Speaking of appliances

Instead of trying to sell the house, maybe we should 

just deed it over to Starbucks in exchange for lattes.

I'm already spending enough money there!

Or maybe, I NEED one of these.

Rancilio Silvia

For my current house, new house, whatever. 

New home dreams

Some of the time I'm feeling pretty relaxed about whether or not this house sells. But most of the time, I'm lost in dreams of what I would do with a new house. I should have been sleeping this afternoon after a long night shift, but instead I lay awake in bed thinking about...

Pretty new kitchens (Image source: www.thisoldhouse.com)

Kitchenaid drawer dishwashers (Image source: www.appliancist.com)
The Elmira Northstar Retro fridges (image source: www.barsandbooths.com)

36" Bertazzoni dual fuel ranges (Image source: http://www.bertazzoni-italia.com)

If you think my tastes are rather diverse, I most definitely agree. I almost hope we don't move so I don't have to go through the angst of picking out everything!

Lovely little ladybugs

When Lizzie was very little she LOVED ladybugs. She collected them in a little jar and named them all, quite originally, "Lady".

Oh, she loved those ladybugs. We poked holes in the lids and fed them bits of leaves.

Somehow the bug-catching kit we bought her never had quite the same magical effect.

We always let the ladybugs go. As far as I know, we never lost one.

When I saw these ladybugs today, I thought, "wow, I have to show Lizzie", but they don't hold the same thrall for her as they used to.

My baby is growing up.

Condo Living

The latest innovation in cat storage.

Heat Wave

We are experiencing a heat wave in our part of the world. The weather we usually have in July and August surprised us the first week of September. But we're not complaining. I'll take the heat for a while longer.

My front porch is experiencing dual personalities these days.

My blue Muskoka chair is outside. Oh how I love to sit there with a book and a coffee. 

My other chairs remain as well, but their pillows are wearing their autumn covers. See those orange flowers to the right? They are still blooming and I potted them way back in June!

I set out a fall berry wreath, yet...

...the flowers from July also continue to thrive, even as the sun warms the porch floor so much in burns my bare feet!

I love fall decorating, but I'd like this weather to continue for a little while yet.

The suitcase

Sometimes I worry that this poor little neglected blog is dying a slow painful death. I've thought about giving up several times, but I'd miss it. I look back at my earlier posts and smile (or sometimes cringe) in remembrance at what has happened over the past year and a half since I joined the blogging community. So, I'll keep going. Perhaps a little more regularly from now on. It's been busy around here. We are still trying to sell the house, which I'm surprisingly calm about. I've realized that housekeeping could definitely be a fulltime occupation. My days off are filled with dusting and laundry. But what a pleasure to wake up to a clean house every morning and come home from work to a tidy home.  Maybe this habit will stick.

Check out this suitcase that followed me home from the thrift store last month. I was immediately drawn to it when I saw it on the shelf.

I carried it around the store as I checked out the other departments, trying to decide if I should buy it. It was a bargain at $6.00, but I didn't have any cash on hand.

I put it on hold to go to the bank machine and on the way there, I talked myself out of it. I didn't need this suitcase. I'm trying to streamline my life, not add more stuff. And it's a slightly odd shape, one side is slanted so it won't even fit nicely on top of my new wardrobe. And what would I use it for anyway, a place to store more junk?

I went back to the store, money in hand. I had to at least buy the cute little Japanese vase I had also put on hold. But then I saw it again, and it came home with me.

So now it sits.

Waiting patiently to fulfill its purpose. 

Halloween Style

Check out Matthew Mead's newest Halloween magazine: Hundreds of Spooky Treats and Clever Crafts for the Best Holiday Ever! Beautiful photos of easy, creative and fun projects and straight-forward directions and patterns that will appeal to crafters of every age. On newstands now throughout the U.S. and Canada!

I've been seeing this magazine around for the past week or so. I'm DYING to buy it, but I'm trying not to buy too many magazines. What a delight to discover that someone is giving away 5 copies! But I won't be selfish and keep this discovery to myself. 

Visit Linda at Restyled Home for a chance to win a copy! Good luck & happy crafting.

Famous Olivers

Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens' classic tale of orphans

Oliver Cromwell

17th century British military leader who was 

lord protector of England, Scotland, & Ireland

Oliver Platt

Actor (starred in movie with Heath Ledger)

Jamie Oliver

The Naked Chef

Oliver Stone

American film director & screenwriter

Oliver

Terrifically handsome but frightfully naughty kitty

Nemesis & terrorizer of Rain

Has remarkable paw dexterity

Looks cute & purrs loudly (only thing saving him from meeting his maker)

Photo Sources:

www.myartprints.com; www.teachwithmovies.org; www.allmoviephoto.com; www.gordonandthewale.com; www.foodnetwork.com

Why do we want to move again?

One thing you quickly realized about selling your house is that it has never looked better. Javier and I have both queried why we would leave this beautiful house. And it is looking mighty fine. Beds are made as soon as we wake up, surfaces are dusted and dishes are clean AND put away. I feel so motivated. I should have pretended to move years ago for a house like this.

Yesterday I went down to the other house to take pictures to remind myself why we are doing this.

Check out this view.

This is standing on the deck of the house. All I can say is wow. I can completely imagine summer mornings sitting with my coffee, watching the river flow by.

And look, some neighbours came out to welcome us to the neighbourhood.

What a friendly place!

Do you believe in omens?

How quickly life changes. One day I'm trying to convince Javier to help me do a major rearrange in the house. A few days later there's a real estate agent pounding a For Sale sign in our front yard and we are excited about a new house.

An hour after we signed our paperwork, Javier called me outside to see something. Just to the left of our house, in the soft pink twilight sky, were two very large and very beautiful rainbows.

We love our current house but the new one has an incredible view and the potential for being even more amazing.

The rainbows seemed like a good omen. I think we've made the right decision.

Project-ing

Oh, no.

I "accidently" found a new project...

Meet my dining room. It doesn't get used much. Just usually holidays and when I need extra space to spread out my craftwork. Javier loves when I do that.

I was recently taken by a crazy idea that I should flip the piano and dining rooms. See we do use the piano frequently and it's such a beautiful item that it's sad to hide it away behind closed doors.

This would be the piano room. It ends up being the room where we through anything and everything that we can't immediately find a home for - sports equipment, books, papers, and the like.

My big idea is to tear our the ugly, ugly shelves to make more room for our 8-person dining table and move the piano into the dining room.

Javier thought that it would be hard to take out the shelves, but see Javier. The trim came off likety-split. Can we do the switch now?

I'm imagining a lovely graceful dining room that we can keep tidy all year round (or mess up for craft projects, ha ha) and just close the door on it.

Then we can sit on the couch in the living room and gaze out at Lizzie practicing her piano lessons on our beautiful baby grand.

What a nice vision...

But I guess I should finish some other projects first.

This is my latest and greatest. My first patchwork quilt. It's baby sized. Perfect for a first timer. The front is all pieced together, now the quilting begins. I'll post more photos when it's done. I just hope I can finish it before my friend's baby comes at the end of the month. Yikes. Better get sewing.