Dreaming of Spring, living in Winter

I am just going to let these photos speak for themselves!

A sneak peek of colour ...

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 ...

There's gonna be a party!!!

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!

Ahhhh, the first day of spring. While some of you have beautiful spring flowers popping up, I am still dreaming of the day all the snow is gone ... The days are getting longer though and today we are supposed to get above freezing so the end is in sight.

I woke up to a gorgeous Hoar Frost this morning, it's one of my favorite winter sights and I just wanted to share with you some photos from out my front door.

A new website!!!

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!

Fabric giveaway!

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!

The messes they make

One day I will be through this pre-schooler stage and I will laugh - right?

What a couple of mischief makers I am raising. Last Wednesday was a crazy day and in the midst of it I found that my 2 year old had gotten into the bathroom and destroyed it. I couldn't blog about it earlier because it was such a bad day and the thought of that bathroom mess almost sent me into a fetal position rock and sob!

Well, then yesterday's disaster happened and since it was a little less hair-pulling and a little more funny I had to tell you all about it. In the end I couldn't share one without the other.

I was talking to DH on his way home from work yesterday, heard an unusual noise in the basement and peeked down. To my horror, this is the sight that met my eyes

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"?

We got the toys all put away and this was what was left. I had to empty the vacuum 3 times before it was all cleaned up.

Can't remember what it was ...

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!

Ccccold

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!

Lovin' it!

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, what 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.

What a party!

When 2 introverted parents pull off a party that their 4 year old extrovert loves you know it was all worth it!

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














In the midst of all the party preparation I forgot what the next day was to hold.
Sunday we went to church, out for lunch and then came home to renovate.

Last spring and summer we poured a new basement beside our current house. The original basement was 105 years old and crumbling. We then moved our house over to the new basement and have been planning to build new stairs, the old ones are narrow, steep and in a dark corner of the house. So, Sunday afternoon the renos began and now there are stairs where the dining room table was. What a crazy weekend!