Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Or so I thought.

I thought we were done with the destruction. Apparently a bit of the wall into the living room needed removal, too. Sean is so good at getting things done right.  This first photo shows the end cabinets and sink being taken out, and the second is the new look of the living room.  The other view of the living room looks like a garage sale, with all the stuff we need out of these cupboards out on the coffee table.



I just finished a great book and I just started another great book.  My thoughts on those coming soon!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Ouch...

Madeline's team (South Africa) beat their opponents (Spain) 18-1 this afternoon.  What a blowout.  I was half cheering for the other team... 

On the way home we stopped at Home Depot (surprise!) for more wire, and bought a dishwasher!  It was on for a really good sale price & it will come the same time as our cabinets.  Our sink is gone as of yesterday - with one trip to the dump, we are done with the last of the destruction.  

Off to do some dishes in the bathtub!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Storm Fail


Yesterday was our anniversary - I'm sure glad the weather four years ago was not like the weather we had this year on November 18th!

Yes, the craft sale was on our anniversary, and because of all the wind and snow, there was a very poor turnout - only 3 sales at our table.  The table was free, so I did turn a profit, but a very small one!  I sold one magic bag and 3 little snowmen.  We've got plans to try again, though.  They're both going to join me at the WH Ford sale on December 4.  (10 - 4 Come on out!)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Craft Sales

Tonight is our first craft sale of the year (and second ever craft sale!)  Suzanne has a table at the school board office where she works, and Carla and I are sharing it with her.  Suzanne has knitted stuff & dog toys, Carla has snowmen made from patio pavers (a buck a pound!) and I've got these:

Perfect Heat Wheat Bags - these are my newest fabrics.
I'm selling these for $12, and as always, custom orders and wholesale orders welcome.

Tea Light Snowmen - Saw one of these at Jess' place last year.
These will be $1 - I had a big box of candles already, and thought this would be a great way to use them up.  You need small inexpensive items get people to your table, anyway.  :)

Dancing Ribbon Rings.
And these I saw online - can't you just picture your little nieces dancing around with these?  The ribbons are 2' long; the rings with three pairs of ribbons will be $10 and the ones with five are $12.

Here are the posters for the sales if you want more info:


Monday, November 15, 2010

Free Inspiration Everywhere Class


I took a class last fall and thought it was great - anyone want to join me for this one?

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Homemade Christmas

Christmas is wonderful - celebrating what Jesus did for us by being born a human, and getting to see family.

The gift giving side of Christmas is not high on my priority list; my love languages are more in line with physical touch, words of affirmation and quality time; gifts is at the very bottom.  (A hug and sitting around the living room?  Perfect.)

I do enjoy giving gifts when I can come up with something homemade and perfect (it's hard being a perfectionist)!  I love being excited for someone to open the gift from me because I put thought and effort into it, rather than being half apologetic because I couldn't think of something better.  (It's also true that I think too much.)

I also like a simple life, and am trying hard to come up with ideas of things I can make without getting frazzeled by 'the list'.

Today I thought I would share with you my strategy for this year:  the in-ter-net.  I just googled 'gifts to make' and got a great idea for the boys.  I found something online a couple of weeks ago that I just had to make for K, and bought enough supplies to make some to sell at my craft sales.  I found something for just about everyone on my list; now I just have to get making!

I do recognize that not everyone appreciates homemade, and don't worry, I would rather spend money on something someone will actually use than give them something I made that will be junk in their home.  I am as concerned about usefulness as well as being frugal.  :)

I'm not intending to go on a big rant here; I don't want you thinking that you have to give me something homemade or I won't appreciate it.  I would be happy to open anything, because I know it comes from someone who cared enough to think of me.  I would be very happy with a mixed CD or baking or a family photo for my wall.  I would be honored to know that someone gave a donation to a charity (water projects or education in Africa?) in my name.  I would laugh if we got money to go towards our kitchen renos...

Here are a few sites to check out:
Advent Conspiracy -  be sure to check out the video.  Our preaching series for Advent is going to be on the four themes laid out in AC - Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All.  I'm very excited to see if our church grasps the idea.
How About Orange - fun stuff on this one.  I like the printables.
Instructables - "Homemade gifts are the best" is what they say!
whip up - I like that most of these blogs have a list of blogs on the side so you could get lost in crafty-blogginess for a good long time.
Craftster
Craft Gossip

At Thanksgiving, playing the family trivia game I made for Christmas last year.


I would love to hear your thoughts on Christmas gifts, family traditions, or sites where you find inspiration.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

 On Saturday, we helped Sean's parents move into their new place in Balgonie.
(Aaron, Ben, Sheldon, Sean)

Sunday Madeline had her second indoor soccer game.
They are South Africa, & tied last week 4-4 and won this week 8-6.
I have a little bit of a hard time not yelling like a coach.

Tonight we did a little more demolition.  It looks so much smaller without its skin on!

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Cat's Eye, Cabinet Costs & House Found

Just a catch up on life...

Book club tonight - I didn't notice that on the calendar until Monday.  Ordered the book at the library, picked it up Tuesday, and managed to get it done in 2 days - it's a long one, too.  Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye.  Now that I"m done that I can go back to Gone With the Wind.  How come I've never read this before?

I'm doing two craft sales this year.  Carla and Suzanne and I are sharing a table at a sale at Suzanne's work (School Board Office, Thursday, November 18, 4-8 pm).  I also got a table for one at WH Ford School (Saturday, December 4, 10-4).  Come on out if you're close by!  I'll take pictures of my wares and post them for you.

Sean's parents finally found a house!  The got possession yesterday, and we'll be helping them move on Saturday.  It's in Balgonie, so closer than they were, but still not in the city.  It's supposed to be pure 70's inside - can't wait to see it.

And a couple of photos to leave you with (thanks Auntie Joan for the costumes!) and a renos update (I actually wrote it first, but it got demoted to the end so you can skip it if you're not interested.

Madeline wore this to the Harvest Party at church.

 

And we wore them to a costume party at a friend's place.


Our kitchen is still in demolition mode. The main thing initally was that we were going to do the floors, a new countertop and ditch the wallpaper and paint. Minor renos. Sigh. The walls need to be redone because the wallpaper was covering lino which means the whole wall needs to come down. (And we can redo the vapor barrier and wiring, so that's good.) But we're now going up into the ceiling, too - scraping off the stipple and replacing the light fixtures. And cabinets. We moved out the one on the outside wall (and now have to go into the living room for our silverware and pots) to do the wall behind it, and now are pretty convinced that we should just do the cabinets too since everything else is getting done. But man they aren't cheap. Rona has a truckload sale on and we checked that out and they have everything we need except the right size sink base... and that means it won't work. Would have been half price, too. Enough about renos. I'll post more photos as it changes.