The start of a good day...

Well, actually it started out kind of effie...I was awakened by the rustling of my 3 year old by my bedroom door. I open my eyes and she's staring at me. Kind of unsettling. That woke me up, rather fast. But my body was feeling all achy and sore. I've been speed cleaning up the house, spiffing, painting, etc. And let's just say that's a really good workout! I must have climbed the stair 15 times, yesterday. It wouldn't be so bad but it's so darn humid and even though the house feels nice and coolish, you can get really sweaty just sitting in a computer chair! We don't have air conditioners downstairs. The idea is all the cool air will come down the steps and cool the lower floor. It works, most of the time.

Anyway, on to bigger and better things. We have finished the hallway!!! I'm thrilled and it looks grand. I want to add lots of paintings, pictures and paint the light fixtures (they are lovely old ones but have been painted by the previous owners...a brownish color. I'm thinking black. I feel so happy that this one thing was done. I also painted the one wall in the bathroom and the ceiling. It looked really bad but now looks bright and cheerful. Then we painted the ceiling in Norries room. It was stained really bad from the roofers. When they tore off the shingles we had one more good snow and of course it leaked. We still have to paint Lydia's and our room. Sigh, always painting. But that can wait until after my sister leaves.

I didn't get to finish Norrie's new curtains but I will next week. I really wanted to finish them for the bedroom where my sis and her family will be sharing.

I'm bunking up the girls in Lydia's room and it's a bit stressful as they aren't used to sharing and will play for a good half hour before settling down. The good news is they are actually going to be at 8:30 pm!!! I can't believe it but they are. Amazing. Talk about miracles. Now if I can only get them both potty trained...the next and continuing challenge.

I didn't get the table in the dining room painted but I have half the chairs finished. This is good and I just need to clean one of the rugs and put it in the dining room.


Last night, we cleaned off the ping pong table and spiffed up the basement. It's funny how having guest over makes you do all the things you were supposed to do ages ago. Jon even put up the peg board in the basement for tools. It looks really good...like an actual workshop.

I feel like things are really progressing and when my best friend, Caroline, visits in late summer we'll have even more to share. I would love to have my studio painted by then or at least the dining room floor painted and coated with a protective coating.

I rearranged the dining room a bit and it looks much better.

6 hours later...

I had to stop my blogging as life was crying at my elbows. Let's just say it involved poo ( lots of it), massive tears (from me too), ear aches (from crying), cleaning, and comforting and finally finding out what it is my two little ones wanted (hot dogs) and then playing and entertaining them while I tried to get ready for my sister and family who are coming on Thursday night. Between all of this there was a beautiful rain storm, thunder and lightening and moments when I was calm and content while struggling to hold both of my kids on my lap. Phew! During this time I managed to do some things I haven't been able to do in awhile. I got out the ironing board and did some ironing! I can't believe I did it but I did. I always worry that I'll burn someone with the iron out ( I have a big ironing board and a little one. And ususally I'll iron when the girls are fast asleep. I'll iron with the little on in the bathroom. Now, I realize I can do this with the big one (I brought it up stairs and store it in the hallway of my studio). Thank the stars! I pulled out some vintage baby girl dresses I collect and put them on some wooden hangers and put them on the walls. So very cute! I love it! Plus, I hung up the quilt my mom made for Norrie. It's all hand made...every stitch is by her hand. Lovely.
The photos:
Be forewarned, there are quite a bit of hallway pics. And this is only the beginning...




More of the actually color...it's really brighter than it looks.

Sampson cat...looking regal. A true blessing of a room is when a cat graces it with his presence.



Ah, the light!



Fresh from the oven...I found a super easy muffin recipe from

The Garden helper. It looked easy and had the least amount of things to add. They came out perfect! The last batch, I sprinkled with chocolate chips. Yum. And yes, it is warm but the down pour of rain we had earlier this afternoon cooled things off a bit, thankfully. Nothing wipes out the smell of painted walls like freshly baked goodies.


I went around taking pics of things I've done a few years back. This is a collage I did of my family tree. I really like this one. It came out so nicely.

Preview of one of my mini-quilts. It's actually a little larger...8 by 12 (something like that). I've more that I'm working on. : ) Remember folks, Christmas is coming! I'm going to put my quilts on my web page to be viewed and adopted. : )

Just some of my dolls I have collected and made.

This was my favorite doll as a little girl. My mom made it and it's hanging on the wall. She used to have a dress but I loved it to pieces.

Found this outside by our parking spot. Lovely thistle, so purple and so bright.

Curtain I did with a mass of material I got from my neighbors. I mean mass as in I got 8 garbage bags full...hehehe. I've made so much from this stuff...mostly practical stuff. But this was actually very fun and a good learning experience.

The recent curtain I'm working on for my daughter's room. I still need to finish these but couldn't do it before my sis came over. Oh, well. I'll try to finish these in August.

Well, that's it for now. Busy day but more to do...bathroom is next. Ugh.