Blog

  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...

I believe that volunteering and donating provide wellness benefits to the giver and the recipient. Volunteering often gives us knowledge, new...

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...

  I believe that small-town values create solid relationships for life and business. In the small towns where I lived, companies knew their...

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

Halloween is here, again, and my brain seems haunted by past Octobers…MUAHAHA!  I remember going out to collect Halloween treats as a...

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,...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Almost everyone we meet, at home or away, knows someone we know, and it only takes a short conversation to discover the connection. Saskatchewan...

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...

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....

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...

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...

I began collecting postcards in fourth grade when my mother, finally, allowed me to participate in a chain letter. The invitation chain letter...

After the Christmas decorations are put away, and before the Valentine’s Day decorations fill our house with love, there is time to look...

In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, eight members of the Cratchit family shared a tiny plum pudding. One taste was enough to inspire...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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,...

One of my favourite accessories is a practical little purse made by SheNative, a company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. This...

  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...

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...

  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...

  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...

  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,...

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...

  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...

  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...

  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...

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...

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...

  My husband and I met when we were twelve, married when we were twenty-one, and recently celebrated our forty-fourth wedding anniversary. We...

  Over Christmas, I enjoyed some very special hugs. In most cases, as the hug ended, the recipient of my hug inhaled deeply and...

  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...

  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...

"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...

  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)....

  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...

  There is something about getting away from home that allows my entrepreneurial husband to get back in touch with his exploratory nature....

  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....

  Maya Angelou once said, “Do read to someone. When words are infused by the human voice, they come alive.” I’ve experienced this first...

  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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

  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,...

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...

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...