Frosty the Cheeseman

I am proud to announce that I have created my first Instructable. It is my attempt to tell others how they too can make a tasty melting cheese treat that starts out looking like a snowman. While my version has innovations that others may not have tried, I am far from the original inventor of the melting cheese snowman.

Original Version: Charles Phoenix's Test Kitchen.

Instructable: Frosty the Cheeseman

Getting Hats - Paul Wins

Hair coming in nicely, but head still cold

I thought I was onto something when I blogged that I lost a toque and got 4 new ones for Christmas. But my little brother Paul beat me. He got 5 new hats. And all he had to do was have his head shaved.

It may have helped that the Cornwall Seaway News published an article (with video) and said:

Paul Scrimshaw knows all about the perils of cold weather now – he's experiencing the skull-chilling feeling of being bald after having his head shaved to benefit a young family grappling with a cancer diagnosis.

He raised over $2000 and  the hats started rolling in.

First the Cornwall hats:

Then the hats from the artistically gifted Heather Smith of Bluefront Studio:

This gem is a Whoo Hat.

Found Hat: Louisa at Lebreton

If I hadn't received so many nice hats for Christmas, I'd be tempted to take this toque that someone found by my house and put on the stop sign. It looks like the person who lost it is not a regular in the neighbourhood because it has been there for a few days.

Our new scarfs!

In front of the best Vietnamese restaurant in Ottawa

At lunch today, the exceptionally generous Kathy and Roy gave us fabulous Christmas presents from Lively Loops. I got a Ravenclaw Inspired Unisex Knitted Infinity Scarf and Manon got a John Snow Inspired Unisex Knitted Button Up Scarf.

You may notice that the shop owner of Lively Loops has the same last name as Roy. This is apparently not a coincidence. I suspect it's nice for Roy to have a niece who knits things inspired by George R.R. Martin characters.

You can get your own scarf or other inspired wearable items by clicking on Lively Loops and ordering.

Working at home today

Where are the budget mittens?

Joe Fresh gloves at Loblaws

In the winter, I wear mittens. I do not wear gloves. Mittens keep my hands warm and gloves don't.

Also in the winter, I lose mittens. And toques. On Thursday morning, I lost my toque and a pair of mittens when I got off the bus.

So since then, I have been looking for low-price mittens and toques. I have been to the Bay, Winners, Sports Experts, Giant Tiger, Dollarama, Value Village, Loblaws and several other stores.

I did find some low-price hats. The best find was a $2.50 toque at Dollarama yesterday. Today, it occurred to me I should have bought five or six of them. I'll probably need them all eventually, and in the meantime, I'd have them on hand if I acquire a group of henchmen.

None of these places had low-price mittens. Only gloves. What is up with that?

Learning something new: Beginner Stained Glass

Today, Manon and I had a good time, learned how to make stained glass panels, and came out of it with two pieces we'll be happy to hang in the window.

Ryan demonstrating soldering

If you're thinking of taking a beginner stained glass course, we would strongly recommend going to Northern Art Glass on Gladstone Avenue. Our teacher, Ryan, did an excellent job of telling us what we needed to learn when we needed to learn it and being really sweet when we screwed up.

Mind you, screwing up is not such a big deal with stained glass. It's more forgiving than you would expect.

"Remember," I kept saying, "perfectionism is the enemy of art."