To A Pretty Life

I Want to Buy a Boat

2012-01-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have this shelf. Above the fireplace. It's weird and awkward and very difficult to decorate. I think it's meant for a TV, but ours is in the basement (and would be too big for the space anyway.)

Currently we have our Ipod dock/sound system up there, with some decor items that have been displaced from elsewhere, Kevin's CMA certificate, some noisemakers from a hockey game, and I think a Chicago Blackhawks Santa hat. I'll be building some shelves elsewhere that I want to move the sound system to, and then I want to find something really big to put up there. It has to be big enough to fill the space proportionately by itself. I don't want anything else up there.

So I was thinking a boat would work. Not a full on Spanish galleon, but a schooner or other sail boat would work. And be appropriate since we live in a lake community.

I saw this picture at sixteen fourteen and that's where I got the boat idea from I love how big it is. I don't know. When it comes time to look, I may decide on something else entirely.

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PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Pretty Rugs

2012-01-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

I hate my rug. It's a beige $39 berber Walmart special, and it's stained and falling apart and I hate it (yes, I like hyperbole). But 6x9 rugs are expensive, so I can't replace it yet. Sometimes I roll it up and stash it behind the couch so I don't have to look at it for a while. But we have slippery laminate and a rug is pretty much a necessity in this house.

But one day I'll be able to get a rug I like...maybe a cowhide?

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Or a traditional braided rug? Now that's really farmhouse!

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Or maybe this Dash & Albert indoor/outdoor rug? It can just be hosed off to clean it!

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I found this rug on Kijiji a couple of months ago, and if my kids were a little older and less prone to spill things, I would have bought it. Looking at it now, I should have bought it anyway despite the $249 asking price! Oh well. When I'm ready, I'm sure I'll find the perfect rug.

source: kijiji (ad is no longer active)

In the meantime, I may try to make my rug prettier like this:

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PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Proud Canadian Blogger!

2012-01-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

I love reading blogs. Most of the bloggers I "meet" are American of course, and some are British or Australian. But occasionally I get a little thrill when I realise that a blogger is Canadian! To show my Canadian pride, I created this badge to share. Feel free to download it and use it without attribution. The maple leaf graphic is from www.openclipart.org. The background is transparent.

Some of my favourite Canadian blogs are:

Life in the Fun Lane - This blogger actually lives in the same city as I do! Which makes me kind of feel like a stalker when I read her blog.

A Pretty Life in the Suburbs - Jo-Anna gave me a bit of a shock when I came across her blog...she's my doppelgänger. We have the same name, write a "pretty life" blog, and are both Canadian.

Canadian Cottage - I love this woman's houses (old and new) and her decorating style.

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Little Red Hearts - A Valentine Tutorial

2012-01-25T16:02:00.002-07:00

My Christmas jingle bells needed to come down. But I still wanted to have something hanging on my branches on the front porch. So I came up with these little red hearts, in honour of Valentine's Day (which I never decorate for).

Materials:
- Red felt, 2 sheets
- string, twine, or ribbon (I used 100% wool yarn that my dad made)
- hot glue sticks

Tools:
- hot glue gun
- scissors
- paper (optional)

Step 1: Make a template out of paper. Or don't. It works either way. I just wanted all my hearts to be exactly the same shape and size.

Step 2: Cut hearts out of one whole sheet of felt.

Step 3: Hot glue a length of string to each heart.

Step 4: Run a bead of hot glue around a heart about 1/4-inch from the edge and position the heart on the uncut sheet of felt.

Step 5: Cut out your heart, being careful not to cut your string. Repeat steps 4 & 5 with the remaining cut hearts. After about half the sheet, I decided to glue all of them before I cut them out. I positioned them before I glued them to make sure I could fit all of them on.

Step 6: Display or give away your hearts! I opted to do both. They'll be displayed on my branches 'til Valentine's Day, then the kids can give them to their friends as a valentine, if the elements haven't wrecked them. Using my two sheets of felt, I ended up with 20 hearts.

Let me know if you make these little hearts!

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

2012-01-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'm playing the game again. So I can't have sugar, white flour, etc, etc, etc. I needed to bring a snack to our Tuesday morning moms' group. This is what I came up with. My starting point was the King Arthur Whole Wheat Banana Bread recipe, but with several modifications.

My Whole Wheat Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp (rounded, not level) baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and stir in next 5 ingredients.
3. Add remaining ingredients into the mix. Mix well.
4. Pour into a the prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake 60 minutes, removing from oven when toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove from pan to cool completely on a baking rack.

Some notes: The first time I made this, I substituted spelt flour for about 1/2 a cup of the whole wheat. I liked the texture much better. The next time I made it, with all whole wheat, it was denser, but still delicious.

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Decluttering

2012-01-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

It has taken me months (of intermittent procrastination), but I'm finally close to the end of decluttering my former craft/sewing area. I initially began the task because I was going to mostly stop creating so I could focus on my editing career. See how that turned out here. Although I've decided to keep creating, I still wanted to clear out all the unnecessary stuff that I was keeping just in case I ever decided to make something with it. And I needed to organise. And my laundry area wasn't functional with all that stuff in there. Neither was our office area. These photos I found on Pinterest may give you an idea of the look and feeling I'm after...of course all these rooms have big windows while my area is in the basement with one small window.

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source - if anyone knows the original source, please let me know...I could only find it on tumblr.

And here is what it really looks like as of this morning. Feel free to avert your eyes from the horror.

I'll be taking a big load of stuff to Goodwill this morning, and I have a bin of things I need to sort through and list for sale. Mostly fabric and decor items. I have a huge garbage bag full of fabric scraps that I was thinking about listing for free on Kijiji, but at this point I'm really tempted to just throw it all out.

Once my stuff is cleared up and organised, I hope I can convince Kevin to drywall the area. Then I'll paint the walls and put up curtains up on the side without a wall, where the storage shelves are in the third picture. And shelving would help. This may take all year.

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

The Story of a Little White Cabinet

2012-01-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a sad little cabinet. She had been built out of scraps and held tools or other shop items that battered her cream coloured paint. Soon she recieved new paint colours...mint green, white, rust red, black, and finally dark green. Over the years the little cabinet became scarred, but she was proud to be useful. She survived a flood that warped her bottom and was moved around from place to place until eventually being sold for $2 to a furniture dealer.

She sat in his showroom, surrounded by bigger, newer, nicer furniture pieces, forgotten and ignored. Then one day a girl came in, browsing slowly through all the furniture, eyes lingering on a dresser here, a dining set there. She looked at the little green cabinet, running her fingers over bumpy, imperfect paint, opening the door to look inside. The girl walked away, to the front desk where the dealer waited.

"How much for that little green cabinet?"

The dealer walked over, eyed the cabinet, and responded, "$20."

The girl innocently paid without haggling and carried the cabinet out to her mother's car. In her home with the girl, the cabinet was no longer battered and neglected, but put to use as a beloved part of the house. She held lamps and books and pretty things instead of tools or flood water. Her paint was still scarred and bumpy.

After many years, the cabinet began to really feel old. She was missing one screw from her ill-fitting hinges, and the remaining three became looser and looser. Until one day the baby of the house turned the latch and opened the cabinet door. The top hinge completely detatched from the body of the cabinet. The door hung by just one remaining screw.

The cabinet found herself hoisted up on to the kitchen table, with sticky wet glue and sharp toothpicks shoved into the stripped screw holes. She lay there all night wondering what was going to happen next. In the morning she was unceremoniously moved to the floor in the corner, door still detatched and tucked behind her. She remained there for the next few days, getting in the way and not being useful.

Finally, she was moved back to the kitchen table. The girl roughly sanded the glossy finish off her paint then wiped her down. A smoky turquoise paint soon covered her inside, followed by creamy white on the outside. The cabinet felt fresh and bright and new!

Once the paint was dry, she was gently moved down to the floor and fitted with soft felt feet. She was positioned in a place of honour near the front door, ready to greet any visitors, welcoming them in.

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Little Green Cabinet

2012-01-17T22:42:00.001-07:00

Oh, my poor little green cabinet! This is the first piece of furniture I've ever purchased. It's still the only piece of furniture I've bought on my own. I planned to refinish it while I was pregnant with Nick, but discovered it has lead paint. So it has just been green and black. When I changed my living room colours from red and gold to olive and turquoise, the green paint blended in much better.

Recently, the door has started falling off. And Nick can't leave it alone, so I was worried the wood would start to splinter. Since I had to move it to fix the stripped screw holes, I decided I should paint it too. My plan is to do so this week. Starting tomorrow! Maybe.

PS: To a Pretty Life now has a facebook page and an advertise page...check it out and spread the word!

Mosaic Monday

2012-01-16T13:42:00.002-07:00

Some of my favourite pictures and projects from the past few months...and one picture of my dad from who knows how long ago.

I'm joining up with Mary from Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Country Living Magazine: The White Issue

2012-01-15T23:41:00.002-07:00

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One of my favourite ways to relax is reading magazines. I enjoy the usual women's magazines that cover fashion or beauty or parenting, but my real love is shelter magazines. There were several country/cottage ones I loved that I would buy every so often at the grocery store. Then the economy tanked and most of them disappeared! Including the one I subscribed to, Canadian Home and Country. The only one left that I always enjoy was Country Living. I've had a subscription for a year, ever since they had a giveaway for an adorable vintage style turquoise Huffy bike (I didn't win, but my pretty cream-coloured bike is even better)

I love to curl up with my cup of tea and read through the pages of inspiration. I'll dog-ear my favourite pages, usually three or four per issue. But the latest issue (Dec-Jan, I think) was perfect. I loved pretty much every page! It is full of beautiful images of white rooms. Completely gorgeous!

One of my favourite blogs, A Country Farmhouse was featured. If you love white and antiques, you should read this issue, then go visit Trina's peaceful blog.

Dreaming and Blogging about Business

2012-01-13T23:03:00.001-07:00

I am an editor. That's my career of choice. However, simple black and white words on a page or screen aren't very pretty. Since the fall, I've been trying to reduce my crafting and decorating in order to make room for developing my editing career.

However, I found that I cannot give up the visual side of my creativity. I want the prettiness, AND I want the words. So how can I merge the two? Plus my pie-in-the-sky side dream of one day owning a store.

I've come to the conclusion that the ideal way would be to publish a lifestyle magazine. There is a bit of a hole in Canada's magazine selection since Canadian Home and Country stopped printing. That one was getting to modern and citified for me in the last few issues anyway. I'd like to publish a print magazine showcasing farmhouse and cottage style and decor, romantic country fashion, and my idea of HOME (see my sidebar). But where do I start? So far my only magazine experience is copy editing and a bit of layout with a crash-prone CorelDraw 10 for FellowScript.

A good first step, I think, is to refocus my blog and create the kind of content I want to publish. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been reading a bit about blogging as a business. I've always resisted the idea of ads on my blog because when I first started in 2008, blogs were pretty much all personal, and the only way to make a few pennies was the not-exactly-pretty Google Ads. Now, many of the blogs I read have lovely, independent, hand-picked ads in their sidebars, and the writers are actually able to call this blogging thing a career.

Good Stella is a blog/community for creative businesswomen. I've been gleaning great advice as I read through the archives. And recently, Nesting Place, one of the first home blogs I began reading, took part in a series called Growing Your Blog. She, and four other bloggers, offered tips on things such as making money, authenticity, and photography.

I don't know what my next steps will be yet, but I'm working on this first one. Maybe one day, I'll even get that magazine published. Watch out, Country Living!

Linking to:

Redesigning for the new year

2012-01-09T10:01:00.003-07:00

I've been mulling over the direction I want my blog to go. While I've been thinking, I started a little redesign...first with a striped background I made, then some new fonts, and a few header. I thought it would to be fun to show the evolution of my blog headers over the past almost four years.

First, my colours were red and tan. This image is a photo of a painting we have...it's by Stephen somebody...

Last year, I widened my blog, so I needed a wider header. It was easier to just make a new one than to try adjusting the size of the old one to just the right dimensions. This photo is a shot of some of my old books.

A few days ago, I made this one, using Microsoft Paint. The same program I used for the other headers. I loved how fresh and bright it was, but did not like the pixelation of the pictures, and the font is not smooth.

So this morning, I figured out how to do a collage in Picasa, and recreated it. I think it looks much much better! But I can't figure out how to make the background white again, instead of the blue/grey it ended up.

Is "Pretty" Worth It?

2012-01-07T15:38:00.004-07:00

source via pinterest

We live in our second home that we own. The first was a little townhouse. We lived there for three years and only did renovating the last year we were there, except for the main bathroom which had water damage issues. It forced us to do something about it. Essentially, we did all the painting on the main floor, installed laminate flooring over the vintage vinyl, and replaced the fixtures in the half-bath…all for the new owner, a very sweet woman, to enjoy.

This house, a duplex, is also not our forever home. I’m not sure that concept really exists anymore. Families no longer live and die in the same house, passing it on to their children. So what I really mean by “forever home” is a house I feel I can love and transform to reflect our family and feel settled in. Not one whose very footprint irritates me. Seriously, there’s not even any floor space in the bathrooms to put a scale, never mind any kind of storage.

The first year we were married, we lived in a 400-or-so square foot one-bedroom apartment in a kind of grungy neighbourhood (there was a Showgirls just a few blocks away!). After our 1-year lease was up, we moved into a much nicer, 200sqft-bigger apartment in a better area. We stayed there for two years. Then we bought our townhouse and lived there for three years. We’ve been in our duplex for three years now. Based on our track-record, we may only be living here for one more year! I’d like to make it two years, until our mortgage is up for renewal (or whatever you call it).

But either way, I can’t love this house because I know it's temporary. There are things I could do to make me love it…white planks around the fireplace, new lighting, painted cabinets… But is it worth it? Should we be putting money into cosmetic changes like that, which don’t really affect the resale value of the house? Paint, I know is important (especially compared to the dinged up yellow we have on most walls), as well as finishing the basement. That kind of change affects either the prospective buyer’s perception of the house, or the actual value of the house. But replacing a perfectly nice (but not my style) light fixture does nothing for resale value or convenience while we live here. Essentially, it’s just pretty to look at.

Is pretty worth it?

source via pinterest

Little Update for a Little Bench

2012-01-04T12:31:00.001-07:00

A sweet friend of mine saw this bench on Kijiji and knew I would love it, so she gave it to me for my birthday. It's adorable. I've put off doing anything with it for a while, but today the 90's dusty rose floral was especially bothering me.

I removed the bench seat and ripped off the cheap black fabric covering the underside of the seat. (Action shot courtesy of the new gorilla tripod that I got for Christmas)

After a new covering of white and tan ticking stripe and a couple of pillows, I'm pleased with the result. A solid tan fabric replaced the black under the seat.

Eventually I want to paint the bench white or something, which would look even better with the fabric. But I'm a little furniture-painting-shy at the moment because I can't get my kitchen chairs to work out. Two are various shades of aqua, and the other two are kind of painted off-white. All four are heavily distressed, but in a destructive preschooler way, not a gracefully aged way.

This bench doesn't really have a home at the moment. After I took down the Christmas tree I moved the french dresser into the kitchen, displacing this bench. I do love the dresser in the kitchen. I guess now I can call it a sideboard. I'm just not sure how it will work when we get a bigger table.

Juli's Allowance

2011-12-07T07:14:00.001-07:00

"Mom," said Juli, "I want an allowncment. "It's three money."

Jingle Bells on the Porch

2011-12-01T11:57:00.001-07:00

Our cute little front porch is not symmetrical. I wish it was. But I work with what I have. After I removed the planters filled with dead annuals, it just looked bare...and the asymmetry bothered me every time I looked at it...or even thought about it.

They've been pruning the boulevard trees in our neighbourhood lately, so one day I pulled over into an alley and dragged a bunch of branches from one of the piles into my van. The back was filled with groceries, so I put them in the front seat. The ends rested on Nick's lap behind the driver's seat. He was so proud to help!

I intended to spray paint them all white, but I ran out of spray paint after doing about half. I trimmed them down a little, and wedged them between and around two bricks in a plastic planter that hadn't made it into recycling yet. Then the branches just looked naked, so I hung some jingle bells. I made these bell ornaments four our first Christmas 10 years ago, and they drove Kevin crazy over the years because there was so many and they took forever to put on and take off. So we've only used a few on our tree this year and last year. Eventually I may put something Christmassy around the base to disguise the plastic planter.

We've been having unseasonably warm weather lately, which has been great. But still, at minus 5 or so, it really wasn't barefoot weather.

Kevin and Juli decorated a "gingerbread man house". She insists it's not just a gingerbread house.

CMA Commencement

2011-11-20T08:23:00.001-07:00

My husband just acquired three extra letters at the end of his name. CMA. I am so very proud of him! His commencement was yesterday afternoon, followed by a "Gala Dinner and Dance" Of course, true to nature, I obsessed about what to wear for weeks beforehand. I bought a tweed houndstooth dress from H&M that fit me perfectly, and suited both events admirably.

Kevin walking in to Scotland the Brave "Here come the tatty haukers"...er, accountants!

After the ceremony getting ready to leave for the gala.

Bad picture of Kevin removing the mile-long confetti that had just been shot over the crowd.

Shushant, one of Kevin's group members...this man actually convinced Kevin to dance! Kind of.

It was way too cold for bare legs. I got hives on the drive home from the cold.

Congratulations Kevin!

DIY Diamond-Paned windows - just in time for Christmas Decorating!

2011-11-18T14:38:00.001-07:00

Our house is 3.5 years old. I try so hard to infuse some old-house-character into it, but it's difficult. However, today I finally finished a project that I've been working on all summer. We have a lovely bay window in our kitchen that just looked too modern. Luckily, Kevin didn't say no to my crazy idea to add faux diamond-panes.

Back in April, I bought two packs of 1/4 inch vinyl pinstriping from an auto parts store. That was enough to do the two small windows and about a third of the big window. But the store was out of the vinyl I needed. I must have gone back a dozen times over the summer, but they never had any. They told me it was on order. The one time I resolved to head to the other side of the city on the chance the other store would have some, Juliana decided to get sick so we went home instead.

Eventually, I dashed in one more time, not holding any hope that the vinyl would be in stock yet...ever. But they had some! Yay! It's been sitting on my counter for a week or two waiting for me to finish.

The diamonds are different for each window, but since each window's pattern is straight and symmetrical, it looks perfectly fine. But the grapevine wreath needs more embellishment.

We've slowly been adding Christmas decorations to the house. We got our first real snowfall yesterday and now I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit!

I have yet to start shopping. I'm dreading it.

I hope you're enjoying the season!

Seattle!

2011-11-05T15:13:00.001-06:00

I returned from Seattle at 1:00am on Monday. If you'd like to read about my adventures, see these posts:

Seattle, Day 1: The Angel of Seattle
Seattle, Day 2: Walk, walk, rain, walk, bus
Seattle, Day 3: The Shining Emerald City
Seattle, Day 4: The Tourists
Women of Faith Conference Review: Laughter and Tears
11th Avenue Inn Bed & Breakfast Review

Parrot

2011-10-26T14:10:00.001-06:00

Seven Things

2011-10-24T09:48:00.002-06:00

I just discovered that Paige Kellerman has given me a blog award!

Thanks Paige! I got to know Paige from Twitter. She's a writer with one of the funniest blogs I've ever come across. Go check out There's More Where That Came From. I think in my case, "versatile" is code for "unable to focus on one thing".

Here are the award rules:

Thank the person who shared the award with you by linking back to them in your post.

List seven things about yourself.

Pass this award on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know that you included them in your blog post.

So, here's my seven things:
1. I'm going to Seattle on Thursday!
2. I'm a little bit terrified about travelling on my own.
3. I'm 28 years old and I've never done anything on my own.
4. Sometimes I prefer YA fiction to adult fiction (for example, Patricia C. Wrede)
5. Speaking of fiction, I need to bring something to read while I'm away. I will be spending about 2.5 hours total waiting in airports.
6. I am currently playing The Game.
7. I am not getting very good scores this time around.

I'm not sure I have 15 newly discovered blogs since I haven't been browsing much lately, so I'll just post 15 smallish blogs I think you should check out. (in no particular order)

1. The Koala Bear Writer - I'll be meeting Bonnie while I'm in Seattle. We're going to the Women of Faith Conference together.
2. City and Baby
3. A Pretty Life in the Suburbs - This is my blog doppelganger. Her name is Jo-Anna, she's Canadian too.
4. Lemonade Makin' Mama
5. Buns in My Oven - I recently discovered this blog on Pinterest, and wanted to pin the whole thing. I'll be making her cream cheese chicken enchiladas for supper tonight.
6. Five Days...Five Ways
7. The Happy Book Blog
8. The Heart of the Home - My friend Jenn is an amazing cook.
9. Griffintainment - Dustin should get paid to write his movie reviews.
10. Little Red Hearts
11. Jillian-Claire Photography
12. The Real Bliss - Just discovered this one today, and I'm looking forward to having the time to take a closer look.
13. Papercastle Collective
14. Heartfelt Devotionals
15. Patty Froese Ntihemuka

A Glimpse of Countryside

2011-10-19T14:58:00.000-06:00

I was on my own for my bike ride yesterday. Kevin was home, so I left him and Juli watching a movie while Nick was sleeping, and headed out. It's amazing how much easier it is to ride when I'm not pulling 100 extra pounds of children and trailer! I made my way south on 66th street. I wanted to get to the country. We live right on the edge of the city, but more and more of the countryside is being eaten up by cookie-cutter subdivisions. It's depressing. So, although it was tough biking on gravel, I kept going until all I could see ahead of me was countryside. No construction. I came to a field and stopped where a convenient rock marked the entry to a field of golden stubble (right in the centre of the screenshot above, thanks Google Maps!)

Oh, it was so nice to just sit and let my jelly-like muscles recover for the ride back! It was warm and sunny, with only a slight breeze setting the treetops swaying...I loved it. There was a fair amount of traffic on the road--mostly construction vehicles--so I felt too conspicuous to stay long.

Once I got home I told Kevin where I had gone. He asked me not to go there again, due to reports of drug deals happening in that area. That sucks.

Fall Art Project

2011-10-17T15:21:00.000-06:00

I think I'm becoming a homeschool mom! Juli has mastered the alphabet and is now learning her letter sounds, which we review in the van as we drive along with her Wee College memory verses.

And today we did our first detailed family art project. I found the project HERE, and decided that I wanted to try it with Juli. I prepared the background of the pictures last night, one for Nicholas too, although he's only two.

They make quite a pretty collection of paintings. Here's mine: (aren't you proud of me? I mastered a 2nd grade art project! yay!)

Here's Juli's: (She did an amazing job, and loved doing it, especially the straw-blowing part to make the branches.)

And here's Nicks: (He did so well! He loved blowing with the straw, and when he did his leaves, he said "Pop, pop, pop..." for each one.)

The background and tree trunks/branches were done with my watercolour paints. The leaves were done with Juli's tempera paints. I hung up the pictures using command hooks and binder clips near the back door. I needed something to put there since I gave away my straw hat (and it's no longer summer), and all my quilted wall-hangings that would fit are wintery. I suppose I could have just removed the one hook that was there and had an empty wall.

Using what I have: Crochet pouch necklace

2011-10-16T15:43:00.002-06:00

Three years ago, when I was visiting my sister, she made me this crochet pouch necklace. It was intended to hold a pretty polished stone.

For the last few weeks, I've needed to use eye drops (for anterior uveitis). Now, I am horribly forgetful. If I did not have the eyedrops in my hand, I would forget to put them in. Every hour wasn't so bad, but every two hours, or every three hours, I cannot remember to do it.

So I put the little eyedrop bottle into the pouch and tied it closed. It is perfect! It swings from my neck as I go about my day, getting in my way just enough to remind me. Yes, I look like a dork. But my eye is getting better.

Fall Centrepieces

2011-10-09T16:40:00.001-06:00

I can't believe I haven't yet shared the centrepieces I did for our women's ministries fall dessert night! We had Cheryl Allen sing and share her story, and Starbucks demonstrated some coffee and dessert pairings (which is apparently all the rage on the west coast) I must admit that the coffee bean part of the centrepiece was someone else's brilliant idea, while the mason jar idea came from Pinterest. The driftwood I've had for years, after my mom had it for years, and neither of us ever used it. Note: most tables had a taper, a votive, and a tealight. I happened to sit at the one table with two tapers.

Regency Hair Style

2011-10-07T10:28:00.000-06:00

Because of, or in spite of, the fact that I'm not going anywhere today.

In Which I Reveal My Scottish Pride and My Odd Affinity for Historic Clothing

2011-10-03T09:49:00.000-06:00

With some leftover birthday money, I decided to buy myself a necklace that I've been wanting for a while. Kevin didn't quite take the hint when I sent him the link for it last Christmas. It is sterling silver and made using the imprint of an antique wax seal. I ordered it from Englady on etsy. I absolutely love it! It's nice and heavy, and the chain is so delicate...I forgot to take a picture of the pearls that accent the clasp, but it's gorgeous. It all came packaged in a pretty teal box with a white satin ribbon. I am half Scottish, and I'll wear my thistle with pride!

On the other hand, I'm about to reveal perhaps a bit more than I ever have before...pictures of me in my underwear... Right, so it's 200 year old underwear. I've always wanted to make myself a Regency-Era dress. But never one to do anything half-way, I figured I needed the proper undergarments first. It always bothers me that in historical dramas they don't wear period-appropriate underthings. For example, in the 1980s version of Mansfield park, it is very obvious that Fanny Price and Mary Crawford are not wearing petticoats! Scandalous! Perhaps you'd expect it of Mary, but not Fanny!

I used the Sense and Sensibility Regency Underthings pattern for my Chemise and Short Stays. The chemise is not actually finished, as I still need to finish flat-felling the side seams (it's really boring when done by hand), and then I need to hem it (also by hand, of course). I chose to do spiral lacing for my stays, because it is more historically accurate. Did you know that the cross-lacing we usually envision on corsets wasn't actually used until well into the Victorian era? So any medieval costume you see with cross lacing isn't correct...unless it's decorative and probably rennaisance anyway.

I cut out size 12, which was miles too big. I didn't want to lose any length as I would have if I had recut the pieces in a smaller size. So I just took it in about an inch total. I also shortened the straps about half an inch. I think that made it about size 8, but now that it is complete, I see I should have done size 6. I can easily lace it all the way closed, but it's supposed to have about a 2 inch gap.

You would be surprised how comfortable this is. More so than a modern bra because it doesn't ride up or poke. It makes me stand straighter too. I bought zip ties for the boning, and everything else I had on hand.

interlining: canvas drop cloth fabric, left over from the roman blinds I made. It's a little too stretchy for corsets, but it'll do for now. If you use it, zig-zag or serge your edges! Especially the gussets. I had to replace two after they frayed. Other than that, this pattern was so easy.
lining: white cotton, the same as the chemise fabric
outer fabric: some kind of synthetic that looks like dupioni silk.
drawstring and lacing: cotton, I have no idea what it is. I'll have to ask my mom, since she gave it to me. It's loosely-woven, yet strong.

Next up, petticoat and dress! The petticoat will be made of the same cotton as the chemise, and will button to the stays, since I don't want yet another set of straps over my shoulders. I may make the dress first, as I have no idea how full to make the petticoat at the moment. My inspiration for the dress can be seen on my Pinterest board.

The Four-Year-Old Mind

2011-09-28T09:22:00.002-06:00

Incident One:

Juli asked me, "Will mine and Nick's kids grow in Nick's tummy or in mine?"

Incident Two:

As all four of us cuddled in bed on Saturday morning, Juli exclaimed, "We're making a big pile of family!"

Incident Three:

My daughter, age four, was holding her newborn cousin. The baby started to fuss. Juli said, "I think she's thirsty." Then, she leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom! This will be the first time I ever milked a baby before!"

Incident Four:

Juli is an expert at blowing kisses by now. This morning, she decided to blow hugs. "Mom, I know how to give hugs without using our arms! She wrapped one arm around her tummy, then blew in my direction.

Incident Five:

Her drawings include power poles:

Happy Almost Fall!

2011-09-22T08:45:00.000-06:00

It's fall at our house. Yeah, so it's technically summer for about 20 more hours. But I always know it's fall when I get an insatiable urge to bake. This week, I've been undoing all my good healthy eating work of the summer. It's awful. But I LOVE to bake.

Nick, proudly sporting his first pair of undies:

Kevin's grandma gave me, along with a bag of delicious apples from her tree, some vintageish notions. Mostly ribbon, but some lace, bells, and other things. Including about 3 or 4 tape measures. I now have no excuse to not be able to find one when I need it!

The ribbon and lace colours were mostly too bright for my taste. So I attempted to bleach them. Unfortunately, it only worked half-way on the teal, the other colours are unaffected. So I may try again with a chlorine bleach (I used an oxygen bleach last time), or I may just dye them all with coffee.

Happy fall!

My first guest post!

2011-09-15T07:47:00.000-06:00

My new writer friend with a beautiful name, Joanna Aislinn asked me to write a guest post for her about my experiences with The Game On! Diet book. To read all about it, go visit Joanna’s blog!

Morning Snack

2011-09-13T21:15:00.000-06:00

Today was my turn to bring snack to our morning preschooler-moms' group. I planned and shopped for a lemon cake, not realizing that the recipe required a bundt or tube pan, which I don't have. So, I improvised and ended up bringing this:

Apple slices (I used my mini-gingerbread-man cookie cutter for the cores, which was the perfect size and shape. Photo found on Pinterest)

Greek yogurt and Nutella fruit dip (Photo also found on Pinterest)

Blueberry Morning Muffins. I've had this recipe for quite a while. The blog I got it from is no longer up. I substituted about 1/2 a cup of thawed raspberries and one peach for the blueberries. They were delicious!

All together, this made quite a delicious snack. Of course I didn't take pictures of my own...what do you think I am, a blogger? I'll try to do better next time.

I'm feeling great!

2011-09-12T09:38:00.000-06:00

But I've been slacking this past week. I think I'm ready for another game.

Another Blue Door

2011-09-06T06:56:00.000-06:00

Last year I painted our front door Midnight Blue, by Behr. Today, I used the same paint to do our back door. It was dingy banged-up white before. It looks so much better! This is the door we'll be using all winter, so I wanted to make sure I painted it this year. I have a few touch-ups to do, and some paint to scrape off the doorknob, but it still looks great. Now, if only I can keep the kids from hitting it with sticks for a few days. Nicholas was very impressed with it when he woke up from his nap.

I really want to do the garage door too (below), but I only have enough paint for maybe two coats. It will need at least three. I don't want to buy another whole quart of paint to do just this door. I suppose I could buy a sample pot of the paint.

Big Boy!

2011-09-05T20:42:00.003-06:00

Tonight is Nick's first in a big boy bed! AKA, a mattress on the floor. And we're not going back to the crib, so it had better work out. Here's his completely undecorated, but still kind of cute bedroom:

It's a 3/4 size mattress...do they even sell sheets and beds that size any more? Luckily, we have a set of double-sized sheets that are a little wide but work for now. As far as I can tell from the lack of noise upstairs, Nick went right to sleep!

PS: What do you think of the new blog format and larger pictures? Are the pictures too big? Let me know what's working and what isn't. I'm in a tweaking mood.

Mudroom Lockers...ready for accessorizing!

2011-09-04T08:11:00.001-06:00

Ok, maybe not accessorizing as much as stuffing full of all our shoes and coats and junk. But it will be pretty! I'm thrilled that I finally have some farmhouse character in this house! Kevin, we'd better not move for at least a couple of years now! I think I'm in love. I stand and stare with satisfaction at our handiwork.

I still have some small hooks to add, but I'm not sure where they'll go yet. We have yet to find a tray that will work for Kevin's stuff. What I had in mind isn't going to happen, because apparently, Ikea doesn't sell those particular trays any more. I'd like to find baskets...like vintage locker baskets, but I'll probably end up going with wicker or something.

What do you think of the colour? It's Smoked Turquoise by CIL. I was aiming for something with a bit more blue in it, but all the blue ones that looked good with the kitchen paint colour were quite dark. Kevin didn't want dark, and I didn't want to have to paint three coats. So we went with this one.

I am looking forward to civilising my house again. It's been a complete disaster area while I was working on this. I'll be moving the cleaning supplies and extra batteries and lightbulbs to the front hall closet (which has doors), and moving all our in-season outdoor stuff in here, in baskets.

Girl-sized tools

2011-08-31T14:37:00.000-06:00

I know women are strong, tough, and can do anything. We sure can! But personally, I can't swing Kevin's huge framing hammer! At least not with any kind of accuracy. I like my little tack hammer much better. When I bought it (a while ago), Kevin took one look and asked, "Is that a toy?" Today, since I can't find my palm sander, I bought a Black & Decker Mouse:

(source)

There were other detail sanders at Lowes (I decided to branch out from my usual Home Depot...Lowes is slightly closer), but they all felt heavy to my scrawny wrists. The Mouse was the smallest. I think I'm going to like my little mouse! If I ever find my palm sander, I'm sure I'll still get plenty of use out of it too.

I've finished with the construction phase of our new mudroom lockers! Using some not-so-tiny tools, I added trim to the front, and around the walls, board-and-batten style. Since the last update, Kevin added the shoe shelves at the bottom, but I did everything else. Once it's all painted white, It will look spectacular.

I'm just waiting for the wood filler to dry in the bigger cracks (because we are far from wood-cutting experts), then I can put my Mouse to good use. After that, I will be caulking everything. Priming and painting tomorrow, I hope! I'm undecided on the colour for the upper part of the walls and the ceiling. I want something dramatic, like peacock blue. But the living room colour (grey-tan) would look great too...better for resale value. I'm leaning toward the tan at the moment as I remember the annoyance of painting the dark blue bathroom. I don't really want to add that to the annoyance of painting the ceiling.

Next on the list, before we return the saws to Kevin's dad is my little cupboard by the front door. If I get brave enough, I may try doing that by myself. Pray that I keep all my fingers!

Built-In Lockers Progress

2011-08-28T08:13:00.000-06:00

Kevin and I make a great team, I think. I come up with crazy design ideas, and he makes it happen realistically. I always intend to build it myself, but when he sees my ideas, he makes them better, and takes over the power saws. Probably just as well. The only power saw I'm somewhat comfortable using is a mitre saw. Which I will be using over the next few days to put up trim and board and batten in this tiny space. Then it will be painting time! Something that falls solely in my realm, due to my perfectionist-control-freak tendencies. I like to paint.

This sight makes me smile this morning!

I'm so lucky to have a husband who not only supports my crazy projects, but makes them happen.

My mom wasn't so lucky, due to my Dad's brain injury, which made him not the most reliable assistant. When I was four, we moved into a duplex that was not far off from being condemned. The bathroom floor was nearly rotted through. My mom single-handedly (well, I'm sure she had help for some things) brought that place from gross, dangerous, outdated, to nice, clean, and renovated. She replaced the bathroom subfloor, painted all the kitchen cabinets, installed wainscotting, installed a bathroom in the basement, painted the entire house--main floor and basement, and built a wall between the entry and living room. that wall had a built-in china cabinet on the living room side and four built-in cubbies on the entry side, one for each kid. She also built a little bench in the entry. That was made necessary because she wanted the piano to fit into the basement, so some of the floor had to be removed. She did that, beautifully. I'm so proud of my mom, and I hope I can be more like her.

Creating Function (and Beauty!) in a Mudroom

2011-08-27T08:52:00.000-06:00

The leaves are starting to change here already. I swore in the spring, as I put away all the winter boots and coats (and then pulled them out again...then put them away), that before fall I would build mudroom shelves and lockers.

Ok, so we don't really have a mudroom. We have a teeny-tiny back entry off the kitchen. We've tried a few things back there to keep things organized. It is the door we always use, since the garage is out back. Nothing has really worked. It had an ugly wire coat rack and shelf. Those are fine and functional in closets with doors, but looked awful and didn't work with the space. We hung our coats on hooks. The kids pulled down their hooks twice! The wall I put them in has no studs. For my birthday, my friend gave be a gorgeous wooden bench with a little storage, which worked much better than the walmart shoe shelves we had before. But it still wasn't perfect.

So yesterday, after getting the go-ahead from Kevin, I dismantled everything, patched the walls, and even scrapped the popcorn ceiling off! I've been wanting to do that ever since I figured out my plan in the spring. To see some images that have given me inspiration for this project, check out my Pinterest board.

I had to put up a makeshift curtain before Kevin would let me sand. He is a very smart man. I had already scraped off the popcorn, which didn't make too much mess, but the amount of dust I had to sand off was chokingly astounding. Yes, I wore a mask. I should have worn safety glasses too. I think the sheet I used for the curtain is from the 70s. My mom gave it to me the first year I grew tomatoes, so I would have something to cover them with in case of frost.

Today, my plan is to prime the walls, then go buy the white semi-gloss paint and peacock blue satin paint that I need for the room. I'm hoping Home Depot will have a quart of mistint in a nice colour. I'll also buy some of the wood I need for the lockers and shelves, and some of the board and batten. I'm thinking of moving the light switch over about three inches on the stud-less wall...But I may just leave it and work around it. My other project to complete this week, while we're borrowing the table saw from Kevin's dad, is my poor little hole-in-the-wall cupboard.

Ever since I started this mess, Nick has been carrying around his toy drill and fixing things too.

Big Girl Room: Memo board

2011-08-22T11:08:00.000-06:00

I made something for Juli's new violet walls this weekend. She loves keeping her birthday cards, and pictures, and invitations, etc. So I made her a french memo board as a place to keep them.

This time I used an old wood-framed bulletin board that I found at Value Village. I covered it with two layers of polyester quilt batting, and some turquoise fabric I had. I didn't have enough ribbon to do all one colour, so I did two. I like the look. With the double-layer of batting, the ribbon wasn't tight enough to hold the cards against gravity, so I added some button tufting to the top, middle, and bottom rows. I may add another four buttons if necessary. That's what made using a bulletin board such a good idea. No drill was needed to sew the buttons on! I used 1mm satin ribbon for the stitches.

I used larger buttons on the back to secure it, since the ribbon was pulling through the board.

Juli is happy with the result, and so am I.

My 2-year-old Nicholas

2011-08-19T08:52:00.000-06:00

You know when 2-year-olds try to blow out their birthday candles and end up spitting all over the cake? Well, Nicholas blew out his candles like a pro! No spitting, and he got it on the first try! It's hard to believe that my brown-eyed boy is two already. But then I look at his 3-year-old-sized body and have to believe it.

His birthday yesterday gave me an excuse to try a cake I've been wanting to make. It has two ingredients: yellow cake mix (just the powder) and a can of pumpkin. I put a spiced glaze over the top. I think it would have been better with a plain vanilla glaze.

We went to Ikea yesterday. Juli went to play in the kids' area. Nick was very upset that he couldn't go too. As a special birthday treat, I let him push a kid-size cart instead of being strapped in to a regular one. He had a blast pushing that thing around the store. He kept yelling Run! and trying to go too fast. I was grateful for the parent handle.

Throughout the whole store, Nick looked everywhere for Juli. In the kitchens, behind the sofas, etc. He kept asking for, "Anana?" Yes, he calls his sister "pineapple" in french.

Everytime we sang Happy Birthday or blew out candles, Nick clapped and cheered. "Yay!"

I love the personality that is shaping in this little guy. He is very tidy. He likes to have things lined up just so. He likes to clean up. He likes to help. He likes to figure out how things work, and doesn't get easily frustrated like his perfectionist sister does. He has the patience to see it through. On the other hand, we need to work on having patience in other things, like waiting for supper.

This morning, my little boy found a crocheted potholder. He brought it to me, gently spread it on my shoulder, then laid his head down on it. I guess it reminded him of his favourite blanket. He loves hugs and kisses, although he doesn't sit still to cuddle as long as I'd like. He always has to be on the go.

A Big Girl Bedroom in Violet

2011-08-18T16:07:00.001-06:00

Our room-sharing experiment was short-lived. After a couple of days to get used to it, the kids were doing so well sleeping in the same room! But lately, they've been talking and playing a lot more, even when Juli didn't take a nap. So, after Kevin insisted and I finally agreed, we decided to separate them again.

As I cleared out the reading-room stuff and accumulated junk, I thought, "Wouldn't it make sense to paint the room now, before Juli is moved back in?" I figured Kevin would say no, due to the cost, but I decided to ask anyway. So I called him. To my shock, he actually said yes! So, Juli picked the colour--a light lilac, which she calls violet ("Miss Hussy", by General Paint), and on Tuesday, I prepared the room for painting. Once the kids were in bed for the night, I primed the walls. With the flat builders-grade paint, it wouldn't have needed priming, but there were so many patches, that I just did the whole wall anyway.

Wednesday, after purchasing a better roller and returning my books to the library, I painted. With a little help from Juli. Here is what her room looks like now.

The quilt on the window was made by my Nanny when I was about 15 or so. One year at Christmas, she had everyone colour on a piece of fabric, which she sewed into this wall-hanging. Serendipitously, it is exactly the right shape and size for Juli's window. I know it's not really good for a quilt to hang over a window, due to sun damage and fading, but it is a north-facing window, and there's a blackout roller-shade behind it. I think it will be ok.

The room still needs a few things: bedding (I need to turn her double-size comforter into a twin-size), a headboard, a bedskirt, a slipcover for the chair, and things for the walls (I'm thinking a french memo board would be perfect for this girl who loves to save all her cards and pictures.)

Now I really want to do Nick's room. Maybe right before he moves into a big bed. I'm trying to convince myself that I should NOT attempt to make quilts for my children. It's not working.

Painting Memories

2011-08-15T06:15:00.009-06:00

When I was growing up, my dear best friend lived in an old farmhouse on an acreage. When they moved to a house in town, both our hearts were broken! We loved that place! The old wooden swings, the guest house, the long walks along country roads wearing our prairie-girl dresses...It was our haven.

For my friend's birthday this year, I was trying to figure out what to give her. I came across a picture of the view from her bedroom window at that house. With that picture were two paintings I did. The paintings were inspired by both that picture and a passage in my favourite book, The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery.

So for the gift, I combined the two. The paintings were done in 1999 when I was about 16. Just this week, I colour-copied the page from my first-edition book, and glued the relevant passages on to the paintings as a collage. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The text elevates my juvenile painting ability (which has not improved at all over the past 12 years) to something closer to folk-art. The frames are from the Ikea as-is section. I painted them thickly with silver craft paint, then used wood stain over that. If you'd like to read the entire passage that was my inspiration, check out my writing blog.

Note, beyond that little shed in the picture, in the woods and down the lane that is hidden under the snow, was an abandoned "haunted" house. I never had the courage to go explore it, but I wish that I had.

Raspberry White-Chocolate Scones

2011-08-08T09:16:00.002-06:00

On Saturday we went raspberry picking at Horse Hill Farm. I had a voucher giving me 50% off of up to 10 pounds of berries. I highly recommend that place! I was expecting mud and mosquitos and mess, but experienced none of that. Well, I have about 10 mosquito bites on my legs, but I didn't notice them until last night. They have wide aisles of mown grass between the rows of canes, so there was no mud either. The messiest we got was when Nico sat on a berry.

I picked one bucket fairly quickly on my own, then helped Kevin finish filling his bucket. My arms were totally scratched, and I still have prickles embedded in my hands. But it was worth it. Next time, I'll wear long sleeves, and maybe even gloves. Juli loved picking the berries. If her birthday was a month later, I'd consider having a raspberry-picking party for her. Last night, I made some scones.

Raspberry White-Chocolate Scones

2 cups of flour
1 rounded tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of white sugar

Mix the above together. Add 1/4 cup butter or margarine or shortening, and mix it with a fork or pastry blender. Stir in 1 cup of milk

Lightly mix in 1 cup of white chocolate chunks and 1 to 1.5 cups of fresh raspberries. Drop by he spoonful onto a baking sheet. I used parchment paper on mine, because I knew the chocolate and raspberries would stick. I love parchment paper!

Bake at 450 degrees F for 12 -18 minutes.

These scones are so moist and delicious that you don't even need butter. I got the idea for this recipe from Cobs Bakery, but I think mine are better. Theirs were really dry and biscuit-like. Yeah, I'm humble!

Edited 8/13 to add the correct oven temperature! The first batch I made (pictured) I baked at 400, which is why it took forever, and ended up slightly too moist. the second batch was much better.

Melted Crayon Colours!

2011-08-05T08:37:00.000-06:00

I discovered a tutorial for this melted crayon art on Pinterest. (I love that site! I'm even using it for writing inspiration pictures!) But I didn't like the methods described in that tutorial, so I won't link it here. I hot-glued the crayons in a row in my 13x13 canvas, leaving out red, orange, brown, black, and grey from the box of 64 I bought, to better coordinate with the baby's room this will go in. Then I turned on the hair dryer.

I found it worked best if I keep the hair dryer on low (but high heat), and pointed only at the crayon wrappers. I tilted the canvas to whatever angle I needed it to get the wax to run the way I wanted it to. I love how it turned out! Juliana was a little upset that I was going to give away the crayons she thought I was buying for her. But she coloured some nice wrapping paper for the gift, using the leftover crayons. That made her happy.

What's for Dinner?

2011-07-28T15:41:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that my daily supper cooking is uninteresting at best. My husband can't be faulted for calling it "boring". He bought us a new cookbook: Dinner Tonight: Done! It has glossy pictures for each recipe, and the best part is that the recipes are simple! Kevin looked through it and said, "Here, use this book to make supper every night for the rest of my life."

I can go through it and pick one chicken recipe, one beef, one pork, one veggie, one pasta...and there's my menu planning for the week! On Tuesday, I made spiced chicken with couscous salad. It was good, although I think next time I'll leave out the lemon juice and basil. On Wednesday, I made brown sugar-glazed pork with grilled corn. Now that was delicious! Juliana told me she wants to eat corn like that for every meal and snack "for now on!"

Today, I've got slow-cooker Cuban braised beef and peppers going. I hope it's good! And I hope the avocado is ripe enough.

Juliana gathered some flowers on our walk today. The lily is from my garden.

Anonymous or Not?

2011-07-27T11:33:00.001-06:00

Over the three years that I've been posting at To a Pretty Life, I've tried to stay relatively anonymous. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where I live or who I am, but I've never directly stated it.

Now I have started a writing blog. It would be rather pointless to have an anonymous writing blog since my name is my brand. I've debated whether to share that blog here. Should I remain anonymous?

Eventually, I decided that it's not a big deal. So, I'd love it if you'd visit my new blog!

Joanna Clark Dawyd

Let me know what you think! I intend to keep posting my creative endeavors here, although I'll post less about my kids. The internet is forever, after all.

Affirmation from a 4-year-old

2011-07-21T14:29:00.000-06:00

As I was getting into the shower this morning, Juliana wanted me to step on the scale, so she could see "how many pounds" I was. So I did.

She said, "You're not a big tubby like Daddy. Last time you were a big tubby, but now you're not."

Oh, thanks princess!

Pining for Pinterest!

2011-07-11T08:36:00.000-06:00

Oh, how I want a Pinterest invitation! I've been dying to start pinning inspiration, and I've requested the invite, but aparently I'm just not cool enough ;-)

(source: screen shot of pinterest.com)

Book Review: A Vision of Lucy by Margaret Brownley

2011-07-09T21:04:00.001-06:00

Margaret Brownley’s A Vision of Lucy is the story of a young woman in 19^th century Rocky Creek, Texas, who is desperate to become a professional photographer, despite all the trouble she gets herself into when striving for the perfect photograph. Her widowed father does not understand Lucy’s devotion to her work, and wishes she would settle down and get married. Lucy’s photographic stunts put her in danger with some stagecoach robbers but she is rescued by the feared “wild man of Rocky Creek”—who may not be as wild as the rumours suggest.

It’s been a while since I read an inspirational historical western romance. I grew up reading Jeanette Oke and Stephen Bly. I found this story to be refreshingly different First, there’s that mind-blowing kiss in chapter three. Good Christian girls aren’t supposed to think about that kind of stuff! Second, I loved the historical details that the author included. This book is completely stuffed with details, which really makes the story stand out to me.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the story. So much so, that I requested another of the Rocky Creek Romances from my library, A Lady Like Sarah. I would caution you to read that one before you read A Vision of Lucy. My impression of Sarah from her small part in Lucy’s book made me think of her as a country bumpkin/hillbilly, not a powerful, beautiful ex-outlaw.

My copy of this book was provided free from Booksneeze.com in exchange for an honest review. The opinions noted are mine alone. The cover photo above was provided by Booksneeze.com

Four years old

2011-07-05T09:09:00.001-06:00

My girl is four today. We had her birthday dress-up party on Saturday, with kids ranging in age from 2 (almost 3) to 7. Juliana picked the activities: decorating crowns (my friend recommended the foam ones from Michaels...brilliant idea!), and a treasure hunt (which turned into a water balloon hunt).

Juli wore her ballet costume. This morning we woke her up so that she could have her presents before her daddy left for work. She was shocked, I think. She kept saying, "A scooter and a bike? How did you know I wanted a scooter AND a bike?" We found both on kijiji. If we'd had to buy new, she wouldn't have either.

Right now, she's drawing pictures for her friends. I think she's expecting them to come over for another party today.

Nick needed to be fed strawberries and grapes to keep him out of the way of the gift opening at the party.

This is Juli's new puppy. Her name is "Audra."

It has come as a bit of a shock to me that my little baby girl is suddenly four. She has grown several inches in the past few months, and she's looking so much older.

Three years ago.

Last week.

Beach Day!

2011-06-29T14:25:00.000-06:00

The kids and I spent the morning at the beach. It is quite nice to have a clean beach within walking distance of our house. The kids love it. I'm going to try to go quite often this summer. Might as well take advantage of it while we have it!

Nick's favourite thing to do is throw sand into the lake. So he ends up with it all over his face and in his hair.

Juli had great fun making "sand angels".

And sand castles. Just call her Vanna. She posed like that on her own.

Nick wasn't so sure about getting his clothes wet at first, but once he was all wet, he was fine. This boy doesn't like to be messy.

Juliana "swimming" .

In other news, Juliana informed me, very seriously that we're "death-proof. Until we're dead."
And I submitted an article that I wrote. My first one ever! I'm excited and nervous...

The Power of the Pen...a Red Pen

2011-06-21T23:26:00.000-06:00

When I am editing, I feel powerful. I feel educated and smart. Maybe it's because I feel I know what I am doing. Or because it is the skill with which I hope to one day earn a living. Everything else I do, I feel like an amateur. Now, I know all my friends will chime in gushing about my creativity, but there's no need. I know I am creative, and I like it. But I still feel like an amateur creator, and homemaker, and mother, etc. But, I am a professional editor, and proud of it!

Fathers' Day Card

2011-06-21T15:11:00.000-06:00

This is a little less manly than the cards I usually make for Kevin. But I wanted to play with my new stamp set. The eggs are Juliana's fingerprints. Nick was sleeping.

Gifts for my Nephew's Baptism

2011-06-14T15:44:00.000-06:00

Rambling about Contentment and Laundry

2011-06-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

I have realised something lately...well, today. I am content. It doesn't happen often, since I'm totally disorganized, and rarely have a calm enough brain to reflect on my blessings. I'm actually content with my house. That doesn't mean there aren't a million and a half things I want to change about it. But I'm more focused on how to make THIS house work, rather than thinking "It will be better in our next house."

My goal is to simplify and get rid of stuff. Including the kids' outgrown clothes. That is a bit scarey to me, since we haven't decided whether we're having more kids or not. But right at this moment, I'm actually feeling content with having only two kids. If you knew how I was raised, that would be a shocking revelation!

The most important thing I need to get a handle on right now is laundry. I need to make our laundry room functional, and I need to find a place to store our dirty laundry. We used to keep a pile/basket in everyone's room, but I think I really need to have it all in one place. So my plan is to move the kids' books into Nick's room and use the space in the upstairs hall for a hamper. And then, I need to put the laundry away once it's washed. That one is hard, since I'm usually folding laundry when the kids are sleeping, then I can't put theirs away until they wake up.

I'm thinking about a solution to that. I'm not sure if Kevin will agree. What if both kids sleep in the same room? If we did that, there wouldn't be room for their clothes, so we'd put the dressers in the other room. And maybe have a reading nook in there. Juli could have her quiet time in the reading/dressing room, since she doesn't really need a nap. I like this idea better and better!

Bike Bag

2011-06-06T08:46:00.000-06:00

I still don't have a basket on my bike yet. I've looked at a few, but haven't found anything I particularly want yet. And even when I do have a basket, I'll likely need it for things other than my wallet, keys, diapers, etc. Like milk. Or farmers market stuff. So I decided to make an over-the-shoulder tote bag for when I'm biking.

Polka-dot poly-cotton on the outside, an old cotton sheet for lining, pink top-stitching, a couple of pockets and a couple of yellow buttons, and I have a new bag.

I'd love to do some freezer paper stenciling, but the image I want would be too complex to cut by hand...if only I had a Silhouette...

A Spring Tea Party

2011-05-29T18:22:00.000-06:00

I like tea. And I like pretty dishes and pretty food. And I like decorating.

My friend and I decided to throw a tea party, just because. We've spent the last month and a half planning it. I made invitations and sent them out, and I made all the decorations, using mostly what I had on hand. I think the only things I bought to decorate with were the roses and a 2-pack of crepe paper streamers.

Due to a power outage on Thursday, I had to cut back a little on the decorating. I couldn't use my iron, glue gun, or computer for about four hours, so there were fewer garlands, and no place cards or food lables. Oh well, next time.

Sherisse and I pooled our china and linen resources. Most of the pretty teacups and tea pots are hers.

We asked everyone to bring a short quote or reading to share. I loved them all. One of our friends even wrote a poem for the event, which had most of us almost in tears.

To drink, we had four kinds of tea, along with Lavender Lemonade. Seriously, this was the most delicious juice I've ever had.

Sherisse made all the food, and it was all perfectly divine. We had Cucumber Sandwiches (of course!), Lemon Curd Tarts, Lavender Shortbread (in the shape of little tea pots), Scones with butter and strawberry jam, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and Pansies (edible!), and Smoked Salmon Blinis with Nasturtium Butter). Kevin said, "Don't you girls know flowers are for looking at, not eating?" I said, "Try some Lavender Lemonade."

I finally got to use my 100+ year old napkin rings that my Nanny gave me! She said they're from Papa's family. Unfortunately, they didn't engrave anything. But they're lovely.

We tried to invite a diverse group, and I'm so glad we did!

Sherisse and I spent a morning making feathery fascinators for our guests. Some were a bit on the dramatic side, but we had fun with it! I'm sure I'll be wearing mine again, and possibly making more.

My lovely co-host:

This is what my kitchen looked like for the party (and it still looks like this):

Grass

2011-05-11T11:50:00.000-06:00

I want my grass to look like this:

source

Unfortunately, it looks like this (and in the back yard, it's lumpy too):

source

In a few weeks, it will turn green. Most of it anyway. Some Nutrilawn salesmen payed me a visit yesterday. They just had to point out how patchy our lawn is. And how weedy our neighbourhood is. Repeatedly. That's the way to win customers! Kevin won't let me put up a "no solicitors" sign.

Despite the brown grass, my front garden is looking lovely! I'll take pictures soon. I cleaned up three of my five garden beds yesterday, with Juliana's help. She actually was a very big help! Much better than a couple of weeks ago when she wrapped her little hands around my daylily and said, "This is a big weed!" Luckily, she didn't pull hard enough to damage it.

1950s Bedroom Chair

2011-05-09T10:42:00.002-06:00

You may remember an old, worn brown chair I posted about a week or two ago. Well, this is it! It's much better now. I took the upholstery off on Saturday, and painted the legs with two coats of Kilz primer (because it's supposed to cover rust...the metal leg ends were rusty). On Sunday, I painted two coats of semi-gloss white paint on the legs, and when it was dry and the kids were in bed, I did the upholstery. This morning, I just had to do the tufting and attach the back. I still need to scotchguard it.

I decided to add tufting to the back, and when I took it apart, I discovered that it was originally tufted. I wasn't sure whether to do the piping or not. I wanted it to be easy. I'm so glad I did! It wouldn't have looked nearly as well done if I hadn't added the piping. I had planned to use the flowered fabric for the whole thing, but I already had some piping that I made a while ago, and the green looked good, so I went with it! By the way, using piping is so easy.

Then I couldn't resist using the green fabric on the back too. The chair was given to me, and I used fabric, staples, tacks, and paint that I already had. So this chair cost me $2.95 for the buttons.

The kids love it too. Nick keeps climbing on it. Juliana said this morning, before the chair was finished, "It looks good as new already!" But then she said that right after I took off the old fabric too, with the old dusty batting showing. Speaking of batting, I also added 2 layers of polyester quilt batting (the fluffy kind).

Now I just need to find a place for this chair. It's too short to use it for what I wanted it for. Juliana wants it in her room. Maybe my mother-in-law will want it back now...

Tomato Appetizer - Parmato Blossom Bites

2011-05-04T08:34:00.002-06:00

So I invented this recipe. I was calling it Parmesan Bruschetta, but that may be a little misleading. Can you think of a better name for it?

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Start with 1/4 of the Perfect Parmesan Pizza Dough, or any pizza dough of your choice (even frozen from the grocery store). Roll it out and cut circles out. Gently reroll your scraps and cut out more circles. With enough dough for one 12-inch pizza, I got 16 little circles. I used the top of a glass to cut, and my circles were about 2.5-inches across.

Place the dough circles on a cookie sheet (I also used parchment paper...the best baking invention ever! No need to scrape up burned-on messes!). Squirt a dime-sized amount of oil-based salad dressing on each circle and spread it out. I used Kraft Sundried Tomato and Oregano because it's what I had. Italian would also work, or Greek Feta and Oregano. Or even a flavoured olive oil.

Cut small cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange on the circles. Some of mine fell off during baking, so try to push them down a little. If they do fall off, you can just put them back on once you take them out of the oven. To prevent it all together, I guess you could prick each circle with a toothpick to eliminate any bubbles in the dough. The tomatoes I used were quite small. The bigger cherry tomatoes may be too big. This time I used only four tomato halves on each, but next time I think I would use five to make the design more flower-like.

Take a block of cream cheese (or Feta, or any tasty cheese that doesn't get all melty when baked). Cut small cubes (mine were about 3/8-inch), and place them in the middle. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. I would have also added chopped fresh basil if I'd had any (my basil plant is slowly dying.)

Bake for 15-20minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the cheese looks toasted. Enjoy hot or cold! If you think of any fun variations to try, let me know!

Edited to add a photo with five tomato halves: I think maybe I'll call them "Parmato Blossom Bites." Thanks for the name, Jenny!

The Good Samaritan

2011-04-28T07:35:00.000-06:00

Says Juliana:

"Mom, do you know what the bad shepherds put on the rock? A man! And he was hurt. His clothes were broken! And then a nice Samaritan came. Because he was nice."

The end.

Before...

2011-04-27T08:28:00.000-06:00

Pardon me while I rebel against the lingering traces of winter.

2011-04-21T11:14:00.001-06:00

You know it's been a long winter when the neighbours start shoveling the snow off the grass. I want to dress for summer already! So I am. My toes are a little cold, but other than that, I'm warm enough.

My little guy woke up with a fever again. Eye teeth coming through maybe? He's feeling much better now, but this morning he was miserable.

Pretty Food

2011-04-19T16:20:00.000-06:00

Part One:

I actually planned our supper menu this week. I sat down with the newest Kraft What's Cooking magazine, and marked the recipes I wanted to try. And then bought the groceries I needed for the three I'm trying this week.

Yesterday, I made Honey Balsamic Glazed Salmon for supper. I was a little leery about the zucchini, since I hated it when I was a kid, and I haven't cooked it much myself. But it was delicious! I loved this recipe. And Kevin even gave me the ok to make it again. This is probably the first time ever that I haven't overcooked salmon.

I had bought some lemons for something else, and had extra, so I decided to take 10 seconds to garnish the meal (of course four lemon slices is a little bit of overkill), which I served in my largest leaf-shaped platter. I have been trying to use my serving dishes at supper time, to justify keeping them. And also to have a pretty table.

Tonight we're having pizza, using the dough recipe from the magazine, but my own topping. (chicken and fresh tomato, with fresh basil.) I'm worried about the pizza dough. The last time I made pizza dough, it tasted like cardboard.

Tomorrow is supper at church (Yay, I don't have to cook!), and then for Thursday, I have Mango-Orange Chicken planned. Friday is Easter dinner with Kevin's family. I have to come up with an appetizer or hot veggie dish to bring, and I have absolutely no idea what to make! What would you make?

Part Two:

We had our moms' group at church this morning, and the kids and I had lunch there so we could help with the set for the Easter musical. I made our sandwiches and got a few other things together, and then I was going to throw it all into a grocery bag. Then, in order to make it easy for Juliana to carry without squishing anything, I decided to use a basket. The only one we had that was the right size with a handle was in the kids' bathroom. So I dumped out Juli's hair ribbons, and packed in our lunch.

After I took these pictures, I tucked one of my antique linen napkins over the top. Who says pretty can't be practical?

Three Years of Prettiness

2011-04-15T21:11:00.001-06:00

So, I totally missed it. My third anniversary of writing this blog. Not that I was going to do much, other than marvel at the fact that I've actually stuck with something for three years. April 14, 2008 was my first real post, about my first trip to the antique show. I've gone every year since then, although I think I'll have to miss it this year. It happens Easter weekend, which is also Kevin's THIRTIETH birthday, and his mom is coming to visit. So the weekend is already packed full.

I created this blog to show off my creative efforts. In three years, I have written 379 posts, and been rewarded with 1186 comments on the posts themselves, along with some on Facebook too. So thanks for reading! I hope you'll keep it up.

In honour of the occasion, I've rewritten my "About Me" over there on the right. I may be making other changes that I've been thinking about recently. Or I may not. It would require a couple of migraine-free days, which haven't been happening. I have a pile of editing that is ticking ever closer to the absolute latest deadline possible that I need to take care of first, headache or no, and a few other things that have been nagging me from the back of my mind.

But the kitchen is painted! I finished yesterday, even though I ran out of paint. Pictures to come when the headache goes away. Two weeks and counting since it started.

To make up for the lack of interesting and creative posts around here lately, here are some links from my three years blogging.

Some of my most commented on posts:
Backyard Bliss
Hi! I'm Me.
Imperfectly Beautiful
Nesting Gone Wacky
Something Blue
Spice Mess

My most searched for posts:
Tea Towel Apron and the Tutorial
Half Bathroom Photos (from our last house)
Gorgeous Gift Bags

Those three posts used to get all my search engine traffic, but now more posts have started to attract the search engines, including my painted front door, painted doll cradle, and the cen tre pieces.

Nico's response to his daddy's singing.

2011-04-15T15:03:00.001-06:00

Kevin really was singing when I took these pictures.

Little Owl Who?

2011-04-10T13:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Juliana was watching Angelina Ballerina, and they had masks. She asked me to make her a mask. So I did. It originally didn't have the beak, but Juliana wanted a nose. She wore it for hours without taking it off. Now she wants owl wings.

Just a little book I picked up...

2011-04-08T15:55:00.003-06:00

...on the way home from visiting my sister. There's an antique store that has a sign on the highway. I've seen that sign all my life, but have never stopped. So on Wednesday, I finally did. It was quite a job keeping the kids from touching or breaking anything. The store had some lovely furniture, and an entire lawyer's case full of mostly Zane Grey books. I have another Zane Grey book (The Day of the Beast...the tattered one behind the "fe" in my header picture), and enjoyed reading it, so I bought this one. I chose this one because of the colour. Nick kept trying to escape, so I didn't have much time to browse.

Gallery Wall

2011-04-07T19:14:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I've shown this wall in our stairwell. I've added a lot since then. I love the mix of family and friends in the pictures, although poor Nicholas only has one photo on this wall. I need to print some more of him. The mirror was a wedding gift to my parents 32 years ago. I refinished it when I was a teenager, and mom let me have it when I moved out. Thanks Mom!

The walls in the stairwell are still yellow. What colour do you think I should paint them?

Linking to The Inspired Room's Gallery Wall Party.

My Garden This Week - April 5

2011-04-06T09:29:00.000-06:00

Oh, I was so excited yesterday when I saw this tiny violet in my front garden! Last year, I was surprised that I had any violets at all, but this one is blooming so early. We still have a 2-foot mountain of snow in the front, and more in the back. I've got other green things emerging from the snow, including more violets. I don't remember what this one is called:

My bachelor-button-like plants are starting to sprout, along with one of my peonies, and one bunch of lilies.

This is what the front yard looks like now:

And this is part of the back yard:

I can't wait to rake the grass and do spring clean up. We went for a walk yesterday after supper, and the kids had so much fun splashing in the puddles. Nicholas needs to learn not to pick up the rabbit droppings. We passed by one house where a dog was barking inside. Nick stood outside for quite a while barking back.

Wool Circle Skirt

2011-04-03T14:05:00.002-06:00

Back in January, I really wanted to make something for myself out of a piece of wool fabric I had. But I wanted it to be easy. No zippers, no button holes. So I made a circle skirt with a waistband. I used my favourite skirt for the waistband pattern. I also added a ruffle at the bottom, made out of a loosely-woven piece of polyester-ish fabric. I think I originally bought that remnant to cover a lampshade. But the texture and weight is a good contrast for the wool. I wasn't sure about the ruffle at first.

To avoid button holes, I made button loops instead. That allowed me to avoid making a button placket. I used olive green thread for the top stitching, just because I felt like it.

I love this skirt. There is only one thing I don't like about it, and that's the length at the front. It didn't occur to me that I would need to shorten it a little at the front to make it look even all around. Oh well.

I had the skirt completely done except for one row of top-stitching and the buttons, from January through March. I think in total this skirt took me about two hours to make. Kevin was my obliging photographer today, and he kept doing weird things, so I have an annoyed look on my face in a few of the pictures, like so:

I think I need to get some cowboy boots to wear with this.

Edited to add: I think the problem with the front being longer isn't that I needed to shorten it. I think it's just because the waistband is actually a little big! If I took it in about 2 inches, I think it would be perfect. But I can't really do that without taking the whole skirt apart. Maybe I could move the buttons over to fix it.

First Spring Walk

2011-03-31T12:38:00.002-06:00

Today was the first sunshiny morning we've had since spring officially began. Even though the sun didn't last long and the sky is now covered in a hazy cloud, I decided that we would walk to the grocery store. The temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius when we left. It took me half an hour to walk from home to the baby boutique where I bought a birthday gift. The grocery store is in the same parking lot. Then we took a detour before heading home to take advantage of the Thursday $2.75 latte special at Second Cup. I think I'm addicted to maple lattes (Thanks Ash!).

On the way home, I was pushing at LEAST 100 pounds, with both kids, and the groceries. With only one hand, since there's no cup holder on the bike trailer. But we traveled on the north side of the street this time, which had much less ice (but much more mud). I was exhausted when I got home, but it was so nice to stretch...that's the best part of exercise, by far.

Nico was so proud that he was able to climb up on the side of his crib all by himself.

Here is the most recent picture of my kitchen/living room. The kitchen paint colour is exactly the same colour I wanted for our last kitchen. But in that case I used a cheaper paint which ended up much darker and brighter.

The turquoise colour I chose this time is Glacier Stream, from General Paint. It is the shade in between Rock Flour (which I love but was too pale compared to the living room paint colour) and Folly (which was a bit too dark).

2011 has so far been marked for me making impulsive decorating decisions. I decided on a whim to change my colour palette, then I decided only a few days ago that the kitchen should be turquoise. I think Kevin likes the turquoise better than the tan I was planning. He wanted an orange kitchen, to match the peachy fake-wood cabinets.

Swooning Over a House

2011-03-30T09:33:00.001-06:00

Many women swoon over things they can't have, like a whole chocolate cake, peace and quiet, or TV doctors. Well, this is my McDreamy:

In all the years that I've been browsing the real estate listings on PEI, I've never come across one that is SO exactly what I want for my forever house. Even down to the decor. I wonder if they'd sell these bar stools with the house? Or all the furniture?

Look at this perfect mud room, with the gorgeous blue door! The wall colour is similar to my new living room paint. (Which I shall post pictures of eventually. It's hard to keep it tidy enough during the day...and the light is no good once the kids are in bed.)

I've always wanted slanted ceilings in the bedrooms. I've even dreamed about my someday guest room, with slanted ceilings, an old brass bed, our wedding quilt, and an old blue metal trunk. The house has four bedrooms.

This teeny tiny room would be a perfect little girl's room.

The land is 10 acres, set up for horses, and lots of big trees.

Double front doors, lovely wood floors, and a cupboard under the stairs!

It actually almost makes me cry to think that someone else gets to buy this perfect house. Oh well. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house." It's fun to look at such a gorgeous house. Kevin doesn't like this one because it is not waterfront. Maybe we'll retire on PEI.

Juliana's Cute Little Creature

2011-03-27T13:41:00.002-06:00

Juliana has a new pet. She found it in the garage this morning. She loves her new "little creature". She has named it "Alassa".

She kept it safe in her fingers in the car to and from church, and worried when one of its legs was bent. She told me that the radio was "too loud for my cute little creature!" She says it is a little girl, and that she will take very good care of it.

She worried about losing it, or squishing it, so we put it in a little babyfood jar that she used to keep her coins in. And now she carries it where ever she goes.

It is Alassa the Foxtail. Rather, she's a piece of a foxtail...aka, a grass seed with hair. For the past year, Juli has been afraid of foxtails, but now she has determined that she likes them...at least cute little ones. That is my funny smart girl. She's so smart that she told me the definition of the word "tam", which I didn't even know until I was about 15. She said a tam is a hat that is shaped like an oval. And she wants to learn how to read.

It's a good thing I have no plans to homeschool this girl. By grade three, she would be teaching me!

Everyone's Favourite Little Pig

2011-03-24T18:31:00.001-06:00

Those foam sheets that we used for Juli's birthday invitations can be used for anything.

source

Happy Flowers

2011-03-23T12:44:00.000-06:00

On Monday, I was having a Bad Day. For no reason at all. I thought it prudent to send Kevin a text message: "Fair warning: I am Grouchy."

He was about 15 minutes later than usual getting home, which didn't concern me. It happens sometimes when you depend on public transit. But when he walked in the door, he had groceries and flowers! He was so sweet. It's amazing how something as small and simple as a bunch of green-dyed mums can completely turn my mood around.

Girly Gift and a few pictures

2011-03-19T11:49:00.000-06:00

Juliana is going to a birthday party today, for a girl she doesn't even know. But I had so much fun wrapping the gift and making a really girly card.

Nico is my hockey fan. Ever since he could babble, he loves to cheer for hockey. He'll sit to watch it with his daddy, and yell something that sounds like "Goal!" Or maybe it's "Go!" (which he also yells when I'm driving and stopped at a light.)

Juli is a girly-girl herself. She loves dressing up, and prefers wearing skirts to pants. Which is good because she recently grew a few inches and nearly all her pants are too short now. Most of her dresses are too short too. She was colouring with her markers one day, and decided to put on some "lipstick":

Poor Nico is sick again. Nearly constant fever for the past few days, which I thought at first was caused by his shots. But add in the runny nose, and it's looking suspiciously like what he had over Christmas. I hope it doesn't take a month to recover again! So he and I are at home while Kevin takes Juli to the party.

Yearning for Home

2011-03-16T12:09:00.000-06:00

My friend Patty, a brilliant published writer, wrote a most beautiful blog post today. She writes about what HOME really is. You should go read it. Her beautiful word-picture just about made me cry. I have always yearned for home. A place that is my hiding place, where I can find rest and comfort.

Read this post too, and enjoy the music.

Girly Hoodie

2011-03-14T09:21:00.000-06:00

So I went downstairs to clean up my craft area. Yeah, it's a mess, again. But then I found a size 6-8 long-sleeve t-shirt that I had bought for my niece to do some stencilling on. I ran out of time for that at Christmas, so I still had the shirt. Coincidentally, I have a birthday party coming up for a 7 year old, and I had just read this tutorial the day before. So, I whipped up this little hoodie for the birthday girl (when I say whipped up, I mean it took me four hours over two days, because I had to unpick the zipper twice!)

The gray hood used to be part of a t-shirt. The sleeves aren't as short as they look. The body is just long. I just hope it will fit her. She's fairly slim, so it should.

I had a little help with the photography. She likes to take extreme closeups. Juliana now wants me to make a headband exactly like that for her.

Old Mirrors on the Wall

2011-03-12T08:30:00.001-07:00

I love old mirrors. I only have one that is verifiably old, due to the chippy painted frame and the spotted glass. But I love my other ones too. I bought the square pewter-coloured one at Salvation Army a while ago because I loved the details on the thick wooden frame. I meant to paint it, but didn't get around to it until yesterday. I just put a light wash of antique white craft paint over the silverish colour.

I did the same with the one next to it, over gold paint...it may be gold leaf. That mirror is my second favourite, after the little old one. It came from Value Village and is very heavy.

The tall skinny mirror is from Ikea. It has embossed metal wrapped around the frame. It used to have a candle sconce attatched, but I like it better without it. The little mirror I rescued from a neighbour. She was going to throw it in the garbage when she was moving out, along with some lovely old frames, which I also rescued.

I haven't been able to come up with an arrangement I like for hanging the mirrors yet. When I go to the antique show next month, I'll be on the lookout for more.

Words from Juliana - Three year olds are so funny

2011-03-11T09:07:00.002-07:00

"You're just a little bit mean!"

"This is how you can fly o'er the enemy if you don't have any pixie dust!"

"I don't like to be pickled!" [tickled]

"I'm all bungled up!" [bundled]

"This is going to be brilliant fun!"

"Daddy is going to be cross."

"When I'm 50, you're going to be sixteen!"

"You have to make a balentimes for your brother Uncle Dan, quick!"

"I want to clean something!"

"I am going to have a baby sister and a baby brother. So you and Daddy will have one-two-three-four kids!"

"I visited the paro man and the paro girl. They fixed Nick." [repair]

CD: "...and the walls came tumbling down!"
Juli: "Why did the walls come tumbling down?"
Me: "Because God pushed them."
Juli: "No! Because some benchtables [vegetables] walked around them!

"When Daddy gets home, he can sit in my chair. Because we're sharable."

Pillows

2011-03-09T09:36:00.002-07:00

Last week I won a Blessings Unlimited giveaway over at The Nesting Place. I had such a hard time picking between the four pillow covers offered, that I asked Juliana to help me choose. She picked this one. The background colour is darker than it looked on the computer, but it is perfect. I love how the dark brown flowers with the lighter blues and greens look in my living room. I forgot to take a picture of the back. It has a verse embroidered on it: "You are God my Savior, my hope is in You all day long." (Psalm 25:5)

The kids had to try it out right away.

I planned to go to Ikea to buy the right shape of feather insert. The one in it now is the big square one (also from Ikea) that used to be in my red pillow cover. But I really like the over-stuffed look and feel of it. The shape of the pillow is perfect for our couches.

I also recently made two tiny Signe rug pillows. The Signe rug is also from Ikea. When I first saw them, I had to buy one, simply because my mom's name is Signe (pronounced SEE-na). It helps that they're really cute stripy-little rugs. I had it in my kitchen in our last house, but with the slippery laminate here, along with two preschoolers who thought it was a blanket, it just didn't work out at this house. Then I saw this pillow, also made from a Signe rug. So I had to try it. I'm not 100 per cent pleased with them. I think I made the corners too rounded, and both need at least twice the amount of stuffing. But the kids like them.

Pretty Pear Pie

2011-03-07T11:43:00.001-07:00

I bought a bag of pears at Costco last week. They're now all ripe, so I had to figure out what to do with the last six. Two became this pear custard pie. Only two, because they're huge. I haven't tasted the pie yet, because it has to cool, but it is gorgeous.

Edited to add: This pie is delicious! The combination of pear and custard is perfect. And it is interesting that this custard has no milk in it. I used our Dominican Republic pure vanilla extract, which is really strong, but the flavours still blended nicely in this pie. If I make this in the fall, I might add cinnamon and use brown sugar instead of white.

This One Room...

2011-03-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

...is my dream house.

A Country Farmhouse: Dining Room

The Lazyman's Edge Painting Method

2011-03-06T14:48:00.002-07:00

Step one: Paint with a roller

Step two: Continue painting with a roller right up over the edge of the trim for a small section--about 2 feet maybe (I've used just this mini roller to paint the entire living room...it has just never seemed worth the trouble to get out the big roller and pan).

Step 3: Grab one of these (every painter should have these...they're the best!).

Use the baby wipe to clean the paint off the trim quickly before it dries. Be careful (at least on your second coat) not to touch the wet wall paint with the wipe...but if you do, you can always fix it.

Tada!

It works on the baseboards too. Yes, that is door and window casing that they used for baseboards. We also have that stuff along our fireplace weirdo-mantle and the top of the half wall.. It looks strange. I long to one day have real baseboards and trim.

Of course, I still use my handy wonderful angled brush for along the ceilings and areas like these:

When you're painting a room with four windows, two doors, and several random areas of trim, you have to take short cuts. So this is just one of mine.

Creative Expression

2011-03-04T08:57:00.002-07:00

I believe that each person's soul craves creative expression. When I was a kid, my soul leaked its creativity all over the page in the stories I would write (or, in most cases, plan to write). I also loved to draw and often combined the two by drawing scenes from my stories.

After I got married, I continued writing for a couple of years, but then I just got too busy and too afraid of failure to write.

My creativity redirected itself into sewing, since I inherited my grandma's old 1960s sewing machine. I think I have a one-track mind. I am incapable of concentrating on more than one type of creativity at a time. It goes along with my obsessive personality.

And then we bought our first house. And my creativity exploded all over it. I love making my home pretty, from turquoise and gold walls and marble mosaic tiles in our last house, to my current endeavors with more muted colours and styles in this house. My creativity has again swung around to home stuff. As I paint walls, I'm dreaming of how I can make this house lovable.

I am not a fan of new houses, with their lack of architectural character, and poor quality mass-produced workmanship. But I know that there are things I can do, with a little time and money, to enable me to love this house. Such as hacking a hole in the wall to add a built-in cupboard, making diamond-paned windows, and somehow some way making the fireplace look not so dumb.

Some people tell me that they could never be as creative as I am. I disagree. Creativity doesn't always--or even usually--show itself in building/painting/sewing. Everyone is creative. The person who builds computers for fun is creative. The person who loves to cook great meals (even if exactly following a recipe) is creative. The person who always loves to have friends over is creative. The person who watches movies and writes reviews is creative. The person who loves to cuddle babies is creative...

Everyone explodes with creativity. We can't help it. It is how we were created. Now go live your creative lives.

The next steps...

2011-03-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

So, hacking a hole in the wall is the easy part. I am building a little cupboard in that empty and formerly-wasted space. This is the first step to getting my mudroom in the back entry. The kid's artwork will move in to the cupboard, then the cleaning stuff can move from the back entry to the front entry, then one day when I've convinced Kevin of my plans and we have a spare Home Depot gift card or two, the itsy-bitsy mudroom with built in open lockers will materialise! That's my plan anyway.

So, all my papers and calculating (it's been 9 years since I last used trigonometry!), are to figure out the best placement for the pieces of wood (probably MDF) that I'll need for building the cupboard. They don't fit on a 4x4 sheet, so I figured I'd get the wood cut for a couple of other projects while I'm at it. We don't have a table saw or even a workshop area, so I'll have to have Home Depot cut all the pieces for me. (I may go to Rona instead...I had to wait half an hour with cranky kids the last time I needed something cut at HD.)

I was thinking of going today after Juli's dance class, but I think I'll actually have to wait 'til I can go without the kids. I don't think my 4x8 sheet of wood would fit in the stroller and there's no baby seat on the lumber cart. But maybe I can act like a damsel in distress and get some strong man to cart it around for me.

When the cat's away...

2011-03-02T07:59:00.001-07:00

Kevin will probably be looking for a work-at-home job now, so he can keep an eye on me. Like the new paint colour?

Update for The Nester's Take A Risk Day:
Well, there really is no update, except the edges of the hole are trimmed straighter, and the tools are put away. The children like to climb in and out of the hole. I discovered while screwing in the 2x4 supports that I can fit my entire body, minus one leg in the hole. I did some figuring and measuring, and one day soon I will make my way sans kids to Home Depot to buy the wood (MDF, probably) that I need to build my little cupboard in this previously wasted space by the front door.

Army Green Painted Trunk

2011-02-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Our coffee table/trunk that Kevin gave me for my birthday in 2009 is now army green. I still liked the original shiny black finish (see below for before picture), but it was getting a little scratched and I wanted to lighten up the living room a bit.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, but this is only step one. That pristine coat of paint won't last forever, so I want to aim for a layered and distressed look that can handle my 18-month-old. I just haven't decided what the next colour will be. White? Cream? Aqua?

Whatever I choose, Kevin will probably think I'm crazy. Yesterday he came home from work, smelled paint, and immediately asked "What are you painting now?" With a very long-suffering tone of voice. It wasn't the coffee table, which I painted a few days ago. It was the walls this time! I've finally started painting the main floor. It will take me a while, since I have small children and limited nap time. I've decided to do it in sections, with both coats of paint done one right after another (yay for acrylic paint that doesn't take forever to dry!). That way, I don't have to disrupt our entire living space for a week or two, or spend large chunks of time painting.

The colour is more putty-grey than the tan I was going for, but I'm not changing it now. It's growing on me. It's the colour of concrete and drywall, plus just a hint of brown. Actually, as I look at it now, it's exactly the colour I wanted! I guess it just looks grey in the evening and morning. So, five walls down, 14 more to go! And that's just the living room. The kitchen is next.

Home Questions

2011-02-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

How do I keep my really lightweight furniture from scooting around on the floor when it is not pushed against the wall? Even the 18 month old can move them.
How can I make my furniture arrangement appear anchored when it is moved away from the wall and/or in front of the windows?
How can I lighten up the kitchen when Kevin won't let me paint the cabinets? The counters and appliances are all dark.
Is it possible to change this modern house into a cottage?
Which is more important? a bookshelf or a wing-back chair?
Can I get rid of all the kids' toys and just let them play with the pots and pans?
Is it too early to have a garage sale?
Anyone (that I know in real life) want to come to my house to swap decor items?
In what order should I paint the main floor?
Why doesn't Goodwill supply a big huge donation bag like the ones they have at construction sites? I could set it up in my yard and just toss in stuff I want to get rid of. Instead of having to find places to stash things I don't want anymore until I can find a box to fill.
Do people with leather furniture have/use throw pillows? The ones I have look weird on my couches.
Why is it more common on the internet to call them sofas? Americans?

Shirt/Tank Top Mashup

2011-02-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

This:

Plus this:

Equals this:

Aw, nice hug!

Two seconds later:

Nico does not like to be confined.

The End.

Dictated Romance: Roses and Chocolates and Cards, Oh My!

2011-02-14T08:03:00.001-07:00

Some people do not like Valentine's Day. They resent being told how and when to be romantic. I kind of resent that too! When the first Valentine stuff was put out in the stores, I couldn't stand it! I hadn't recovered from Christmas yet! But despite the expectations, I do think Valentine's Day is a good thing. True, we don't need a specific day to think about how much our loved ones mean to us. We should do that every day. But with the busyness of life, it's nice to have a set time to think and consider and actually say how much I love Kevin and am grateful for his love. We were married eight and a half years ago, and I love him more every day.

The Blue Bathroom

2011-02-12T08:30:00.003-07:00

I think this is the shortest full-room renovation/redecoration project I've ever done. This took less than a week, even with four coats of paint (including primer). And it cost very little. Here is what the kids' bathroom looked like before:

Banana-yellow, like the rest of the house. Messy, because there was nowhere to put things and Juliana has a million-and-a-half hair things. Random holes in the wall. The reason I chose to do this room first is to give me motivation to keep it clean.

And here it is after: Tada!

The paint was a quart of mistinted blue from Home Depot. I went looking for a medium blue or green, and this was what they had. It's very royal blue. I don't think any other walls in this house will get quite as saturated of a colour as this one. I used the ENTIRE quart of paint for three coats. I think there was a tablespoon or so left at the end.

My favourite part of the whole room is this piece of an old house. I think it's an old door or window lintel molding. It was $15 and the antique brass hooks were $2 each, so that makes this the most expensive part of the room. About an hour after I took these pictures, the whole thing fell off the wall. I need to figure out how to hang it without making it too permanent. So today we're off to Home Depot to get brackets and a working stud finder. I should probably find out how much this thing weighs before we go.

We just happened to have both blue towels and white towels. The little hand towel below was cross-stitched by one of my high-school friends for a wedding gift. The star canisters are from Ikea, and currently hold hair ribbons and bandaids. I need to label those. The basket will be spray-painted white. The dry-brushed aqua isn't working.

These flower prints are from Ikea. They were 50 cents for all three in the as-is section. I had no idea what I was going to use them for when I bought them. But they were 50 cents. I may or may not buy some frames for them.

The brass hooks, and the old chipped paint (which I painted over to avoid lead-poisoning my kids) remind me of waiting for my sister's cello lessons to be over. The music school was in this big old building that had old hooks just like these ones pretty much everywhere, lining the walls and in little closets. I was probably six-or-so, and I still remember the smell of that school, and the smoothness of those hooks. If this bathroom were any bigger, I'd have to add a child-size vintage school chair. That would be perfect.

So, there's our bathroom! I want it to be my bathroom. The kids can have ours. Every time Nico sees the wall colour, he points and says "Bue!" Yes, it is blue. Very blue.

I hope to move on to the main floor soon, but probably not until this book I'm editing is done in a few weeks.

Smocked Hair

2011-02-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

It is fun to have a little girl. It's like having a life-size barbie...who gets cranky sometimes.

Blue and Green

2011-02-10T17:16:00.001-07:00

Just a little sneak peek of what I've been doing the past couple of days. Of course, neither colour looks right in this picture. The chair is aqua, and the wall is royal blue. I like to paint.

Fear of Lamps

2011-02-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

I think I may have gotten over my fear of lamps. Maybe. Or it may have just changed into a fear of lampshades.

These two lamps came from Habitat for Humanity Restore. I went there looking for legs for my dresser and came away with no legs, but with these pretty greenish/aquaish lamps. The shades need desperate help, since the glue is coming apart and has discoloured the fabric. I'd like to replace them with drum shades. But what I'll probably end up doing is just attempting to recover them. My last lampshade project didn't go very well.

So for the first time ever, our living room has a decent amount of light! I'll be getting rid of that wobbly old wooden lamp that I shouldn't have bought in the first place.

Shirt Refashion and Lavender Grain Sack Pillow

2011-02-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Somebody didn't want to model. She was quite grouchy about it. So. Yesterday at 9:30 am, this dress was a ladies' size 3/5 shirt. When we left the house for church at 10:00 am, it was a dress! It was in the bunch of clothes that my friend gave me. I knew it wouldn't fit me, but I knew I could do something with it for Juli. That's the benefit of having a little girl and a sewing machine.

I was really lazy about how I did it too. I did not want to mess with taking off the sleeves, so I just sewed up the shoulder seams about 2 inches each, and continued the seam down each arm where there was no seam, tapering it off to the edge about 6 or 8 inches down. Then I cut off the sleeves at the end of the taper, hemmed them and the back of the neckline and it was pretty much done! The fit isn't perfect, but it will fit her forever.

Finally a smile! The original shirt was meant to tie at the back just under the bust level, so the ties ended up perfectly at Juli's waist.

*****

This is the other thing I sewed yesterday, while Kevin and Juli were out watching the superbowl. Nick and I stayed home. He played and I embroidered. Then after he went to bed, I sewed it up! Inside is almost all of a 100g bag of lavender. I love that smell! I had it in the bedroom last night, and it was so nice to wake up to the scent of lavender. I may add some stuffing to fill it out more. It's like a large beanbag right now, rather than a pillow.

I used a full six-strand piece of embroidery floss for the letters. I probably should have used only 3 strands. Oh well.

My inspiration came from a little grain sack pillow at Dreamy Whites. It's sold now, so all I have is this picture from when I posted it on facebook. If the monogram was anything else, I probably wouldnt have been inspired by this, but with the KJ on the antique grain sack they used, it was just perfect. I used a piece of canvas drop cloth for the fabric.

Book Review: A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury

2011-02-04T12:47:00.002-07:00

Way, way back in some month that ends in "ber", I requested a book to review from booksneeze.com. It took several weeks to arrive, which was fine (I could have reviewed the electronic copy but I like reading on paper, so I was willing to wait). By the time it arrived, I was busy with other things (aka, Christmas), so I didn't get to sit down and read it as quickly as I would have liked. But I finally finished it this week. Here is my review:

Karen Kingsbury's A Time to Dance is the story of a husband and wife who have been married for twenty-or-so years and now their marriage, which all their friends and family idealise, is falling apart. They are about to announce their divorce when their daughter gets engaged. After putting their own announcement on hold until after the wedding, Abby and John grow further and further apart while hiding behind the facade of happily married parents-of-the-bride.

Ok, this story made me cry. Of course it did. For reasons I won't get into here, the topic of divorce has been weighing on my heart lately (The reasons are not related to my marriage, so don't worry!). The very idea of it breaks my heart.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I did think the disintegration of the marriage was rather drawn out. The use of flashbacks seemed a bit excessive. I think more of the story was told in flashbacks than in the present! But I really enjoyed the stories told in the flashbacks. The dialogue was mostly realistic, which was great! Most of the characters were well written. I know girls like Nicole, women like Abby. But my favourite character in the book is definitely Jo Harter. I could hear and see that woman in every scene she was in. Picture the character of Olive from Pushing Daisies, add a love of fishing, and that's Jo.

One thing that surprised me is the level of physical passion that was portrayed in a Christian book. But it's been a while since I've read Christian romance.

If you read this book, you must read the Author's Note at the end. In my opinion, that is the best part of this book. Here is an excerpt:

"When I think of the divorce situation is society today, I am and always will be deeply grieved. In the dance of life, the casualties of our instant, self-serving, self-indulgent society abound among us. Brokenhearted men and women who struggle through life alone; toddlers whose lives are built around two houses, two bedrooms, and two sets of parents; teenage boys and girls who have no idea how to honor one another or keep commitments...If nothing else, I pray that A Time to Dance made you compassionate. Compassionate for people suffering through divorce, for children whose parents have separated. Compassionate toward the spouse you might--even now--be walking away from..."

My copy of this book was provided free from Booksneeze.com in exchange for an honest review. The opinions noted are mine alone.