$23.75

Sorting.

Moving.

Sitting.

Baking in the sun.

= $5 per hour?

(Less if you include the sorting and decision making needed.)

It's decided.

That's the last yard sale we'll ever have.

I'm done!

Value Village gets whatever we don't want from now on!

We tried to give it to GoodWill but they refused our goods.

Harumpf.

Not Donnie Brasco

This weekend fella and I watched a couple of movies.

Originally we were going to watch Chinatown

because I've never seen it

but the copy we had wasn't playing properly so we went to the next in the list.

I haven't watched a lot of David Lynch movies

because frankly, they are too weird to be worth it.

I had hopes for this one

but it quickly descended into the more weird than worth category.

If anyone knows what this movie is about

please do share.

We also watched this one:

I usually confuse Donnie Darko with Donnie Brasco.

And even when I don't

I still assumed that it was a gangster movie.

It isn't.

This is a really good movie.

It has both of the Gyllenhals

a bit of scary

an evil bunny

and great music.

What more could you want?

The rest of the weekend was spent in the basement.

And thus

I hesitantly proclaim -

WE HAVE CONQUERED THE BASEMENT!

Stuff?

sorted

Junk?

tossed

Floor and counter surfaces?

bare.

How do I feel?

relieved.

Really, really relieved.

We're almost ready for guests!



be my guest

We don't get a lot of visitors.

Especially ones who stay the night.

So I'm a little excited (and a little nervous)

because we have two couples coming to visit

2 weeks in a row!

There is good news and bad news when it comes to our "guest room"

Whether the news is good or bad, depends on the recipient of the news.

So here we go.

1. Our guest room is in the basement.

As I mentioned, some may think this is a plus and some may disagree.

The good thing about the basement is that the guests have privacy.

Their own bathroom!

Even a kitchen!

The not so goods -

It's kind of dark down there.

It's totally messy (which will hopefully be rectified this weekend)

the kitty litter is in the bathroom.

Did I mention it's messy? And full of all of the stuff we didn't want to put in the rest of the house?

Oh and our attempts at buying a mattress for the antiqu bedframe we bought was a total bust so the guests get, you guessed it, an inflatable bed.

Now I've been put up on many an inflatable bed and they aren't too bad

but still and all.

It's an inflatable bed.

So I looked for inspiration on the interweb and here are a few images that caught my fancy:

Doesn't look like a basement, does it?

Neither does this....

Nope. That's an above ground window I see there...

But here's what I learned:

If you can't have a bright, fresh room

for your friends and families

go with the next best thing.

Details.

nice linens

comfy pillows

good reading lights

fluffy towels

little touches

That make them feel welcome.

And tell them that they can always crash on the couch

if the airbed deflates.

all images linked through pinterest

night light

Sometimes my fella has great foresight.

He can see something

that others think is junk

and see how it can be

something beautiful.

This works in tandem with his love for bidding on things at auctions

that no one else wants.

vases

dolls

glass shades

Some of these things have come to great purpose.

Others

are sitting in our basement.

But let's see what brilliance he came up with with the third item on the list.

Glass shades.

A box of them.

Hmmm.

On the weekend, he got busy stripping some copper wire he had and strung them up.

Success.

This one hangs from the apple tree.

We also hung some mason jar lights from the pine and apple tree

as well as the ugly telephone pole at the end of the yard.

And now it really feels like an outdoor room.

 This one is hanging from a wire that runs across the yard - it's quite high so we need a ladder to reach it, but it's like a chandelier suspended from the sky...

I'm so in love with our yard this summer.

It's finally getting tamed

and of course there's still lots to do

but I'm so happy with what we've done so far.

Sometimes I just sit and admire it.

And feel peaceful.



post haste tree departure

When we moved into our house

there were two ugly trees in front of the living room windows.

Those trees haven't gotten any prettier

so we decided that enough was enough

and they were coming down.

Before:

 ghastly, unruly things.

I mean, really. Look at them!

ugly from every angle.

 

I don't think the cats were in full support of this decision

but we knew it was the right thing to do.

Here's the After:

Admittedly, it looks a little bare there now

but we'll get something else planted to "spruce" it up a little.

I felt totally relieved once they were gone.

I really hated those trees.

(The kill)

 

I'm thinking maybe one of these:

It's a flowering almond shrub.

The blossoms are glorious.

We'll see.

As I keep saying,

it's all an experiment!

Brighter = Better

I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago and while the basement re-org was the main to-do, I also accomplished a couple other little jobs that had been pending.

We have a very poorly laid out kitchen.

Almost no counter space,

few cupboards,

one drawer.

 (and a kitchen floor that is disintegrating rapidly.)

(that will be a much bigger job when the time comes.)

I brought this radiator shelf from the apartment when we moved. 

(yes, I stole it.)

It was good to claim the top of the radiator for usable space.

I thought it was cute but it was in need of a touch up.

It was stained from my leaky old coffee maker.

Yucky.

So I gave it a little sand,

a little primer,

and a couple of coats of paint.

And now - ta da!

I also moved a couple of other things since I was in a "styling" kind of mood

and in doing so was able to clear the kitchen counter a bit

It is, by no means, a drastic makeover

 but at least it doesn't have embarrassing coffee stains on it anymore.

(I also got a new coffee maker. That helps.)

Also while on vacation, I assembled and painted the legs of this butcher block cart/table to put in the kitchen. I still have to stain/protect the wood and haven't done that yet so we're not really using it for food prepbut I think it will come in very handy.

and I love the colour of the legs. 

Our kitchen is beige beige beige

so the blue is a nice punch of colour.

And to up the cute factor, the colour is called

"baby bird".

Mantel Makeover

This has been frustrating internet week. Wait, aren't they all? I am cursed with internet at home - it's slow, it hates my computer, it drops the connection. 

(Insert heavy sighing here.)

Often I try and try and then just give up.

So here I am.

I have today off. It's a super long weekend for me. Hurray!

So here's post one of what I've been up to!

I got the latest edition of Real Simple last week. I like Real Simple because I try a lot of things they suggest - recipes, clothes, makeup. They have a great approach. It's, um, simple.

 I was inspired by the "Mini Makeovers for Every Room" article. In particular, this:

I don't particularly love the mantel, or even the objects on the mantel.

What I loved was the organization, the placement of it all.

(And to me, this is the best kind of puttering of all.)

I think sometimes you focus so much on certain things in your home

(furniture, basement purge, vacuuming and dusting)

that you can lose sight of the "appearance" of things.

I know that sounds silly - especially since so many of you love home design and devote a lot of time to this exact thing

but for me - I'm not great with "vision". I have a hard time visualizing something- how it's going to be - and it makes me freeze. 

I also don't have a lot of time so the time I have is usually devoted to larger projects or laundry.

However, enough excuses and on with the fun!

I was inspired by the article because it said to use items that you already have in your home. Look in your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom - everywhere!

I like this because, well, it's free.

So here's what my mantel looked like before:

Nice eh?

Inspiring.

How about a different angle?

Nope. Not any better.

It's a mish mash of items that have been put here because we put them down here and stopped seeing them as we walked by.

Here's what we had:

- items that need to be returned to MEC

- dvd

- valve (I don't know what this is for)

- small yarn balls in a jar

- picture of my mama

- picture of fella's childhood home (courtesy of Google maps)

- anvils of various sizes

- small dish filled with old watch faces 

- pieces of wood

- casket paperweight

- clock

- old candy 

You get the idea.

It wasn't good.

But like I said - I stopped seeing it. 

Now - on to the makeover!

There is a huge mirror over our mantel that we are keeping until we come up with something better. 

It's not a nice mirror but it reflects the light and makes the room feel more open. 

So it's staying (although it would benefit from a swipe of a rag and some windex)

I have a couple of pieces of art that I put in frames temporarily until I can afford to get them properly framed (which begs the question - do any of you know where you can buy decent frames that aren't from IKEA and aren't ridiculously expensive? Do share!) 

I figured it was better to be able to see them than have them tucked away in envelopes.

The other thing Real Simple mentioned was this:

"Leaning and layering pictures and post-cards creates a casual, unfussy quality, inviting investigation rather than scaring people"

I like leaning and layering.

I like unfussy.

But most of all, 

I like not scaring people.

So here's what I came up with:

This is Lenni. She has a story which I will share with you another time. 

I love her.

I think it looks much better.

The room needed a focal point.

I know that the fireplace isn't a lot of people's

"cup of tea"

but we kind of like it.

It doesn't work, it's a fake

but we still like it.

I would like to have a big piece of art to hang in the living room

but it hasn't found us yet.

For now I'm happy to be able to look at the Lenni and the Austin Kleon

and other items we love.

The other thing I like is that it's so easy to change it up. 

Nothing is permanent so it can come and go with my moods.

When fella first saw it he said.

"that's a lot of stuff".

It is. But I still like it.

What's that there?

Something interesting appeared in my back yard on Tuesday.

Can you spot the differences in these two photos?

 (I mean other than the fact that Chester is in the photo and they are taken at different distances)

there's a fence! Our neighbours built a fence!

And they didn't even want us to pay for it!

(we are going to take a load of stuff to the dump for them which is a heck of a lot easier than building a stupid fence, which we were going to do if we ever got around to it.)

He's even offered to build one for the left side of the the yard 

(which you can't seen in these photos because it's hidden by the garage) 

but it's a very dilapidated chain link fence that needs to be put out of it's misery - stat.

Fella picked up the wood yesterday and Gino the neighbour is going to build it for us!

For free! (or maybe for another dump run - which is fine by me.)

Hooray!

We also need to replace the other dilapidated chain link fence on the right side of the yard but it's on hold until we talk to that neighbour. (Plus it's tricky to do at this time of year with all of the greenery)

So that is progress.

You may recall, when we moved into the house, we also had these as neighbours:

thankfully, they are long gone, as is their stink and mess.

And now we have a lovely new fence! 

Hurrah!

I love polka dots.

They are a happy pattern.

So I was happy when I spied these yesterday at Winners.

$54.99!

I also picked up some matching pillow cases for $12.99

(well - they are plain grey but the colour is very close)

Score!

happy monday

I had a great weekend.

I didn't get to do all of the things I wanted to do

but the weather was beautiful
and I got to spend 3 hours outside working in the garden yesterday

and I felt like a million bucks. (sure my back hurt and my shoulders were a bit pink but I barely felt it.)

Spring is warming up, my tulips are exploding and my grass now has some extra seed.

I took lots of pictures which I'll upload tonight.

When I woke up this morning I remembered - this is why I wanted a house.

To putter.
To make things grow.
To feel the sunshine on my cheeks
and smell all of the smells of things coming alive.

I made time this morning to eat breakfast and look our at the back yard
and I could feel oodles of energy bursting under my skin.
I want to be outside all the time.(that's what a rainy, cold April will do to you.)

I feel, for lack of a better phrase, reborn.
I feel like myself again. And it's a relief.

It's going to be a good summer.

the other side

We live in a semi-detached house.

In Nova Scotia speak - it's a duplex - which sounds totally trashy and unappealing.

But in Toronto, it's the norm. Lots of houses here are under the more appealing title of "semi-detached".

When we bought our house, we thought it would be pretty soundproof.

It's brick

it's solid

 but it's not sound proof.

The people who live next door are a lovely family.

They have three grown daughters who no longer live with them (or so we thought) and they are very close - they are together a lot and we see them in our backyards regularly (since they are also semi-detached, so to speak.)

We moved in at the end of May. The weather was beautiful, the windows were open, the breezes were flowing....

When the fall came and the weather changed, we closed the windows.

And that's when we could hear the noise.

The family has a grandson who's a toddler. We could hear him running around, yelping, crying, the usual behaviour for a little tot. No big deal. Not bothersome.

But then one of the daughters had a baby.

And she and the baby came to visit around Christmas.

And stayed.

And it would appear that the baby "sleeps" in the room that mirrors our bedroom

because we regularly get woken up by the baby crying in the middle of the night.

(Well, it starts out as crying and develops into an all-out wail in a matter of minutes.)

One of the reasons we wanted to get out of the apartment was because we didn't want to hear other people's "living" noises. We had some hesitation about buying a semi but like I said, they are common in Toronto and are more affordable than a fully detached house.

I was upset that we could hear the other family.

I felt self-conscious about how much noise we could make.

I spoke to someone at the bridal shower I went to last weekend and she said they have the exact same thing. She thought that their neighbours' headboard was against the same wall as theirs because they could, um, hear, noises.

Thankfully, we haven't encountered that.

Yesterday fella said that he's sick of being woken up by the crying baby

and he wants to talk to them about it.

My stomach curled inwards and I started to sweat.

I hate confrontation.

 I put up with a lot of things to avoid it entirely.

I know this is unhealthy

but honestly - cringe cringe cringe

I asked him what he thought he would say and did he think we have to right to ask them to move the baby or change the way they live in their house?

He said he didn't know what he would say but that he thought it would be better to say something than to resent them  and allow it all to fester.

Good point.

But here's my question - what does one say?

Do you think we have the right to talk to them about it?

Do you live in a semi? Can you hear the noises of your neighbours?

Are there limits on what you can expect from people when it comes to their homes?

(cringe cringe cringe)

(P.S. I have nothing, I mean NOTHING, against babies. Or babies crying. I love babies and just because I don't have children does not mean that I am not sympathetic to parents who are awake at all hours because of their unhappy / unsettled infant. I just don't want to be woken up by them.

Truth be told - I hear that baby crying all the time - when I'm reading or watching a movie in the living room or when we're having dinner. That crying baby has become part of my daily soundscape and I'm ok with that as long as I'm awake. I just wanted to be clear that I am not anti- baby, parent or any of that stuff!)

And one more thing -

They burn incense.

 We might as well be doing it ourselves because it comes through the wall in the basement.

It can be so strong at times it makes me cough.

But you know what?

I don't mind it. I don't mind the smell of it.

 But if a smoker ever moves in next door, we'll be selling that house in a heartbeat because that is one thing I cannot abide.

Ok. I'm done now.

Please advise.

This is the ghost of December 27th....

Here's a post I wrote on December 27th. Our internet has been spotty this week (much like my health) and my attempts to upload photos failed every time....better late than never? So here it is - with edits)
Now go back in time and pretend it's December 27th

It's been a busy and fun few days!

Christmas was very quiet and relaxing - it's just me and my fella and since we didn't exchange gifts this year 

(except for a book I bought him before we agreed to not buy gifts. I got a great deal on it so it seemed silly to return it....) 

so we had a nice breakfast, he read his book, I read a magazine that I got a couple of weeks ago, we napped, snacked and made a big turkey dinner with all of our favorite fixin's.

We used my mother's china, which my Dad gave me when he sold his house this summer. Actually, my sister has been carting it in her carryon bag everytime she flies up from Halifax. 

(That's love. Or just the resolve that she won't store it in her basement along with all of the other stuff that came out of my father's house. )

It was nice. I don't think it's been used since the year my mom died so it makes me happy to think it would make her happy that it's being used.

No, I don't have any pictures. I know. That makes all this much more boring. But I'm still sharing. 

There you go.

I do have a few photos of other Christmassy things....

I could not, for the life of me, decide on how I wanted to decorate the front of the house.

I know urns are popular but I don't have any and I wanted something different. I just couldn't figure out what that was. Truth be told, our front entrance is a bit awkward. There's not a lot of room to put urns or the like out there because then it's hard for people to get in the front door so I haven't put anything out there. 

Yes, it's plain but at least nobody trips on anything trying to get in.

Safety first!

We were going to decorate the tree out front like this:

but we didn't have enough lights and I refused to pay $20 per strand of lights.

(that reminds me - I have to go to Canadian tire and buy lights on sale if there are any left...)

So we ended up with something simple but I thought it looked pretty. Especially with the snow...

Here's another:

I baked so much stuff this year!

I made these guys

plus:

brownies

nanaimo bars (which some people told me were the best they ever had! It was my first time making them so I was thrilled)

lemon bars

almond roca bars

candy cane bark

chocolate covered peanut butter balls

hello dolly squares

(they don't look like much in the photo but they are deeeelicious!)

The downside? There's still lots left.

Bad for my waistline

but they were oh-so-fun to make! I discovered that I really like baking and I can't wait to try some new recipes this year.

I've also decided that I need to come up with some menu ideas so we can have people over for dinner and not just order pizza like we usually do. If anyone has any ideas, please share....

I got these cute little wreaths at the Bay. They were 40% off!

This one's a little bit bigger. I hung it in the kitchen.

(you can see my old beloved coffee maker in this photo.)

Chester is not put off by the snow....

There are some other ones I'll post later.

For some reason blogger hates a few of my photos and won't upload them.

I'll retake the photos and post....

Now I have to go buy a stock pot to boil the turkey carcass in.

Ew, I know.

Fella promised to do it since I'm about 5 steps away from vegetarianism.

It's a bit much for me!