I don't think we will get to baking today but we sure got some good tree decorations made. I love taking a before photo of the crafting area, reminds me that we aren't always in chaos!
and popsicle stick trees. They all turned out wonderful and are proudly displayed on the tree ... now back to sewing ...
Oh my goodness, has it really been that long? Summer passed quickly for us with illness, visits to the ER and emergency surgery. I had not been feeling well since Easter and in September realized it was all due to an infection running rampant just underneath my skin ... it abscessed and I was rushed into surgery. Now I am recovering from pneumonia, likely came into contact with it when I was intubated for surgery. I am finally feeling better and what is one of the first things I do? Get back on my blog of course!
In the middle of the mess of sickness we also adopted 2 guinea pigs from a local rescue. We haven't had a pet in over 4 years and these girls are so cute ... we just had to get one more!
Today we plan to make some tree decorations and sugar cookies so you will hear from me very soon. It was good to chat again and I look forward to catching up on your blog too.
I can't believe I was gone for so long - thanks for sticking around :)What a month already! I was in the middle of preparing for Easter: sewing, crafting, baking, painting and cleaning when we got a last minute call from some of DH's family. An extended family member was in a nearby hospital in critical condition and a carload of family wanted to travel from a neighbor Province to come visit her. Of course they would be staying at our place. So, 10 days before Easter I am using up all my clean linens, baking and cooking to house this crazy bunch. It was a good time, I didn't know some of them really well and some had never met our girls so it was a good connecting time.I then spent 3 days cleaning, baking and cooking again as my MIL and FIL were coming ... 2 days after that my SIL, BIL and their 2 little girls made it here for Easter weekend. It was an incredible weekend, my MIL and FIL have been working/living in SE Asia for 18 years and this is the first time we have all been able to be together for Easter. Easter Sunday we went into our nearby city for an outdoor scavenger hunt and enjoyed the warmer weather outside. Unfortunately they fly back to Indonesia in 15 days so this was also our farewell visit as a family ... we just said good-bye about an hour ago :(
I should probably get back to cleaning, the way this month is going someone will need a place to stay next week! ACK! That reminds me that my brother will be living with us for May and June while he is up here taking a course. I need to get his room ready and start preparing for that extra body, as well the occasional visit from his wife and their children ... What a month for family :)
We are currently working on a kitchen reno. It wasn't planned to happen right now but my wonderful Father in Law kind of sent me a challenge (I can't pass up a good challenge) and then I came across Emily's post with a challenge (did I mention I love a good challenge?) to paint my kitchen cabinets BLACK! Oh my, DH has wanted black cabinets for quite some time now and I am often very cautious of, and hesitant to agree with, his colour choices. So, I found myself in a very dark dilemma - a reno challenge from dearest FIL, a black challenge from Emily and my husband's dream on one hand and on the other - just me ... here I am jumping in while hesitation threatens to pull me back ...
So, I am still new to blogging and this is my first party! I can't wait. I don't usually win door prizes and contests but with so much being given away I just had to get in on the fun!!!
I am a SAHM of 2 adorable preschool girls (2 and 4) and will begin homeschooling kindergarten this fall YIKES! We live in Canada, in a small town right in the middle of the Prairies and love the quiet of rural life. We have been here 4 years, moving from the downtown center of a major Canadian city - what a lifestyle change but it allows me to stay home and for that we are forever grateful. I love to read (Christian fiction is a favorite, along with John Grisham), shop (when I get into the city), scrapbook, quilt, sew and make cute hair accessories for the girls!
I should let you get to your next blog :-) Have a great party!
My first three choices for prizes are:
1. USC 16, a $50 gift certificate to Kristen's Custom Creations provided by Kristen of Kristen's Custom Creations
2. USC 28, a $25 gift certificate to Bliss Living provided by Bliss Living
3. USC 17, sterling silver earrings from Ice.com provided by Sure Baby Blog
These all look like wonderful prizes and I can't wait to spend the time over the next few days visiting everyone's blogs.
The rest of my choices are all from the USC category: 11, 47, 567, 10, 21, 25, 32, 42, 43, 45, 46, 52, 70, 6, 2, 3, 4, 9, 12, 14, 15, 23, 26, 30, 34, 40, 44, 48, 51, 57, 58, 62, 64, 65
Good luck to everyone and have fun!
Can you believe it YCMT is starting up a new website - You Can Quilt This. You have to go to their blog to find out more about this new site and enter the contest! I can't wait. I have just entered into both worlds of YCMT and quilting, this will bring two of my good friends together!
You have to run over and check out M & M Studio. They have a fantastic fabric givaway going on. I have fallen in love with a number of the fabrics in her store, the colors are great!
When DH left for work this morning he asked me to do 2 things today and I can't remember the second one for the life of me. This has spurred me on the the Becoming an Effective Wife Challenge. I know that when I am more in control of my day and start it right, my mind is clearer and much more organized.
In our house mornings are the best time of day, the girls are rested and easy to entertain and my patience is fresh and ready for a new day. Since mornings are so peaceful (that's quite relative in this house) I tend to slide through that part of the day and then scramble once afternoon hits. I am going to organize my day better and will begin today. Here is my plan for the week taken from Homemaker's Haven Challenge
1. Begin my day with God's word. My girls often get up during the 5am hour so to purposefully get up before them is not likely to happen. I will plan in time with God during the 8am hour, after DH is off to work, the girls are ready for their day and occupied and I have woken up :-)
2. Complete my morning routine. I have already outlined the chores I want to do each weekday, I just don't think of doing them until the afternoon. I will do them in the morning for the next 21 days and get a head start on my day. There will be some flexibility here because we live in the country and have a number of medical appointments in the city over the next 2 weeks, so some days (like this Thursday and Friday) my morning routine will not be chores but getting to appointments and keeping the girls occupied in waiting rooms.
3. Plan a project for the week. We are starting to give the kitchen a makeover and so far have only chosen the paint color. This week I will get all the wall repairs done and remove old wallpaper. We moved our old house to a new foundation last summer so there are a number of substantial cracks in the walls, so this will be a big job but one I am excited about! Chatting at the Sky has inspired and spurred me on with her wonderful black cabinets! I know this would be DH's dream, I have been reluctant but seeing it done I just love the look. Maybe that will be my project next week :-)
4. End my day with a work-out and lazy time with DH!
I look forward to seeing the changes this plan brings!
I'm not sure what to do today ...
I guess I will start by telling you a bit about the weather here today. It is -32C outside, that's -26F! When you add the windchill (how cold it feels when you factor in the wind) it is -45C (-49F)! AAAhhh. So, my dilemma begins with the weather ...
DH went to leave for work and his car didn't start, too cold. I plugged in the block heater in the car last night but forgot to flip the switch that turns on the outside outlet :-( So, I had to get bundled up and help him push the "dead" car out of the way so he could get my car out. Mine always starts, no matter how cold. After 1/2 hour of pushing a frozen solid car, we got the cars switched around and he is on his way to work. YAY. My dilemma continues with a "dead" car ...
Since the "dead" car is Richard's commuter, we haven't put car seats in it yet. It also doesn't have anchors (we need 2) and we were waiting until warmer weather to put them in. Most days there is nothing pressing on my calendar but today we have my 4 year old's immunizations scheduled, they only come out here once a month and are usually booked at least one month, sometimes 2, in advance. So now I have a choice: bundle everyone up and walk 5 blocks to the appointment (I don't know if we can bundle up enough for this weather), buckle them up in regular seatbelts and carefully drive the 5 blocks to the appointment, or reschedule for May/June.
I guess I will be rescheduling as the other options are plain old ridiculous!
Hope you are having a better morning!
On a post earlier this week you may have seen photos of our new basement stairwell, well this wonderful new and safe access to our basement means that ALL the girls' toys are now downstairs and they can go up and down without my supervision!! YAY!!
That isn't the full reason for my excitement today though. We moved the toys downstairs leaving a good sized room, centrally located on the main floor, empty. Hmmmm, wha
t could I do with an empty room? I am gradually moving all my stuff out of the current sewing/craft/storage mess, (actually my mom-in-law organized it for me last week so it is much less of a mess but inconvenient none-the-less) into the new Mommy Room. The old room is hard to explain but is set apart enough that I couldn't keep tabs on the girls while I was in there, I couldn't even hear them. I always ended up hauling all my stuff to the kitchen table and dumping it back in the room at the end of the day - causing the mess!
My new room is right between the Family Room and back door, the kitchen and new stairwell are right outside my door. I can hear everything and see them in seconds.
One more reason for my excitement is that I finally have a 
computer in my Mommy Room. I was just going to sit down and sew, realized I needed instructions from a YCMT pattern that I have saved on my computer and was dreading either printing the instructions again or running between the computer in the Family Room and my sewing machine. Then I turned around and saw my computer sitting right behind me. Oh how wonderful this will be! I just had to take a moment and let you share in the excitement.
Why didn't it occur to me BEFORE I made the cake that a 9" round cake will not feed 17 people?? About 1/2 hour after I took them out of the oven I realized that the cake is not big enough. I guess we will have it tonight, all 4 Grandparents will be here so it will be fun but now I have to start again with a 13X9 cake - see you later!
Do ever need to clean/organize before you can go any farther with your craft or sewing projects? Yup, me too!
I have so much to do before this birthday party on Saturday but I was looking around the house last night and realized how cluttered it has gotten with the busyness of the past 3 months. There is no way I can have people over on Saturday with all the stuff piled on the piano, computer hutch, fridge, upright freezer .... but there is nowhere to put it - that's why it is there! We live in an old house with only one narrow storage closet that is jammed full, stuff literally falls out when I open the door to get the vacuum. Hmmm, if I was to clean out that disaster, would dear hubby use that closet for all those things that just NEED to be handy so get piled on top of the piano, computer hutch, fridge and freezer? He said he would so I wasted no time and first thing this morning got to that closet.
I wish I had taken a before photo, well maybe not, it was very embarrassing! 1 bag of garbage, 1 bag of baby stuff to give away, a large Barbie house I forgot was given to the girls, a Barbie car, a large stuffed Scooby Doo, a fun hair braiding kit (we 3 are sporting braids already), 2 folding chairs, various filters, lightbulbs, a stool and toilet plunger later - the closet is virtually empty. Now I can begin cleaning off the tops of things!
Once my world around me feels a bit more organized I will get back to party prep, but for now just get me another garbage bag - I'm on a roll!
I really hope the list is done! Today is my last trip into the city to buy supplies for my daughter's 4th birthday party next Saturday. She loves animals and wants the ever popular poodles for her theme. Of course I haven't been able to find poodle plates or cups anywhere in our city and the cost of shipping any to Canada is ridiculous, so the creative juices need to get flowing today as I pick through Dollarama and Wal-mart. Lots of pink and black is what I am hoping for - I think I can work with that!
I also still need to finish up the quilt for her birthday as well. I will post throughout the week as I get stuff finished up.
Well, we are on a timeline this morning as we are going in with Hubby - he needs to go to work for a couple of hours. Must run and get these 2 (and myself) ready!
P.S. the poodle images I am using for the party are by Alison Folendore
I had hoped to have this quilt top finished yesterday but I ended up relaxing on the couch with my little ones - ahhhh. It sure was a nice change of pace.
Anyway, I got right back at it this morning and have it finished. This is my first non crib panel quilt and I am thrilled with how it is turning out. Now I just need to figure out how to quilt and bind it and I'm set. The quilt is for my oldest daughter's 4th birthday in 9 days - I had better get to figuring this out!
For Valentine's Day I made my girls some adorable Stripwork Jumpers from You Can Make This, you can see photos on my previous 2 blogs. It is a wonderful site, with fantastic patterns and My Simply Savvy Life is giving away $50 worth of patterns! You need to go check it out and enter!
Now that Valentines and the big family birthday party is behind me, I need to get back to working on my daughter's quilt today. Her big 4th birthday party is only 10 days away! I hope to finish the top today and will post a photo as soon as that part is done.
Have a great day!
This Finish it Friday challenge was a blast!! My goal was to get some valentines hairbows done for the girls, they are almost done and I will post photos of th
em in their full outfits tomorrow.
My big suprise was that I found the time to finish a Valentines Stripwork Jumper for each of them. Aryanna's is completely finished and Noelle won't take hers off so I can put on buttons, I will do it this evening after she goes to bed.
So, I have finished one jumper and the other jumper plus 2 hairbows will be done before I go to bed as will a fun dessert for tomorrow - Cupid's Cups.
Look for more photos of the projects tomorrow.
Happy Valentines Day!
Today we plan to make some tree decorations and sugar cookies so you will hear from me very soon. It was good to chat again and I look forward to catching up on your blog too.
I know my children and I know better that to leave a feather/down pillow with a nickel sized hole awaiting repair anywhere that they may conceivabley come across it! There is a good explanation for the feathers though. According to my 4 year old they were "playing winter", I guess little downy feathers make great faux snow. What baffles me is that we live in the Canadian Prairies, we have had snow cover for 4 1/2 months now with at least one more to go before we see the grass - couldn't they play "spring"?
t could I do with an empty room? I am gradually moving all my stuff out of the current sewing/craft/storage mess, (actually my mom-in-law organized it for me last week so it is much less of a mess but inconvenient none-the-less) into the new Mommy Room. The old room is hard to explain but is set apart enough that I couldn't keep tabs on the girls while I was in there, I couldn't even hear them. I always ended up hauling all my stuff to the kitchen table and dumping it back in the room at the end of the day - causing the mess! 
computer in my Mommy Room. I was just going to sit down and sew, realized I needed instructions from a YCMT pattern that I have saved on my computer and was dreading either printing the instructions again or running between the computer in the Family Room and my sewing machine. Then I turned around and saw my computer sitting right behind me. Oh how wonderful this will be! I just had to take a moment and let you share in the excitement.
Aryanna loved her birthday and is still talking about 1.5 days later. Of course I was busy with the games and crafts so didn't get as many photos as I would have liked but here are a few
I have also been busy this week getting ready for her 4th birthday party on Saturday. This is the first year she is inviting friends and the first year that her Grandparents, who are Missionaries in SE Asia, are able to be physically present for a birthday. It will be a big day for her and I am trying to make it really fun. We are doing a Poodle theme and I made pink hairbows as gifts for all her friends (and little sister too) and a green and white one to match her new birthday outfit. Aryanna and I came up with a poodle puppet craft, a pin the nose on the Poodle game and some coloring pages. Tomorrow I will make the cake and pinata if I have the time. Look for more photos tomorrow. Right now I am heading to bed!
em in their full outfits tomorrow.
