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16 Sep
Subscriber Surprises
I have fun randomly giving gifts to my subscribers. I also love meeting my subscribers, even if it is virtually. You may have read about Alison in my...
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I’m older than Barbie and never owned one because she hit the market after my doll-playing years were over. I waited to see the movie until...
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Before I left on my fall 2022 vacation, I read the label on an empty Rogers Golden Syrup bottle and discovered a cookbook offer. They would send me a...
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Dear Grandmothers, When I was 8 years old, I had an entrepreneurial idea that I found exciting. I wanted to order a greeting card catalogue from...
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Several years ago, I admired a bright red ring in a Colorado jewellery store. The manager told me it had been coated and cured in automotive...
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I believe that volunteering and donating provide wellness benefits to the giver and the recipient. Volunteering often gives us knowledge, new...
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31 Jan
Modern Day Pen Pals
Somewhere in South Africa, a woman named Alison is wearing a scarf I sent her and baking my husband's favourite cookies for her husband. I have...
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03 Nov
Loyalty is a Two-Way Street
I believe that small-town values create solid relationships for life and business. In the small towns where I lived, companies knew their...
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11 Aug
Coping with a Soy Allergy
Living with my soy allergy means being diligent about everything I put in my mouth. These days soy shows up in soup bases, spices, shortening, oil,...
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I have been friends with Marion since 1967. We met in our first year of university, and we try to get together every couple of weeks to explore our...
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As you know, I don’t believe in excessive downsizing, but I do believe in putting items to good use or sharing them with others. More importantly,...
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The right gadget makes the job easier and more fun. Great gadgets should be celebrated. Today, I want to tell you about my Toast Tongs. Since I use...
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27 Jan
One Size Cannot Fit All
Petite doesn’t mean tiny in the fashion industry; it means short. Petite clothes are designed for people shorter than 5’4” in height. I try to...
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11 Dec
Making Heirlooms Meaningful
My husband has been brilliant at creating unique gifts for me throughout our fifty-year marriage. One year, when we were barely making ends meet, he...
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09 Nov
This Purse Was Once a Coat
I wore my red leather swing coat and matching skirt for decades, but the huge shoulder pads were out of style, and the skirt had lost its shape....
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05 Oct
The Magic of Madame Chic
My husband and I follow a daily schedule filled with delightful moments. This way, we are sure to experience the best of life. Each day, we converse...
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In the late nineteen fifties, I was ill with scarlet fever. My temperature was alarmingly high, and my mother was worried. I was in and out of a...
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11 Aug
We've Got News
In a few days, we will be launching a new design for our Get a Bigger Wagon website. On the home page of the redesigned site, visitors can watch a...
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27 Feb
Happy Leap Day, 2020
Each Leap Year has an extra day added to the calendar to synchronize it with the seasons. Babies born on February 29th are considered Leaplings....
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On Valentine’s Day, 2018, I wrote an email to a friend of mine thanking him for transforming a wooden box, originally for silverware, into the...
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29 Oct
Halloween - Over the Decades
Halloween is here, again, and my brain seems haunted by past Octobers…MUAHAHA! I remember going out to collect Halloween treats as a...
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05 Sep
Remembering Romance Comics
In the early sixties, I often walked home from school with Gordie, the boy I married a few years later. We would part ways at his family drug store,...
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05 Jul
Transplanting Grandpa John
In the late afternoon, on the chaotic day that my father-in-law died, this fig tree came into our lives, offering joy, laughter, and friendship....
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04 Jun
The Autograph Project
The Autograph Project was introduced in November of 2018 when I enthusiastically donated 30 autograph books to a class of grade four students. I have...
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13 May
Tea for Two or Just for You
I smile every time I walk past a display of tea-for-ones. They sit proudly, wherever you place them, their double handles making them look a bit...
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Almost a year ago, I received a sympathy bouquet from a dear friend in another province. She and her husband had ordered from a company called...
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Not so long ago, I experienced two cooking disasters in one week! How is that possible for a veteran cook like me? It happened while I was...
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21 Nov
Breakfast Tea
I remember, vividly, being thirteen. Gord, the boy, Haddock had given me an ID bracelet for my thirteenth birthday. It had my name on it but opened...
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20 Sep
Small Town Treasures
Almost everyone we meet, at home or away, knows someone we know, and it only takes a short conversation to discover the connection. Saskatchewan...
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This leather-bound book, published in 1938, was always on the coffee table in my mother-in-law’s home. Towards the end of her 98 years on the...
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The word hosiery refers to stockings, tights, and socks collectively. I use the word tights when I am speaking about opaque or semi-opaque hosiery....
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I have changed the name of my husband’s favourite cookies since a British friend informed me that Nig Nog Cookies might be offensive. I...
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I have a small collection of handmade fashion pieces, and each item has a story. Creative people with amazing hands have made these treasures. Some...
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13 Feb
A Leather Postcard Romance
I began collecting postcards in fourth grade when my mother, finally, allowed me to participate in a chain letter. The invitation chain letter...
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25 Jan
Remembering One Perfect Day
After the Christmas decorations are put away, and before the Valentine’s Day decorations fill our house with love, there is time to look...
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In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, eight members of the Cratchit family shared a tiny plum pudding. One taste was enough to inspire...
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First Published on November 24, 2017 (Mom Haddock passed in May of 2018) I dedicate approximately one-third of my blog space to memories because I...
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05 Nov
A Time to Remember: Part Two
As long as I live, I will think of Rob Wurzer every November. Rob, our friend and business partner, passed away on November 4, 2016. We held his...
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27 Oct
A Time to Remember: Part One
As people dash about, picking up Halloween treats and costumes, this weekend, they may notice that memorial Poppies are for sale. The last Friday of...
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28 Aug
Lessons from a Leaky Teapot
My father was in his mid-eighties, and living in an assisted living apartment, when he began mentioning that he wanted to have a little metal teapot...
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31 Jul
The Travelling Tea Party
I am comfortable transporting a tea party to almost any location. Once, I even took a tea party, up a ladder, into a tree house. I have a dear,...
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I love sorting through bins and boxes, no matter where they’re stored. If you have ever spent time at a summer cabin you know there are comic...
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My mother-in-law, at 97, still loves to buy a new scarf. One time when we were going through her closet we counted 88 scarves. She loves to give a...
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For forty years, at our house, we have celebrated Sadie Hawkins Day, albeit on the wrong day. Every February 29th, we created a Sadie Hawkins party....
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20 Oct
Just Give It Away
Today, I want to introduce you to the purposefully happy Mandy Ross. She has an artist's soul, and she sees the beauty in almost everything. I...
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When my husband, Gord “the boy” Haddock, was thirteen, he told me he always felt better when he was standing beside me. It was a sweet statement,...
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06 Jul
A Purse with a Story
One of my favourite accessories is a practical little purse made by SheNative, a company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. This...
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12 Apr
Fondue, Fun, and Friendship
When our good friends, Tony and Tracy, told us they’d like to have us to their house for fondue, my mind travelled back to our...
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11 Mar
Dressing from the Drinkle
Although my title sounds like the beginning of a nursery rhyme, it is, more accurately, an invitation to a treasure hunt. I am referring to the...
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In 1980, in small-town Saskatchewan, I decided to celebrate February 29, as the gift it was, a once-in-four-years bonus day. At the time, I...
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04 Jan
Happily Ever After
Have you ever watched a series of events unfold before you and known, instinctively, how the story would end, if it were a fairy tale? True...
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15 Dec
History Has Been Altered
This Christmas, my husband, the boy from the Get a Bigger Wagon stories, has been able to right a wrong from his past. Thanks to technology and...
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04 Nov
I Love Poppies
Years ago, after the snow melted around our first house, I discovered a border of poppies that promised to come to life every spring. I was...
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My husband and I met when we were twelve years old, and, unbeknownst to me, he was already smoking cigarettes. I have known him for six...
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17 Sep
I Miss My Mother-in-law
My mother-in-law has been experiencing excruciating pain in her mid-to-lower back. She can barely walk, and, at ninety-five, her entire body...
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28 Jul
Conquering My Bully
When I was nine years old, our family home caught fire. The little girl that I was, then, still surprises the adult that I am today. She...
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I am back home and ready to do a guest blog for Maureen Haddock, as she recovers from her latest Viking travel experience. For those of you who...
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Madame Benoit was a household name during my childhood and my early married years. She was born in March of 1904 (111 years ago this month), and she...
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19 Feb
Love and Entrepreneurism
My husband and I met when we were twelve, married when we were twenty-one, and recently celebrated our forty-fourth wedding anniversary. We...
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06 Jan
The Power of Perfume
Over Christmas, I enjoyed some very special hugs. In most cases, as the hug ended, the recipient of my hug inhaled deeply and...
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Journal Entry: 1996 Tomorrow, my mother-in-law will be wearing green or red. I will wear my old red coat with the big, fuzzy cuffs and...
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17 Sep
The Gift of Doing Without
I am grateful that I didn’t have everything as a child. Receiving whatever you ask for can stifle the development of your creativity and your...
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11 Aug
See and Be Seen
"See and Be Seen" was first published in From the Cookie Jar on August 11, 2014 @Get a Bigger Wagon. This summer, I have spent many hours with my...
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I am back!! Every now and then, I guest blog for Maureen Haddock, unbeknownst to her, of course (click here to read my last blog)....
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09 May
The Pantyhose Controversy
One day, not so long ago, I typed the word pantyhose into Google search, and pages of emotional comments erupted onto my screen. I was...
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04 Apr
Hunting for Treasure
There is something about getting away from home that allows my entrepreneurial husband to get back in touch with his exploratory nature....
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My mother saved pretty boxes from chocolates, baby shoes, lingerie, and cigars. I still have some of them tucked, here and there, in my home....
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27 Jan
The Power of the Human Voice
Maya Angelou once said, “Do read to someone. When words are infused by the human voice, they come alive.” I’ve experienced this first...
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07 Jan
Recipes are my Currency
I give and receive recipes with enthusiasm. A recipe that is complete and reliable is extremely valuable. It is a nice way to share family...
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24 Nov
My Gratitude Jar
One morning this week I sat in the dark, at the computer, with tears streaming down my cheeks. Christmas music was playing softly, and I began to...
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13 Nov
The Mare's Egg
As your Halloween pumpkins begin to decay, see if you can find a copy of a colourful storybook called The Mare’s Egg. While growing up, my children...
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I love to entertain in my home, but I am a bit possessive about my kitchen. I consider my kitchen to be as personal as my underwear. My kitchen...
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10 Sep
These Shoes Speak Volumes
I am guest blogging for Maureen Haddock today. Yes, I know I am only a pair of shoes, but Maureen hasn’t been keeping up with Glamour for...
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Like most of you, I cherish many items that once belonged to my ancestors. I also have unique pieces from my own life I'd like to share,...
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I love to curl up in a big chair with one of our family autograph books. My late mother’s album was given to her by her sister in 1934. The...
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The other day, while dusting, I stopped to open some of my favourite old books. As always, I was fascinated by the tiny tunnels in the pages created...
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Latest Updates
- Subscriber Surprises (6)
- Yes, I Went to the Barbie Movie (5)
- Receiving Something for Nothing: A Sweet Nostalgic Story Of Rogers Golden Syrup (2)
- I Wanted to Sell Door to Door (3)
- My Mother's 1940s Bracelets - Restored (5)
- Tailoring My Donations to Fit My Soul (3)
- Modern Day Pen Pals (6)
- Loyalty is a Two-Way Street (5)
- Coping with a Soy Allergy (5)
- Stealing the Frames Right Off Her Face (3)
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