Saturday Stuff

So thanks to Mother Nature granting us more rain and then turning this afternoon into a hot humid mess my lawn remains unraked. I have now decided its not gonna get raked. I will mow it, thereby mulching the leaves and it will all be good. Up side three tulips bloomed today and the lilac bushes burst forth in greenery. The little bushes I planted on either side of the front gate are turning green and this also makes me happy. I was concerned that they had died over the winter. The dogwood is truly dead in the corner but I am hoping to dig it out and replace it with something else. The peonies are pushing through the dirt and this makes me very happy. I love to see the things turn green. I just wish I was more ambitious and liked to garden more. I would be very good at bossing someone else as to what to do. I could supervise the hell out of that yard.

Other good news is that my plan to do a little house work each day in the hope of getting my house back to being fit for public consumption, its working!! While far from perfect its at the point where I would not have to die should someone come to the door, I could let them in. I just need to keep it up. I have to admit this has me doing a bit of a happy dance.

Today was bits of housework, knitting and tiling the top for a table I have outside on the back porch. It still needs to be grouted but I am happy with the outcome. I originally thought I would move it to where the barbecue is once the patio pad is in place but I may change my mind. Its a handy spot to put the laundry basket when you are hanging things on the clothes line. If I can find another little table at a garage sale that I can fix up for the new "patio" I may leave this one right where it is.

I was supposed to go visiting with the Bugs tomorrow but as always in my life, plans change and flex with very little input from me. Hopefully we can arrange to do it another day. Poor Baby Bug has yet to get his quilt.

Well I should get off this thing and go tend to some things before the rest of the evening slips away. Maybe I will even find my camera battery charger, a little item which is stubbornly eluding me at the moment. I need it because a Linda without a working camera is just not a happy Linda

Toodle,
Linda

Best Laid Plans Are More Fun When They Change

So I had a plan for the weekend. It was simple straight foreward and full of things that needed to be done. I was going to get groceries, do errands, do yard work, clean the house, make laundry soap, do laundry and work on my quilt. Then the day started and very little went according to plan!! I loved it.

I got groceries, came home to have my breakfast when the phone rang. Teddy Bear was at the local fabric store....... could I come and give her some advice. When we painted her kitchen, I covered her kitchen chairs with outdoor fabric but she has two little grandsons and they did the fabric in. Vinyl was the next best idea. So I finished my biscuit, slugged down my coffee and went off to help her out. We got some lovely blue vinyl and then we chatted about getting foam to beef up the softness of the seats. I knew we could get it cheaper at a hardware store. She, shyly asked if we could go. I said sure, I wanted to go anyway, I needed to get new kitchen taps, some grout and a board so we piled into my car and off we went.

We got my stuff, went to Wally World and got the foam, then we decided lunch was needed. Teddy Bear treated me to lunch because I will be recovering her chairs for her an she is a sweetheart. After lunch we went to the flooring place where The Banker works the odd weekend and had a chat with her. It was after 2:00 before I got home again. I got home in time for it to start to spit rain. Bang goes raking the yard!!. The rest of the weekend was a blur of crocheting, laundry, working on the quilt, napping and fighting with the kitchen. I love love love it when this sort of thing happens. Yard work and house work will always be there but good times with friends are precious and must be grabbed when you can.

I have simply come to the conclusion that my kitchen is possessed or is like a defiant teenager, it refuses to stay clean. I can beat it into submission and then I turn around and its a total mess again. ARRGH!!!! I will win this fight. I hate having a house that is totally a disaster. I have lived in one too long. So the battle is on and I will be victorious! If you drop water on a stone long enough the stone washes away. My new plan is to do a little every day and I will win the fight. 

Tonight its gonna be, empty and reload the dish washer. Bag the garbage and clean off the dining room table. The whole house is a mess, not just the kitchen so I will do a little here and there each night. I moved a lot of stuff off the kitchen table today as most of it went to the office. A mountain of magazines were looked at, and now have moved on to the coffee room at work. Better there than here at my house. 

I was given a big bag of yarn from a co-worker. So this weekend I dumped it out, sorted through it and crocheted three mats for under the cats food dishes form some chunky yarns that were in the bag. I can now change them out and wash them as needed. They are nice and bright and recycled which makes me happy. The super cheap IKEA mat that she eats on now is very stained and yucky looking. 

Well my dishwasher is calling, I need to do my bit tonight then I can watch DWTS finale. Good times.

Toodles

Linda

the Ups and the Downs

Busy weekend, well sort of, after a craptastic week at work. Every day I get more and more ready to be retired. Ever so quickly reaching my "sell by" date as far as this working malarky is concerned, you have no idea. I am ready to be done, to be on my own time table, if I could afford it, I would be done right this second. Money, its the root of the problem. Ah well, enough about that for now.

So Friday night the No Cook group hit the food court at the mall. Felt a little like a teenager, going to hang at the mall. It was fun. Lots of choice for supper. Lots of people watching to do and well, we always have a good time no matter where we go. I picked Chinese food and had an Orange Julius. I have not had one of those in years and I still like them!!

Saturday, E and I went out and took in a couple of flea markets in town and one giant yard sale at a school. Then we went to a lovely gift/decor/antique/cafe place for a delicious lunch. I of course bought some things. So whether you are interested or not I will show you what I got:

I paid an entire .25 cents for this little beauty. Its made from greeting cards and is badly faded. I really am not sure what I am going to do with it but for the price I can keep it, Pull it apart and fix it up with new thread or I can pass it on. I am just going to think on it for awhile.

A brooch and a vintage sugar shaker came home with me. I did not notice the crack in the sugar shaker lid but its still usable.

I collect pigs, I will probably always collect pigs. These two announced that they wanted to come home to my house with me. He looks like a dapper little Englishman, with his smart bow tie and waist coat. She is a dainty little lady with her sweet afternoon dress and heart shaped
reticule. Just perfect for an afternoon of paying calls.

I love, love, love these. They are cast iron, chippy painted, shabby chic, brackets that I have no idea what I am going to use them for but I will think of something.

Ok this sweet little cookie jar is blue and yellow and has a piggy on it. How could I not bring him home??? He was made for my kitchen. The fact that I have little to no counter space for him is neither here nor there. He lives in my kitchen now. I love his little clown face, cheeky little piggy.

This wine rack cost me $1,75 and I am happy with it. Some day it will get a coat of paint because its had some use but for now its holding the entire wine collection in this house. I have had a wine rack before but the last one I had if you even breathed on it the wine bottles fell off of it. This one holds the bottles quite nicely and for the price I paid I am content with my purchase.

Flea Market shopping was not all I did this weekend. I cleaned my kitchen, and I finished this:

It just needs to be run through the wash to get the quilting marks off of it. I love the vintage fabrics in this quilt. So much work went into appliqueing the butterflies. I am so happy I got to quilt it and turn it into the quilt it was meant to be.

Then I dug out my fabric stash and started on this scrap quilt. Its for my bed. I do not have any quilts that fit a queen sized bed. Mamabug generously gave me a queen bed that they no longer needed some time ago and I am just now finally getting around to making some quilts that actually fit the bed. Next will be the one that will be the bed spread but I am still looking for a pattern that inspires me. This quilt is being made of squares that I have cut and tucked in a box thinking I would do something with them some day. I have almost used up my pre cut squares but its ok, I have LOTS of material in this house that I can chop[up and add to. Its just print and white 3 inch squares. I like the old fashioned feel of it. A true scrap quilt.

This past Saturday would have been my Mom's 91st birthday and Sunday was Mother's day. When you have no Mom and are nobody's Mom it can get to you sometimes. To be honest this is the one time of the year when I really feel alone. I get over it, and its not anything anyone can "fix". I have been included on Mother's day celebrations and its very nice but it does not take away that feeling. So I try and keep my mind off it and keep busy. The days pass and life clicks back into my normal routine. It is how it is. The one thing that did make me feel a small warm glow, is that Miss Mouse was celebrating Mother's Day this year with that precious little Tater Tot and that is a wonderful thing.

Toodles,

Linda

Someday I will accept it as fact

Yessir someday I will  just accept the fact that I do not like to go out anywhere on Sunday unless its to do something fun with friends. If its errands that need to be attended to, they can wait until Monday, even if I have promised my self that they need to be done. Somehow I can put them off until its far to late to go. So I make promises to myself about all that I will accomplish on Sundays and it does not happen, then I feel like I have let myself down. Its all very silly, so I need to stop setting myself up for failure. Even if its a little failure, I still feel it.

Today I needed to go for groceries, I didn't get it done on Saturday, many other things to do and frankly I ran out of energy. It got late in the day and I was in no mood to fight the weekend shopping crowd.  I really don't need much, just some staples. I have a prescription to pick up, I have pictures to get from Walmart, I wanted to go pick up a pair of slippers on sale so my feet will no longer be frozen in my house. All of this I was going to do today. None of it would take very long and none of it a big deal. I managed to talk myself out of it and so far today I have only poked my nose outside long enough to haul garbage and recycle out to the dumpsters. SO maybe one of these days I will understand that I just am not interested in doing errands on a Sunday. Fun stuff yes, errands, nope. accept the fact that this is how I roll.

I finally have hung the pictures back up in the entry way, well I did most of them a while ago but I added a new one to the mix:

Its a snap shot of a portion of Blarney Castle the Banker took on our trip. She was at the top of the castle and took several aerial views of the castle grounds I love this picture. So I ordered it up on a poster sized board. A few clicks of the computer mouse and ordered  and  was ready on Saturday. I hauled it home and hung it at the top of the stairs. Now there is a castle at the end of the rainbow.

I have one more Ireland themed picture to frame and then hang and then I think I will have sufficient Ireland pictures around to suit me. I will share that one once I get to Walmart, get the ingredients and get it hung.

I still have not gotten the touch ups done on the stairs. I think I may have to go back to setting aside one night in the week to tackle things I am not all that keen on doing. I seem to be letting more and more slip by the wayside. Getting back on track is something I should be working on. Having a quilt to work on is very much a distraction to me and its not helping. Quilting is not something I plan to give up so it is just going to have to be dealt with.

Right now I need to go find something for supper, besides the bowl of cereal I just scarfed down. I really should have gone for groceries to day. My feet are freezing and I need to hem a pair of drapes before the evening is over. Sigh. I am such a work in progress.

Toodles,

Linda

Shoulda

Today feelings like one of those days, the sort of day when you shoulda been doing so much more than you actually did. Oh well, the world did not come to an end and no one died in the process so I am just gonna move on. I can't change the day now. Its almost time to go to bed!!

Wonderful fun time with the No Cook Group on Friday night. We actually ate in a convenience store at a gas station. It felt a little funny sitting in the middle of a convenience store, right there between the drinks coolers and the racks of chips, having supper but the food was good. We have a great time no matter where we go!!

Saturday was groceries, errands and then home to do some house work. I spent the rest of the afternoon quilting. I am working on the applique butterfly quilt and loving every minute of it. Its really old and the backing is made from flour sacks. You can almost see the house dresses the butterflies came from. Little scraps of everyday used to make a quilt.

I am almost half done the quilting part. Its just a double bed size and I am not sure where I will use it but I know its like the saw toothed star quilt,(made by the same lady) I wanted  to bring it to completion. Make it the quilt it was intended to be. This one I get to keep as payment for quilting the other.

Last night, Teddy Bear, Kit Kat, Pooh Bear an I went to see the movie Philomena. I had seen it before but they had not. It is well worth seeing twice. This movie makes you laugh and makes you cry. Its a good movie to see. We of course went for coffee afterward. Part of the fun of going to a movie with friends is going for coffee and dissecting the movie afterward.

Today I slept late, I was up to all hours reading Love Anthony.  (Such a good book ). Reading to the wee hours means I slept late. Today I had planned to do laundry, clean the litter box, hang the pictures in the entry way, touch up the paint in the stairs, move the linen cabinet back into the upstairs hall and take out all the recycling. WELLLL so far I hung a few pictures. I did two loads of laundry and made supper. I have been quilting and then I had an hour and a half nap on the couch. Not much on my to do list got scratched off today I can tell you.

Its grey and gloomy here to day. My mind is restless and my thoughts are more sad than happy. Not sure what is up but I am still easily moved to tears. Slightly depressed and sad. I think its hormones. I wish it would take off, this wet blanket that has descended on me. I am done with feeling this way. I am ready for it to be done and gone. I also think that the weather, which is damp and grey, and makes me ache and slow to move, does not help my over all sense of contentment. I am getting tired of that as well. I long to be able to move with ease that I think I can when I am sitting. When I sit, I feel I can do all I could do before these aches and pains latched onto me. When I stand up, its a different story. I hate all the pills I take, I wonder at times if they do anything at all, or are they just a pacifier the doctor gives me to make me think they are doing something.

It is what it is. My belly aching about it will not change things. I have to change things. I just need to find the way and the will. 

Toodles

Linda

Easter Sunday

Well I promised that I had one more project to show off from this week. Its finally sitting and drying as the last coats were applied this morning and I have moved it to its final resting place. To dry in peace. Since I am feeling like complete crap today, its a good day to do very little.

Here we go, this is the before:

And here is the after:

The body is painted Cherry Cobbler, which is the same colour as the cabinet that I painted in the dining room. I sprayed the drawer pulls and oil rubbed bronze. The top, I sanded back to the bare wood and then stained walnut and gave it two coats of satin finish varnish.

I am particularly proud of it because I have very little experience with staining furniture. I wish I had a before picture of the top because it was scratched and had a black bubbly glob in the middle of it. Not sure what that was but it sanded off with minimal effort. The mirror that hangs above it has been pained red too but cannot get hung up until the wall has had some time to cure.

So that is the last of what I did not my Easter vacation. Today my ribs are sore from coughing. I am tired and have no energy. I sound like I have smoked way too many cigars and yet I am not so sick I cannot be up and moving. So I have decided to take it easy today. Once this blog post is finished I am going to sew up the back for quilt and spend the rest of my day quilting. That makes me happy and it doesn't take a lot of energy.

I was going to cook a ham and make scalloped potatoes today in honour of Easter but that sounds like way too much work. It will be cereal and the ham can cook another day. I am working on the laundry but that is an easy job.

Easy is my catch phrase for today!!

Toodles,
Linda

What I Did on My Easter Vacation

For those of you that may not know this yet, I love my days off. Love, love, love them!! I took four days of vacation with the Easter stat days we get and factoring in weekends, it works out to 10 days off. This makes me a happy bunny. The Carpenter and Busy are off helping The Pilot work on his house so he can get it onto the market, no Easter get together. This is something which worked for me. As much as I would love to see them, it meant I would be staying home and I could work on some projects of my own. Once I got the momentum going, I could carry on.

So here is a pictorial essay of what I did on my Easter vacation. I finished the sawtooth star quilt:

My entry way got a coat of paint. It went from '80's shiny silver wallpaper:

because the Banker came over and helped me do this:

Now my entry way looks all fresh and clean, painted in a colour called white Truffle. It is one shade lighter than the Chocolate Froth that adorns the living and dining room and makes a giant difference in the house.

The new curtains are actually a Mexican blanket I got at a garage sale. It picks up the colours of the stair risers and with the almost white walls, makes a nice pop of colour. Don't be silly, the pictures are going back up on the walls, I am just giving the paint some time to cure. Anyone who know me know there would never be that much empty wall space in my house.........ever. I plan to paint the brass curtain rod, (another garage sale find), black. I have some touch ups to do on the stairs but that is not a major task.

Then I did this; I had two balloon back chairs given to me by Princess Diva. She had them but had no room for them, When I saw them and mentioned how much I loved them she ever so graciously offered them to me. The seat covers were badly faded, and sported some stains (which I provided after I got them but don't tell anyone). I planned to recover them from the beginning.

I have had them for some time and I have had the material to recover them for sometime but it was just this week that I finally got around to making them look like this:

The seat covers are a warmer darker brown than the picture shows. There was a lot of sun coming in the living room window when I took the picture. It has nothing to do with my fabulous picture taking skillz.

I finally got brave, went out and got myself one of these.  Now I am learning to text, so I can be one of the cool kids. Lots to learn but I am liking it so far. Little videos of the Tater Tot are most precious.

The Hostess stopped in and we went out for sushi. She took my puppet stash and sold 13 of them for me, the sweet girl. I promptly spent that money on a few things I have on my "when he comes to visit me" job list for The Carpenter.

I have a couple more things to add to the pile. Not so much as to make him start coming up with  a list of reasons as to why he is never coming to visit again but enough that I will not have to hire someone to come and do it for me.

I also finally got the old gas dryer in the basement disconnected so now it can be safely removed and I will gain some valuable storage space. I have one more reno project that I will share later because its not quite complete. Its still drying and needs some assembly. I went second hand store shopping, I went up and had supper with KitKat because she has been sick all week and bored out of her mind. A lovely busy time which was mared by only one thing.

I have been fighting a cough and chest infection all week and today I had to cave in and admit I am not feeling at all well. Not sick enough to be in bed but not well enough to be doing a lot of stuff. I had planned to go for groceries today but easily talked myself out of it. The thought of stomping around the store and hauling bags of stuff was too much. I will go another day.

The Hostess, Teddy Bear and I went to see Heaven is Real last night. I coughed my way through it and annoyed everyone around me but the show was worth it. It was really good. More in line with my idea of what the afterlife is going to be like.

I have not heard the alarm clock all week. (Heaven). I have had a nap in the afternoon if I was tired. (Double heaven). I have gone out for breakfast and a coffee far more times than I should but that will stop next week. I have laid in bed and read in the morning before getting up and dressed for the day. Its a lifestyle I could happily get used to. I did not get through all the things on my "to do" list but I did the majority of them. I am happy. Tomorrow I will finish my last reno project and then I will start another quilt. Monday I will go for groceries and try not to pout because I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Bring on retirement!!

Toodles,
Linda