The parents have gone home

The parents are gone and this house has gotten a little extra lonely for us all. I think even Kitty misses some extra cuddles, 'wink, wink'. It was nice having people around. Especially when I worked evenings as my life gets pretty quiet during those days being as the only people I see are at work. 

But I shall be fine. I have already started a work out routine again to get myself through these winter months. And the scrapbooking has been revved up again. Just finished a New York one. Embarassed to tell you what year. He he. But it's a nice winter activity. 

My dad was incredible with all the things he did around the house. From helping Mark hang up the pot rack which I am in love with, to finding a spice rack drawer at Rona. He was the list king, fixing my desk that broke in the move, hanging up the towel rack in our bedroom bathroom, and doling out tons of knowledge from electrical work, to insulation, to how to clean out out "humidifier tubing". Not to mention getting a layout of the basement for future endeavors. Car batteries installed, broom racks hung, church bench put together, and fine tuning our house by painting our baseboards so that the nails and cracks are covered up and decreasing the length in the blind cords. It was lovely for him to come and see our house for the first time. I had a great time with you Daddio. 

Mom coming the second time around was still just as fun and fantastic.  Shopping for things needed for the house, decorative and functional (love my pillows). And just shopping too (she got an amazing sweater). Pulling out our iron and ironing board for the first time. He he, glad it's served one use so far. Seeing a movie, 'the book thief' and crying like a baby...thanks for that...he he (It was really good). Going to Zumba class and dancing like a fool. A serious fool that the instructor called out to me, 'that's right you are getting it'. And just chilling out watching movies at home. Not to mention all the help she was when it came to helping make big meals from vacuuming the house to helping prep food and after warm the food with towels. Mark and I have learned a few more things when it comes to socializing and having company, so thanks mom!

And the collaborative effort of both of them hanging up the curtains. From mom cutting and ironing on the hem to dad measuring out and hanging the rods and curtains. Really I have amazing parents and I am so grateful to all the help you gave us. The house feels so cozy and warm now. I feel content and that I can finally just live in it as little things are no longer hanging over my head.  Sure I have some ideas. But those are on the back burner for awhile. I just want to enjoy. And I hope that our house shows the personality of us shining through via pics, books, artwork, and furniture. 

I may show the results. But be patient. Need to actually take them. He he. 

Love

Guess...

Who learned how to use a power drill. Muhahaha. Mark may wish he never let me in on the secret. The student may surpass the teacher. 

And the projects commence. 

My husband's project

While I spent my summer in the garage sanding, sanding and sanding some more, Mark spent his summer outside in the hot sweltering sun constructing his garden. As you could see it was a diamond in the rough. Myself having no vision whatsoever really had no opinions with regards to what he should do, shocking I know. So Mark headed to the computer for some research. 

In our lovely back we have a grassy hill that climbs towards the TUC. It was a pretty pathetic hill to tobbaggon so I didn't care what should happen to it. Mark thought of building a retaining wall to grow fruit, perennials, herbs, and some trees and shrubs. 

Our side of the house really had nothing except weeds weeds and more weeds. This is a to be continued project as it will be the vegetable garden and we moved in to late to grow any veggies. 

After a bit of research Mark started digging out the trenches sort of speak. First levelling out the ground and digging it out. Once that was completed he layed out road crush for the cement blocks to go down. 

And here they come. Let me say. It was a wonderful July day when I found out that the new driveway/garage that we had just acquired was out of use as two planks of cement blocks, a pile of dirt and a pile of road crush were now in the occupied spot. Sad times. But I was happy that no one tried to recruit me to do the project. Yes, the only victim was my brother. 

Once the cement blocks were in place Mark filled them in with road crush. To ensure the stability. Look at that hot beaming sun. 

And along the blocks was piping that had holes in it so that when it rains water won't pile up on the wall and push it over. Gravel to cover and hidden by dirt. 

After a while Mark derived a system with a ramp for the wheel barrel to drive up on and to unload the haul of dirt. Before the dirt was laid he ripped apart the grass that previously occupied the ground. 

Looks like it is almost done! Most days Mark chose to do this work in the evening when the sun was slightly going down.  Even though it was going down on that side of the house. But the days and nights were hot, plus the bugs. He he. I did not envy him but he was happy with his iPhone music and headphones. 

Side of the house did get weeding done and a mock layout of what will come. Stay tuned next years post. 

Now the fun part, for Mark. Looking for plants. He had his heart set on Alberta grown plants. I think he succeeded for the most part. Although I may have just picked flowers that caught my eye. He he. 

So once home he got some landscaping fabric, and poked holes to let the flowers, plants, grass out and stuck them in the cement holes. He is unsure how these will hold out next year but he has some proactive plans if they don't hold out. So far they are doing pretty good. More dirt may be needed in the back and a little sprinkler system to ensure they get healthier doses of water, but we will see. 

There is the whole wall in a nut shell. Ooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And up top are some cranberry, Saskatoon, and other various perennials. I think there is dreams of pies in the future. 

And this future garden had two singular raspberry bushes for the future. Poor things all by their lonesome. But the food will be coming next year!

There you have it. Mark has been working hard and thus ends our busy summer. It will be nice to veg out in the winter. As I feel planting, harvesting, pickling and pies in my future. He he. Well maybe not the first two. 

Love

And kitchen complete part two.

My husband is a minimalist. This is in contrast to my business. So I have been trying very hard not to plaster all of our walls with numerous amounts of pictures, just a few here and there. Cut to the dear kitchen that I just completed one of the pieces of furniture. 

Mark insisted that the buffet would look best by the fireplace. I have to agree but the wall then looked off to me as We had one big piece of furniture on one side and a smaller one on the other. I don't know why but it was not balanced and very off putting to me. 

Then I remembered these wooden frames I bought about four or five years ago. I had intentions of using them in our apartment but funnily enough all the walls were covered (so I may have had a problem but I am toning it down). I bought fabric that matched the wall and the painting and stretch it over the frame, nailing it on. Again I see flaws but I did it not buy it a run of the mill store so it has heart. He he. 

Next I got out the trusty level, a tool that I love. And nailed the work onto the wall. And tada! The kitchen is no longer off kilter. Ha ha. 

I also put a friendship quilt that Casey made for me on the other wall. I figured friends and family socialize and have fun in the kitchen so it was meant to be.

Kitchen complete. Now the eating shall commence. 

Love

It's finally done

So here is what happened.  We moved and I went on Pinterest. My first mistake. I pinned tons of things to do this summer. Piece of cake. Pinterest makes it look so easy. I should have all these projects done in a two weeks right?

Wrong. But one is done and although I see some flaws I have learned a lot. What I took on was this beauty. 

I call it a buffet cause that is what my parents called theirs. Holds all our nice things. The hitch is that we had dark cabinets in the kitchen and this kind of stuck out more than I liked. So I perused some websites and decided to start the process. 

I bought a little sander at Home Depot and sanded away. And then did some more. And more. What was taking so long? I started to read up on it more and people said if the cabinet had a veneer it just needed a 240 grit. I scoff, he he. Maybe my sander and hands were not powerful enough but I just couldn't get it to the grain. I used 80 and then 120 to smooth it out but I found the process painstakingly long as one shelf took me two hours to do. Ugh. Maybe I need more patience. He he. 

Mark's Uncle John and Aunt Marie came by for a family dinner one day and suggested I try a chemical sander. At this point I was willing to try anything. So I bought a scraper and this little product. 

So I went away at it. Smoothed it over all the furniture. Waiting for approximately 3-4 hours and scraped it off.

So what do I have to say about this. It is messy. Seriously. And it can take a bit of time to shave off all of the product. But it works. Really well. And it cut my time to doing four shelves in one hour. I did go over all of the surfaces with the sander to make sure it was all smooth and even. Cleans everything right up. 

So the next part was to clean it all off and apply the stain. The hitch. The first product I bought basically stained the wood the exact same colour I just sanded down. Aaaaaaahhhh. So I searched for this gal's blog. She is my hairdresser and decorator extraordinaire. I knew she had done her kitchen cabinets so I looked up the product and used it.

I chose espresso for my colour as you will see. And it worked just as she described it. I did about four coats overall. And loved it as it has a nice sheen to it too. My only issue was my painting technique may not always be the best as I had some drips that escaped and dried. Grrrrrr. I need to apply a thinner coat next time I believe. And because I had a cat and no matter how hard I cleaned I still found strands of hair at times. He he. He is permanently etched in my furniture. 

New hardware after that as there was no way I was going to paint the wooden knobs. 

I then applied grey scrapbook paper on the back to match the back of our kitchen wall. And maybe hide some mistakes. He he. This was not before I put glittery silver paper on it and Mark said in his "I am not going to insult it directly but I am making it known I don't like it" voice of "oh it's sparkly". The next morning I looked and it did look like a giant disco ball. Grey paper it is. 

Obviously I did all this before putting all the things back in. But I wasn't smart enough to take the pictures. 

And here is the finished product. And I like it. 

So what do I have to say about the next projects. I need a break. Really. I am thrilled with the result and am eager to do another one.  Maybe next year as I want to do it in the garage it can get a little colder in the later months. Plus the car wants the garage back. He he. 

So this is my big DIY for this year. This is the reason that I will not be doing the half marathon as I can barely get past 11 km and I have to double that in two weeks. Sigh. But it was worth it. And the kitchen is back in use. 

Love

Oh marathon training i.e. motivation where are you?

I had a really good day today. And the day before that and that. I get to spend my days with Mark while he is on summer break. We have been eating good meals. Enjoying our porch. Sitting in the sun. Going for walks at night. It has been pretty fabulous. And I have loved every minute of it. 

But...

I kind of forgot about this marathon that I signed up for in less than a month. 

Now you may be wondering. Well Tracey. You do have the day to train. Absolutely. But then I decided to do a side project with one of our furniture pieces. And what I thought would take a week (oo Pinterest you deceptive site you) is now working on two months. 

Sigh. So I am writing this in hopes of motivating myself for the next month. If not I may not make the marathon alive. ;)

But I can at least say that I have had a most excellent summer being with someone that I adore and love. Wink wink. The other project....the jury is still out. 

Love

It's just the beginning.

I must say. When we were first moved in I was massively overwhelmed. Not the unpacking part. But the part where you start to convert the show homey look into your personal look. You know the one. When people walk into your home and know its yours and your partners. 

The challenge for me has been trying to merge Mark's minimalism with my bold, bright and just a tad excessive. Not to mention my incessant need for urgency to finish it all up. And really all we have is time. 

It's kind of funny as it reminds me of how I started to plan the wedding with billions of things going through my head of what needed to be done. And dear dear Mark reining me in and stating one step at a time. 

So the process has begun. And I have lists and projects to fill my summer months. Plus I have amazing friends that know a thing or two of what to do and where to look. It shall be fun and let's hope not to expensive. Ha ha. 

Love

My secret

i have a little secret. it's not huge or very exciting but i have been keeping it for a long time. some people know about it as they have been following my secret for quite sometime. but i did keep it from others as i didn't want to ruin more secrets in return. it is this.

pinterest! its a site to bookmark everything you could possibly imagine from fashion, trips, food, to wedding planning and (my personal fav) crafts but set up in a visual format. when i saw this site, ideas began to emerge right in front me. wedding planning seemed to be a little easier and diy projects created much more excitement (hence the secret).

so its out. i have a love love relationship with pinterest. it made christmas for me quite a bit of fun since i didn't decorate i could work on projects instead. i loved it and got to return to people what they have given me as i have gotten some awesome homemade presents in my life (mom's quilts, dad's soapstone carvings and jimi's welding pics).

take a look at some of projects and go over to the site and pin away...but once you start you can't stop!

top left: pin cushion/mason jar, canvas, bottom left cookie cutter christmas ornaments and pre-canvas work.

love

the stool

my mom told me to throw it out. we were cleaning out the "junk" in their basement. i came across a broken stool that mom got back in the day at county's reach. i loved that stool. it reminded me of a country/cosy style that fit in my parent's house perfectly. mom told me it was junk. toss it. i restrained. call it nostalgia...or that i wanted to grasp whatever i could of my parents but i was determined to make this stool mine somehow. thus the wheels started turning....

cut to two months later i went to a fabric store (i rarely frequent them). i came across this fabric (below). i know what you are thinking...orange??? but it matched a chair that we happened to have and the flowers are really pretty...or at least i think they are. i headed to casey's house for a craft night and we set up on stapling this fabric on to the cushion. easy-peasy.

the last bit i needed help. i didn't get a before picture but the stool was in pretty bad ruins and it was confirmed what my mom had originally said. it was junk. the wood was slightly cheap and a handy kind of handy man managed to put it together but warned not to put too much pressure on it. i promise i won't.

it now sits idly by the orange chair waiting for a nice kitty or a foot. the project is finished and i am happy!

thanks so much david for your hard work! :)

craft night revisited

in one more sleep a day has come that i have been looking forward to in weeks....guesses????

no it has nothing to do with my clinical rotation (although i happen to be 1/3 complete...as long as i pass).

anymore guesses???  

CRAFT NIGHT!!!

this is something i hold very near and dear to my heart but subtly and tragically it drifted away from me. it started off with my mama b (this gals mom). my friend, christine and i wanted to do a most fantastic christmas present for our moms. so mama b offered her services as a quilter and set us to work making our mom's a quilt. we started in july working every month...then once november hit working every two weeks....then once december hit working every week (and maybe days near the end) but we did complete it. to my dismay my mom did not cry (something i had been trying to do for ages at christmas) but she loved it and it got her thinking about her crafty skills. so she, recruited mama b as her tutor in the making of quilts. i, having finished my quilt wanted to get back to my first love scrapbooking. i had endless pictures of my trips to australia, and new zealand that needed an album, not to mention my pictures of friends and family. mama b's other daughter looked on at my scrapbook and her interest became piqued. she had just finished a vegas trip and felt the need to put them in an album of artistic nature. just as mama b did for me, i offered my services (or shopping skills) to advise her with all she needed to scrapbook. in the meantime, casey came over to her mom's house to quilt (and believe me, she is magnificent at it), christine continued to make quiliting crafts and jeaninne joined in with her embroidery. thus our traditional wednesday night craft gig started!

i don't know how it officially stopped. i finished my travel albums and one wedding album (seriously casey i will finish the other one, one day!!! i love you!!!) i know that i began to get slightly bored with scrapbooking every week (and everyone laughs) but i was having trouble finding inspiration. i tried a bit of embroidery, but as everything that involves a thread and needle, i would get mad, frustrated, finish the project and swear it off. i began having excuses not to go and eventually i stopped. like i said, it was tragic...BUT

i just recently visited my beloved mama b. casey was there and we all talked about it. mama b said that it was sad that all of us girls stopped doing it....both me and casey looked at each other and knew that it needed to happen again. its funny how i would think i am currently busier than ever and attempting to do this but nah....i love my friends. i need my friends. and i can't think of a better thing to do with my friends! :)

so tomorrow (basically i am going to case's when i am done my evalutaion) i am crafting....how exciting is that??

love

lime green

so i have a favourite colour. i really love anything of this colour. green. right now, in particular, i am really loving lime green. just a little spot of my house that i have dedicated to lovely lime. yes this includes some of my summer projects i painted (wall mural, and cd case)....i love limes (just like amy from little women!) or lime green for that matter....

love

the corner

i have talked about this for sometime now but i really have to say how happy i am the fishtank is gone. not just mark's but mine as well. they were taking much needed space and both were completely unused so it felt good to ship them off! before my parent's left they gave us a couple of items. now the said items have an official place and we are not living in as much clutter. so here is the wall now. i do realize we still have quite a bit of stuff (i.e. hiking/camping supplies under the desk) but i think we are getting by nicely with the space we have like behind the screen i hid the christmas decorations, vacuum, kitty kennel and storage-like items.

so there you have it mom. because the rocking chair needs a bit of tweaking to hold human weight i thought it could hold some scrapbooks instead. on a sidenote: when jimi saw the monky/bear he started laughing hysterically, i can't figure out why...*wink wink*. also note the lamp. yup that is what you gave to me but i spray painted it silver (try not to shudder) and bought a new lampshade. i think it looks great with grammie's desk. finally the ugly (but sooo sooo comfy) orange chair that we bought at a garage sale. we put it in the corner by the window. kind of a reading/study area. note the pillow: mama b gave that to me on my last visit...she is too cute!

so that's it. have a great monday!

love

its a wrap up of the last two days

these last two days have been nothing but the sole loveliness of relaxation. i work, go home and nap (like the old lady i am) and scrapbook. it has been pure bliss.

i am still continuing my quest for the half marathon as its next weekend (YIKES). so i get up at 6 three times this week and go for my morning run. the goals are 6km and 10km. AND, my running partner has cancelled the next big run that we do together. the target is 11 miles or 17.7km this weekend. whatever. he had a lame reason. i mean who wouldn't want to meet up with me at 6am to go for a run on sunday morning...he he he

i finally finished my painting projects last weekend. i painted my mom's beloved brass lamp (gasp) silver and finished the second coat of my cd case: the lovely zesty lime! they are sitting in my doorway at the moment waiting to move to their real home. alas, we must sell mark's 70 gallon fish tank first. know anyone interested?? PLEASE!!!

next up is a couple of reupholster projects...and maybe i will start on some more of my cooking goals like my nan's raison bread...or brown bread that i set way back when. AND of course continue to work.

on the parent front, they are finally settled in at stanley. or maybe i should just say they are finally there. jim's cat jingles has already caught his first mouse. LOVELY! :)

that is it...have a happy tuesday night and wednesday morning everyone!

sleepy dreams

isn't this dreamy...one day when i have enough space...
How To Make A Fabric Headboard

love