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!