loves to sleep on her back! 

When we move in my Dad's house we only bought

a sofa and a staked washer and dryer for small places.

this move we needed a kitchen table and we wanted a Tulip table

but after seeing the prices we opted for a lookalike not really Tulip table

 and those will be our dining room chairs. we decided to

refurbish our old chairs for the kitchen.

And after trying 50 plus sofas we decided to keep the 60's black vinyl

3 seater and put foam and new vinyl on it.

 Last week on a buy and trade Facebook site, I read

the message of a young woman who had recently separated and had 

2 kids and she was looking for this we could donate.

So I gave her these. She was so grateful and happy and I did not have to list them and deal with

weird classified buyers...

 I had to empty my freezer and look what I found...

pork chops from 2015! and they are not even freezer burned! 

WHAT???

I am my parents daughter and I will thaw them out and cook them.

My mother was a penny pincher and even if Dad loved to splurge he was really cheap on food!

 We also got through our first move.

Yes we will have 2 moves.

All my Dad's nativity is moved, 50 boxes, all the wood working tools

the freezer, the extra fridge and some furniture.

So that clears a lot of extra place for new boxes!

Seeing this makes me so happy, I feel tingly all over!

We have a red room right now and we love it, so this was 

a no brainer!

I just fined baking Dixie's Orange Cake from 

Pyrex prize recipe. This was a challenge from the Facebook group Pyrex and everything vintage!

NAILED IT!

That's it for tonight...Suddenly I am very, very tired

Take care faithful readers!

1 year

This is the first anniversary of my Dad's passing.

I apologize for the picture, I got a new printer and I can't seem to figure out how to crop out the picture.

This was taken when he was working for Dralion for Cirque du Soleil. He always had a cap on. He is either drawing or taking notes on the performance.

This is how I remember him, always trying to make the design work, always tweaking costumes.

My Dad, my protector. I always felt protected when I was with him.

Sometimes i feel so alone in the big sea of life....and then I remember that Dan and Vero have always had my back and even if I feel sad they are there to support and love me.

Meghan is thriving, and everyday she's more at ease with the other fur babies

I love you Dad

Always XXX

Valerie

I have a secret

I have a secret, it was in fact a secret goal....

I wanted to reach 1000 posts by the end of 2016....and well that did not happen!

It should happen by early February and there will be a giveaway.

I have no idea what I will give away....



On the way home last week, I saw this frame on the sidewalk....

 It appears to be an Amerindian print.

I found it quite lovely.

 I nearly brought it home but we have a lot frames, more than walls actually

I made some homemade perogies stuffed with cheese, potatoes

and caramelized onions

SOOOOOOOO GOOD! Really time consuming but

definitely worth it

Do you remember last years's post about my Dad and lemons?

He would've been over the moon because they were 3 for a dollar!

My Dad lived for cheap lemons!

See you soon!

Last working Day of 2016

Praise the LORD, SWEET JESUS alleluia !!!

All I did today at work was write letters....Sorry you can't surrender your policy right now....Sorry you can't have a loan, you have reportable gain....etc....

I wished it would've been a super slow day....but they were still plenty of cases to take care of before year end.

and I found myself thinking about what I told my doctor yesterday

When Dad died, I inherited a crown of some sort and every now and then , I will need to go out with my crown and mingle.

I know human nature and I am positive people will say these things...

oh that's his daughter? I thought she would be slimmer! She's fat,she's chunky....

Who's her mother again? She looks like her father, how come she didn't go in the trade...

Her Dad had money, how come she's dressed that way?

To this I answer:

I am who I am. I am middled aged, proudly tacky and I don't care if you think I am not up to your
artsy standards.

I am artsy,vintage, tacky, fun, crafty, thirfty, genuine,loving and one hell of a good cook and I don't have anything to prove to you!

So talk to the hand!

I'm all that and a bag of chips, in fact I'm the whole party mix!!!

Here I am visiting the new company building...

I sure hope I will move there in 2017!!!

 

The Nutcracker blues

Back in 1987, for the 30th anniversary of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, my Dad designed

the Nutcracker's costumes. Every year since then, in October, the costumes were pulled out of storage, refurbished and repaired for the new dancers.

Dad would attend all the fittings to make sure everything was up to his standards.

Here is a clip:

I saw this wonderful Holiday ballet, a lot of times....

But with Dad's passing I was sad at the thought of not seeing it EVER again.

To my great surprise, I was contacted by my Dad's agent earlier this month and it seems that as part of his contract I am entitled to tickets....and they are planning a special evening to honor his work....

So we are going to the ballet !

I'll tell you all about it!

Lemons....

When we vacationned in Maine with my Dad he complained about the price of lemons.

They were $1.29 a piece. He flipped out.

OMG the lemons are soooo expensive here, next time we come we will bring lemons from Montreal!

Right Dad! Like we would be able to smuggle a bunch of lemons at customs.....He just spent thousands of dollars for a week by the shore, car rental and meals...Yet those lemons were bugging him.

In the past months Dad stopped buying lemons because he felt they were too expensive...He was buying limes instead!

Today I was grocery shopping in my secret thrifty no frills grocery shop....and I saw this:

Lemons .39 cents each

Just for you Dad, just for you!

This will always crack me up!

New Friend

A week after my Dad's passing, we are still hurting. It is better not much but better.

I am a happy person, I sing , I dance, I laugh....everyday. I find it so hard to be sad and unhappy.

Out of the sadness came a little bundle of fur!

World this is Meghan, Meghan this is the world.

She's really sweet and playful and Boubou played with her.

Tonight she will be meeting Bandito.

Yoda is spending the night at the Vet. She's been feeling blah since my Dad's passing....

It might be urinary.

Dad Loved Meghan very much. We had a health/poop updated every day

Well Dad you will be happy to know that Meaghan is pooping fine everyday.

Sorry about that, LOL

Sleep tight :)

Miss You

Thursday January 28th 2016,

in the early hours of the day my Dad passed away in his sleep. He was 80 years old.

He worked until the end at his costume workshop.

 here he is in the 1970's

 This picture was used a lot in the coverage of his passing.

He was very well known, respected and loved in his field.

Not only I have to deal with my immense grief, but the one from

his friends, his coworkers and students.

Me ? I miss my Dad. With his hoarding tendencies, his big heart

and his booming laugh.

I miss going downstairs for a chat and bringing him some turkey pot pies

or cabbage rolls.

This is really my favorite picture because it shows his funny kid like side.

Even at 80 he was filled with wonderment and curiosity!

Dad I miss you so much and still had so much to share with you!

Be well