Funsize?

I just opened my first pack of stolen candy, and would like to know what is so fun about getting 3 peanut m&m's. There is nothing fun about that. They should call it StingySize...

What a waste of packaging. I swear that last year these packs had at least 5, maybe 6.

The world is really starting to go downhill... And to think, I'm going to have to raise a child in it.

The grass really is greener on the other side...

As most of you know, our September was spent building fence. What we thought would be a project for the long weekend drug on and on and on and on....

After we figured out where the fenceposts were going to go, we rented an auger to drill the holes. We were going to have our landscaper do it for us with his little excavator, but he said that we would have to wait for the ground to dry out... and we couldn't wait! Our fence material, by this time, was already sitting in a mudpuddle.

I couldn't believe how burly the thing was! it was unreal. I ended up having to sit on the handlebars as we worked it, just to get it to go into the ground. We were trying to drill 4' deep through wet clay. The damn auger kept getting stuck in the ground... it was the most painful thing I have done. My body was so exhausted that I could have almost cried. This took us 2 days to do our 28 holes.

But, once that was done, things only got better. That is, after the blisters on our hands healed up and the burns on my arms.... and after we had enough rest that we could move....

Throughout the rest of the process, nothing could possibly be as horrible as having to auger all those holes. And, this was enough to get us through to the end.

Slowly the fence began to take shape.

One by one the rails and fence boards went on...

Through the rain and the cold...

Then, Ryan masoned the two front corners of the fence to look like rock columns.

The columns are done from the same rock as the front of our house, and they look really good.

And, finally, we are done! Our fence has no gate, which is great for the dogs.

And now, the grass really is greener on the other side...of our fence, that is. Because, now, our beautiful new back yard is full of yellow dead spots.

...two months later....

I was home in Tonasket for most of July, so that (in my opinion) is good enough reason to have not made another July post. August, on the other hand.... there is just no excuse--except sheer laziness.

Earlier in the month, the mason came and rocked in the front of the house where the most god awful looking vinyl had been. You can still see the lines where the new rock meets the old, but I think it looks much better. I don't know what the builder was thinking when he pulled that one...(except for saving some $$$)

The front of the house went from looking small and narrow, to small and squanty. My absolute favorite is the new rock above the front door. It doesn't look like much from the pictures, but it makes the front entrance look a whole lot less blah.

If anyone has any other ideas for the front of my house, let me know. I would like it to eventually look good....
There are lots of bushes and perennials under those large bushy green flowers that have yet to bloom. I should have ripped them out when I got back from vacation, but I thought 'any day now'. It has been a month, and I still don't see a bloom. But, I've waited this long. I may as well stick it out. They are cosmos, but I think that the front of the house must be too shady for them.

And here is a picture of my beautiful Daisy, wearing a beautiful daisy chain that her mummy made for her! The poor little flower has half a swollen face this morning. Yesterday, she had a swollen forehead. I think we may be making yet another emergency trip to the vet this afternoon.

But, that will have to wait until after my car gets its something or other fixed at the shop this morning. I can't remember what is wrong, something to do with something. Anyways, I'm not supposed to be driving the car on the highway... so, we've been stuck home and haven't been to the lake since Sunday. And, the weather has been beautiful! It's supposed to be 30 C today and sunny! Thank goodness my appt. is this morning.
Whatever it is that is wrong with the car, it has do with driving 120 on gravel roads every day for a couple hours... not so much the gravel but the damn potholes...


Daisy is just a little puppy! Just a lapdog...
Below is a picture of Ryan and Nevaeh at Okanagon Lake. The water is so clean.

Again, this picture of Nevaeh is taken back in BC at Okanagon Lake. He is primeval.... he would've liked to camp out here indefinitely.

This is Ryan's favorite lake ever--Omak Lake. It really is pretty. The entire lake is on Indian Reserve. No houses or private land on it. So, it's just desert down to the shore. It gets HOT out here! The water is much more of a vivid blue than the picture suggests, and it is mineral water of some sort. The mud on the bottom of the lake smells like sulfur. At least I know that I will be home every summer, because I don't think Ryan can pass up the opportunity to go swimming out here now that we're closer.

And, now, closely examine the lower picture...

Look closely towards the lower middle of the picture, and you will see the Mancoon in his natural habitat. This is in the Rockies, at Franks slide. We had stopped for a potty break, and Nevaeh ran over to where he is, and we thought 'man, he really has to go potty." Next thing we know, he had flopped himself down in the grass....and he wasn't about to budge. So we stayed, and fed them breakfast (Nevaeh's food dish was placed right in front of him so he wouldn't have to move), and I took the girls for a walk. The dog has good taste! It was a beautiful spot to spend a while.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tuesday was my birthday. 29. I can't hardly believe how fast the time flies.

I could have gotten severly depressed just thinking about it, but was too overcome with joy from all the wonderful birthday greetings and well wishers!

Thanks for making me feel loved!

This year I got 2 (!) cakes. One for me and one for Ryan. Ryan already ate his.

He decided a few months ago that he wasn't going to eat chocolate anymore.

I think he's CrAzY! After all, hasn't it been clinically proven that those who eat chocolate are smarter and faster and better than those who don't?

I got 2 presents, and a homeade card from Ryan. One was a Jonny Cash CD, and the other one was....

...most definatly the coolest camera that I have ever owned! It has interchangable lenses and flashes... but I have to buy all the cool add on's. The camera came in a "kit" already with a lens. What I really want to get is a panaramic lens.

I have been wanting a really nice camera for a while now...especially since my last drive out west. I kept seeing really neat things on the side of the road that I thought 'if I only had a camera that could take a picture the way I see the picture being taken in my head!' What I really want to do is take pictures and use them as a guide to paint the same thing in watercolor once home.

Hopefully I will get some good shots on my upcoming trip.

Here is the first of many fabric flowers I intend on making. I made this one with a satin ribbon, but I'd really like to find fabric that isn't so shiny to make them with...but, the fabric has to be synthetic.

Have you ever wondered what a $7K yard looks like?

It will bring your yard from this...

to this in a day! isn't that amazing? Actually, it took a couple days if you add the garden...

The house is slowly getting better.

I've hired the mason that did the rock-work on the front to fill in under the front window and above the front door with the same rock. He's going to drop by any day and give me a price quote. It it's not too ridiculusly expensive, I'm going to have him rock right accross the front of the garage as well....

If all goes as planned, the hideous eyesore that is the front of our house should be fixed when we arrive back from our holidays!

And this. At least there is no weeds!

And, some pictures of my front flowerbeds. I made these, by the way. I was damned if I was going to pay some men to do my hobby for me... No Thanks.

We ended up having them put rock down on the side of the house where our dog run is going to be. The rock ends on our property line. This fall, we are going to put a fence up around around our backyard, and a 3 ft. fence at the end (far back) of the rock. This little fence will act as a divider between the gravel and the rest of the backyard. That way, we will have a little fenced in 'potty' area for the hounds right off the garage door--which shoul save my precious yard from becoming one giant pee stain.

Paint Projects.

Last week I finally began to feel motivated to paint...something that I have been wanting to do since before I even moved in. This was not just a product of procrastination, mind you, but a color choice block. I love turquoise...I am drawn to it. But, since my last house was all in blues I thought that I should try something new. New province, new color. But.... I really love the blues. They calm me. But, I thought that I should try something like burnt sienna--some rusty shade of orange. A color that would be warm the house during those long cold Manitoba winters.

But, in the end, I chose the color that made my heart flutter.... pretty much the same shade as my last house. This was unintentional. I started with about 14 paint chips on my wall. Over a period of about a week I whittled them down to 2 choices -- a blue and an orange.

I was astonished when I started painting that the color was indistinguishable from my last house. I guess that means I really like it.


I decided that this was also a good time to refinish my counter stools. I really liked them white, but I have nothing white or light maple in this house and they stuck out too much. I hated seeing chairs, chairs, chairs everywhere when I looked in my Dining Room.
So, much to Ryan's disapproval, I painted them black.


Much better, I would say!
My Kitchen went from this...


To this.

And, my Dining Room went from this...

To this...I made the curtains out of a cream muslin. They are light and airy and scrumptious! I love them... And, they were super easy to make because the cloth, being muslin, has it's salvaged edge the same color as the fabric. It blends right in, which means that you only have to do a hem on the top and bottom. Then I used ring clips to hang them from.

In fact, I love them so much I think I may make some for my living room...

I needed a piece of art to put above my hutch, so I went to a local shop and looked around. I was drawn to this little guy. I almost didn't get him because the piece was ridiculously expensive.... but, I guess not too ridiculously expensive because he ended up coming home with me...

Much to my delight!

I love crows. I don't know if you can tell, but he is wearing cowboy boots and a feather cloak!

And, his color's work great in the room...

And, yes... We finally got our lawn in! It took them almost a month to do 'er...

I'll post some pics of that in a couple days!

Happy Canada Day!

a day at the beach

The other day, we spent the afternoon at the beach. We had a bonfire and Wienie Roast.

The whole time, we were being watched from the water by these guys. I believe they are white cranes...but they are BIG! They are the most beautiful birds, seeming to just glide on the wind with no effort at all. We were watching them take off and land in the water.

I buried Kyisha in the sand. She just laid there, happy as a clam the whole time. She hates bugs, and she really loved that they couldn't get at her through the sand! It probobly felt cooled her off, as well... She just laid there, in the sand, for about 15 minutes.

Daisy and Nevaeh played 'till they crashed! Here they are, paitiently awaiting their roasted wienies.

It was a long, fun day. And soon, everybody was sound alseep napping.

Time to go!

Everyone is always so excited to go to the lake.... and, so very tired when it comes to leaving! Nevaeh looks like he can barely keep his eyes open on the hike out.

We can finally be found!

We got our street # hung up today. It had arrived sometime a couple weeks ago, but Ryan had been to busy to put it up....

says he, because the whole process only took him around 20 minutes...

The sign is made out of slate, and the #'s are carved into it and painted gold.

I gives the front of the house a bit more curb appeal, for sure. But, I still think the house is UgLy!!

No doubt that it will look even better with the yard in & landscaping done.... any day now.

I guess that the landscaping company that we hired had some sort of "accident" last week that involved a crane, and they got "shut down"....so I hear. They have yet to return my phone-call. But, what will really make the difference is replacing the vinyl under the front window with more of the same rock that is on the rest of the house... God only knows why they didn't do it to begin with ($$$$)... there is no way that they could have actually liked how the front of the house looked.

Here are my lonely little bushes. They have been waiting patiently for the past couple of weeks...
... just a few more days now....