If you enjoy some magic mixed in with your mystery another amazing author to try on for size is Annette Blair. The newest in her Vintage Magic Mystery is Cloaked in Malice. Unlike Juliet Blackwell’s Witchcraft Mysteries the main character in this series is not a practicing witch but someone who receives visions from vintage clothing through her touch. 

The dialogue in this series is light hearted and peppered with stitching tidbits… Like “What the zip-a-ma-jig”… at times, I must admit, the dialogue almost felt like it didn’t fit. But you can’t help but love Maddie and her on again boyfriend the FBI undercover agent Nick. I personally love her literature quoting father and her witchy “aunt”. Don’t forget the aged Dolly and her daughter in law Ethel. Add in a girl with no past and an island full of mystery and of course some vintage clothing with unknown past to share and a you have a great light afternoon read. 

A Vintage Clothing Mystery

Definitely less stressful, tiring and frustrating taking the drive through text message updates. We went to bed with the menfolk in Montana and proceeded until a little after lunch with them at the border. We are told the line was long but the process relatively painless. That is until they hit Calgary traffic… in rush hour (poor guys). I look forward to hearing their tale first hand. I am sure Ken will be more than willing to spin us a good one. 

Way to go Daddy and Baba!

So instead of go go go with 5 kids and 2 ladies we did a more relax, unwind and sit around sort of day. Wrote a letter or two, coloured in colouring books… you know, restive things.

Colouring Angry Birds

The kids did spend SOME time outside. Those neighbour boys (Billy, Jimmy and Charlie) while older than the boys are absolutely a godsend. Whenever they are out in the back so are ours running and playing and hopefully not making nuisances of themselves.

Gotta love a sunny day (Zander left)

We ended our evening with another movie – Anastasia, after watching a trip video of Nana and Baba’s from way back of them swimming with the sting rays. I think Echo preferred the fishy show. It was so quiet last night, going to bed without Ken sitting in the room typing away… and dark with the monitor and his usual ONE LIGHT turned off. It is so surreal, yesterday morning we were talking about Saturday with the Novaks and Friday afternoon walk around the blocks to check for garage sales… and here we are – guys in Canada packing up our long awaited personal items so that we can close down the storage unit. It feels like one more tie cut to our old life and I am unsure if that is a positive or negative. 

Pre movie supper

Emanuel’s creative endeavor

Anyway tonight there is more time to work on the cross stitch I have been doing. And of course work on the book reviews for the books I have read. Goodreads and my Kindle apphas been great to me lately. BUT I really want to make my way to the library soon! So be sure to check back for more reviews!  

Who IS that cute baby in the window?

With a bit of a hello tacked on to boot! So let’s start with the most interesting… as was pointed out to me in a comment we should probably have rehung our chrysalis right away. Well we took some mesh and made a hanging sort of bed and gave our butterfly (when it arrived) the means to climb up and hang to dry off… we did not have long to wait! We checked our butterfly in the morning and then after my bath closer to lunch there she/he was! Since our container was tiny and our butterfly… not… it was time to head out to the bushes and give it the best start in life. So we found a portion of the bush that was out of the wind and let it climb out to dry off. It managed to end up behind  the leaves (for privacy?) and we said good bye and let it be. Emanuel was absolutely in love with the colours in the wing. Of course the boys ALL had to draw their own butterfly and once we get to the library we will talk all about the cycle that that lovely specimen went through.

In our container

On the way to freedom

Now anyone who has watched this blog for the last few months has got to have realize that once a plan gets put in place with this family we zip right along to completion. This was no exception. When we came down here we had our massive downsize and accompanying garage sale (thank you so much again Kristen, Fydo, Karyn and Sean!!!). Well the remains of that went into a storage unit, one box to Victoria, a bag forgotten in Karyn’s car (Bob) and Christmas items and tires left at Chris and Chris’. Well… FINALLY the forward motion has been taken to collect those items and bring them here… bring them HOME.

We looked at various options – U-Haul, fill a pod to be shipped, professional movers, the list goes on… and in the end, this morning… we came to the realization that the best thing to do is simply rent a U-Haul and use the Envoy to pull it to Canada and back again. Well, with the knowledge that Ken’s first interview of the Minnesota job hunt is MONDAY (ACK) and not tomorrow… the plan went into overdrive. A trailer was found, collected and hitched up… the menfolk ate supper, collected the necessities for a long drive (Ken turned down our Hello Kitty packed backpack and repacked in something much more… boring…) and off they went! Watch the whiplash! 

Watching a movie before bed

So that leaves yours truly and Nana as the adults in charge and for the first time EVER the girls outnumber the boys!!! 4 to 3! I am not sure what that will mean for the weekend but it HAS put our plans to spend Saturday with the Novak family on the backburner. Thank goodness we have all the weekends we want to fill with visits with them. We are HOME… I can honestly say I feel that now. While I miss A LOT in Canada… the list seems to unexpectedly grow at the oddest times. Did you know that there are no Cheezies in the US? Yup, add to the list… there is a lot to learn, see and do here. 

Working on some art together

Really I am finally starting to see the reason why we are here… we have family and friends to reconnect with, lakes to visit, and a whole new life to live. We absolutely canNOT forget about Canada and everyone and thing that mean something to us there but a new start is nothing to scoff at. Now if we could just get registered here for homeschooling… no word on the hiring and now we may be able to CHOOSE between two school districts we have some research to do. I am not sure if there are uniform benefits but it is worth doing the leg work. 

So we end our week on a brand new note… one full of excitement and all that for our stuff will be here by Sunday… Ken will be interviewing Monday and the rest of the month is there to be planned!!! Oh and did I mention we got our first letter back from our penpals! This was a lovely series of cards from Jimmie’s Gammie. (remember her from the Tyrell Museum trip or Echo’s Early Birthday?) She also included money for them ALL to have a slurpee… or in the case of Minnesota’s availability… Icees. So now we just need to pick a date to head out to a gas station and enjoy a replica of what we are used to. 

Thank you Gammie!!!!

So while life is NEVER perfect (I don’t care who you talk to) ours is pretty amazing! We have some minor ups and downs lately but life is settling down. The kids are happy, the time with family and friends absolutely amazing and the future plans are in the making. Of course a lot hinges on this weekend getting accomplished and Ken’s employment but that all sounds attainable! Feels good to feel optimism.

Trinity and her response to Gammie AND her name written out by her solo (not sure you can see it.. the y looks a little like an x but still WOW)