Here it is, twenty-seven days until Christmas and we are starting a wee reno . On the weekend we happily bid farewell to the carpets we hated disliked immensely. Now we just have to level the floors,  remove icky sconces, choose  colours and paint three rooms, lay hardwood, prepare the fireplace for refacing, paint and install new baseboards. I thought we were just laying the hardwood. Things kind of escalated. My Christmas crafting has taken a back seat. Even my lovely holiday chalkboard plans have been laid aside. I PhotoShopped over the two words I had finished so that I could bring you my entirely digital chalkboard art...   I received the most deeeelightful package in the mail yesterday and I cannot wait to tell you about it!! For now, all you get to see is the same plywood floors and spackled walls that we're enjoying. I may be a little bit absent over the next week or so as I hang up my crochet hook and wield a paint brush. ......

Wishing my parents a very Happy 56th Anniversary today. I sure wish we could be there to celebrate with you (especially since we are in the middle of tearing out our carpet on the entire mail level to begin laying hardwood). Have a wonderful day. :) Wishing you many more happy years together! Love from all of us! xo ...

Behind this seemingly pastoral winter scene in funky turquoise, red, and white is yet another of my kitchen disasters. We didn't need to call the fire department and thankfully everything has turned out just fine. Better than expected actually. It all started with my bright idea to make a new bunting for the old window that hangs in our breakfast nook... It only took a short time to make and I loved it. Till I hung it up. The colours were terrible. Although it somehow looks turquoise here, it is really a deep greenish turquoise and the red is... not funky at all. More like a blood red. Eeew. Max even turned his nose up at it. So, I hauled out a rather sparse bunting I'd made a couple of years ago, got out a box of clearance pine cones that I picked up two Christmases ago (which had the exact number of pine cones required for the bunting rescue), the proper colour red yarn... five minutes and... voila. I like it even better than the first one. Go figu......

I hope the fairies are all tucked in tight for the winter... because apparently it has arrived. I'd like to imagine they're dressed up warm and churning out snowflakes... We couldn't believe how light and fluffy the snow was last night. Plenty of snow diamonds for everyone. This morning the fairies can only peek out the top floor windows. If I were a fairy I'd be tucked in with hot chocolate, a warm quilt, my furry pets, some good history documentaries, and lots of crochet. What am I thinking hot chocolate ? Diet Coke is perfect for all kinds of fairy weather!  Stay warm and cozy wherever you are this weekend. **If you'd like to see what our Fairy Garden looks like in the summer, click  here. November 11, 2012 Remembrance Day Thanks for stopping by. Linking up to:           ...

No worries Max, you're still our main man -- but imagine my delight last week when I was at my Aunt Marlene's for a visit and she gifted me this turquoise teapot cozy! She had knit it years ago for my grandmother and now it is mine ours. Macy loves it too. To fully appreciate the poodley-ness of it all you have to have known my grandmother Gladys... An animal lover from a tiny tot she always had pets. When I came along she had her beloved white and black miniature poodles, Buttons and Bows. Let's just say that she didn't miss out on that 50's and 60's poodle decor thing either. Not by a long shot. So many of you commented on my great grandmother's stern look in my last post that I had to include one of our rare photos of her smiling (middle right) - although it is just a bit of a smile. Born in 1878, the youngest of eleven, she was a hard working no-nonsense woman says my Aunt Marlene (that's Marlene on the low......

I can't believe it is November already. E ven with all this snow  the first day of winter is still more than a month away -- it is technically still fall. Hmmm.  One of my favourite treasures is the Sunbeam Mixmaster that sits on my kitchen counter. It belonged to my dad's maternal grandparents. (We grew up baking with a chrome Sunbeam and I still think it mixed much better than my fancy mixer does today.) I love its yellowed bits and chipped metal. My grandmother gave this mixer to my great grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary on February 21st, 1956. Another of my very favourite things are old family photos and the stories that go with them. I am fortunate in that we do have quite a few of each from both sides of my family and I am lucky that I have aunts from both sides and my parents who remember the stories.  Marlene and my dad circa 1945 in front of my great grandparents home. Yesterday I visited my Aunt Marlene (she's the li......