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....

Nothing makes a house a home faster than a warm, cozy rug!

I ordered this rug on Monday from Costco Online, and it was here Yesterday! Amazing.
I guess that begins to make up for the 6 month wait that we endured for our couches....

I was a bit leary of how the rug was actually going to look when it arrived. It is always so hard to get an idea of somethings actual color when ordering online. --but, the rug turned out to be exactly what I wanted. I am so happy with it! Now, I can finally choose a paint color!!!

I really needed something to warm up the room. Now, every time I look in the Living Room I feel a surge of happiness....much better than the emotional draining I was getting from all the dark brown previously.

I got these two crates from my Grandma's garage when I went home last month. The bottom one is actually a milk crate that was full of old glass milk bottles (...the ones now above my kitchen sink cabinets...), and the other is an old cola crate. One one side it reads "Omak Distributors & Bottlers" and on the other it reads "Enjoy Red Rock Cola". I loved them, but had no place really to put them.... What I really needed was an end table next to my reading chair, so I stacked them, and Voila! I used an old silver tray as a 'topper'. I store magazines, books, and even my laptop and cords in the cola crate. It is sturdy, and functional, and reminds me of home....definitely, one of my better inventions!

I found these two little cuties at a greenhouse in Portage. They made me so happy, I decided to give them a home in my kitchen. ...Although, that ment that Fredrick had to go Bye-Bye....

This Afternoon I am attempting to make 'Ryan's Cookies', yet again. These are Ryan's favorite cookies ever. His grandma Helen used to make them for him. The last time I made them, I quite ruined them. But, I figure that second times a charm. The trick, I have been told, is to soak the chopped dates and walnuts in vanilla and a SPLASH of Rum -- not the WHOLE mickey!

...We'll see...

Our New Nest...

Here it is! As you can see, we still haven't gotton our yard installed yet. Yes, I said installed. I can't quite believe it, but we're going to be yuppies and get an instant yard. What is the world coming to?



Here are old urns. They used to be a really light concreate color--which blended in perfectly with the rocks on the front of the house & the concreate drive. So I went to Wal*Mart, bought a $8 can of spray, scrounged up some old black oil paint from my art supplies--and Ta-Dah! Now they POP! I really like how they look. And, Mom, I even propped them up in the front so that the tops are now level.
We also have purchased a dark slate street number sign to go in the middle of the front of the garage. These urns will tie right in ...... But, I will save that for another post. Ryan still has to put it up....

This is our front entry.

When you come in the front entry there is a large dropped foyer, & you are greeted by this....

Chances are, however, that your greeting will not be as pacific...

You head straight, twords the back of the house, and on your Right is the Living Room. And on the Left is the Kitchen.

(Before's)

(After's)

We bought all stainless appliances... I have had them for 1 week, and already I have dented the fridge door, spilt greasy water down the door vent of the oven, baked on foil to the bottom of the oven that WILL NOT come off, and melted a spoon to the bottom of my dishwasher that has now left a pile of hard residue.

5 years with the cheapest appliances that Sears had, and never a problem. 1 week with nice stuff, and I ruin it....

I finally got around to decorating the tops of my cupboards. I like how it turned out. I put white lights around the tops of them to brighten the kitchen. It works. Below is a photo of them turned on at night. I just ended up running an extension cord through the back of a corner cabinet, there is a hole there where the cabinet doesn't touch the wall. Now, I don't have to worry about Ryan's reaction to me drilling holes through the cabinets...

This is a picture of the Dining Room. It is straight off the front of the Kitchen. This room is desparate for some attention.... but, I am going to have to wait on it. My plan is to find some sturdy old chairs (ladderbacks would be lovely...) and then go from there....

This is the view from the DR window.

And this is the back of our house. The dining room is the window on the right, and the living room is the window behind the red umbrella.

And, that's it. For the most part anyways. I will be back as soon as they get my yard in with an update..... I promise!

Happy Easter!

Me and my bunnies got to celebrate Easter in Washington this year. It was so nice to finally get to have a holiday meal with my whole family! (Mom, Dad, Brothers, Grandparents). We haven't had a family holiday for a few years. It was nice.

I know that I haven't been doing a very good job with my posting as of late. I wish I could say that I've been busy, but the truth is that I've just been lazy....

Next week we drive back out to Manitoba. Our house will finally be ready for us. I'm getting really excited to see what it looks like. The last time I saw it, it didn't have the floors, doors, trim or cabinets.... so this should be exciting.

I'm going to try my hardest to put up a post of my hometown, and extended dog pack in the next few days.