Still Here, But Going Away

angela7dreams

Wow.  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  Sorry.

My new job is pretty intense.  And they're sending me to Africa for a month.  I leave Monday.

I'm probably not going to be doing any posting while I'm there, but I am hoping to be able to post some pictures to our Flickr stream, if you want to check over there.

Did you know that you can subscribe to RSS feeds on Flickr?  So you can follow your favourite photographers, just like you can follow your favourite bloggers.  Man I love the internet!

Have fun while I'm away!

 

Toenail Clippings and Cigarette Butts

Just a little of what we're contending with this week.  The tenants have gone, but the mess remains.

We'll get it cleaned up and then I'll have some actual projects to share with you.

Yay! Projects!

 

The World's Biggest Paint Chip

The studio apartment in our triplex has come vacant.  This always means a clean-up, necessary repairs and whatever else we think needs doing before we rent it out again.

Our tenant was a good one - there were only a few holes to fill.  But we didn't have touch-up paint for the space and really didn't want to have to paint the whole room.

I thought this would be a good chance to finally test out the new (to me) paint-matching technology at our local Benjamin Moore store.  But what to use as a paint chip...

It came off fairly easily and we threw it in the car.

I have to give the young lady at the store due credit - she didn't actually fall over laughing.  But I was surprised when she pulled out the giant fan o' paint chips and started matching the colour manually.

When asked about the fancy computer, she regretfully told us that that door?  Is WAY too big.

Oh.

Was I embarrassed?  A little.

Was it worth it to get out of having to repaint the whole room?  Totally!

My New Job Could Be Very Bad For My Budget

Just a quick post today.  I'm sure most of you have already switched off your computers for the long weekend anyway.

I started a new job today (did I tell you I finished at the dairy?).  I work here, surrounded by really beautiful hand-crafted furniture.  Such temptation!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

Moving!

Our building has finally sold and we will be moving on.

I know I shouldn't be so gleeful about this, given that our time here has pretty much been one big failure, but there is glee and I am full of it!

And since I am a good blogger and always think about my readers, I have all kinds of plans.

We can talk about Decluttering! And Downsizing!  And Drinking!  What? It starts with "D"!

Then, of course, there will be the new place to make habitable.  Wheee!  Plus all our regular features.  It's going to be FUN!

 

You're Not The Only One

My computer does not like the heat.  And it's been really hot lately.  So today, she just refused to do anything, no matter how much I pleaded with her.

Alan, apparently, is the computer disciplinarian in this house.  So when he came home from work, he had a go and after only three hours, she's up and running again (my husband is a living saint!)

Which leaves me just enough time to tell you about You're Not The Only One - an exciting book project put together by British blogger Peach.  Proceeds from the sale of the book go to Warchild - a great organization devoted to helping children worldwide affected by war.

Most of the activity surrounding this book is happening in the Personal Memoir neighbourhood of Blogland, but I know the Decor neighbourhood has a good heart and will get behind it, too.

For the full story and a complete list of contributors (I'm one of them!), check out this post.

Or just buy the book.  Lots of great writing.  Even better cause.

Links on a Wednesday

If you haven't already downloaded this month's Inspiration e-Zine from Design for Mankind, you can do so here.  Don't know about the e-Zines?  Every month, Erin puts together an amazing, downloadable, FREE, pdf, packed with gorgeous photos, essays and inspiration.

The theme this month is Inspiration in Nature.  And I'm very honoured to be included as one of the contributors.  Thanks Erin!

And, since this seems to be "All About Me Wednesday" (don't worry, I won't make it a regular feature), I'll direct you to my first post for Vintage Indie.  It's a brand-new project, never featured here!  Hope you enjoy it!

 

Everything Changes

So I bet you're all wondering, "What happened to the job?"

Frankly, so am I. 

I was told on Wednesday that I was too tall for cheesemaking and the owner of the dairy didn't want to take risks with my back.  I was allowed to finish out the week and that was that.

Sigh.

In the meantime, I have closed my shop for good - a decision I'm going to stick with. 

We're trying to sell the building, Alan has a full-time job, in addition to selling bread at the Farmers Market (more often that will be my task for Saturday mornings) and I'm still actively looking for work.

The second-hand business was fun while it lasted, but it's time to move on.

I will continue with the blogging, though!

In fact, I've just been signed on as a contributing editor over at Vintage Indie (thank you Gabreial!).  I'll be posting DIY projects a couple times a month.  I'll re-issue a few oldies but goodies from the archives here, but I will also be sending out as many original projects as I can. I'll let you know when my posts appear.

Thanks for all your congratulations and kind comments.  I really appreciated them.  And feel just a little silly that it didn't work out.

 

Sorry, But

I need to take a break this week.

I was sitting in my shop on Friday, minding my own business, when a friend called up and offered me a job in her dairy.  I started yesterday.

It's a great job, and a chance to learn a lot of new things.  But it's also really intense.

So I'll be taking the rest of the week off, getting used to the new routine and getting myself organized.

I'll see you back here next Monday.

Hope you all have a great week!

 

Today On Vintage Indie

Well, I'm just all over the place today!

Gabreial featured my kitchen table re-vamp on her very cool site, Vintage Indie today.

I hope you'll all head over, check it out and say hi to Gabreial for me!

 

A Definite Sign of Spring

More than this:

And definitely belying all evidence offered by the weather, spring is really here.

How do I know?

This sign:

And this one:

I opened my shop for the season this morning.  I'll be here until the place sells.

Somehow, this song seems appropriate....

 

Renovation - The World's Worst Houseguest

The alternate title for this post is - There's a Bed Frame in My Kitchen - cuz, people, there's a bed frame in my kitchen!

I know I shouldn't whine.  I'm lucky to be able to do renovations.  And I could have just left well enough alone and kept the house tidy.  I mean, I did sign up for this.

But there comes a point in any renovation when I start to feel like I've been invaded by the houseguest from hell.  One who moves in, rearranges all the furniture, makes outrageous scheduling demands, while offering no help at all in meeting those demands.

And will never, ever, ever be pinned down to a departure date.

I just keep telling myself how lovely the place will look when Mr. Renovation has finally left, with grim mutterings on my part about how he will never be invited back.

Yeah, right.

New Prints in Our Etsy Shop

Remember how I was going to be all organized and regular about getting things into the Etsy shop?  Oh well.

We've listed some new ones.  Hope you like them!

And in other news, this week's Comfort Food Recipe is  Mango Souffle!

Ikea Fun

Well we made it through Ikea without going too far over budget.

I am physically incapable of bringing one of those flat-packed boxes into the house and not opening right away.  It's just such a thrill to line all the pieces up.  Open up the instructions and see:

The International Symbol for "Get a Handsome Man With Great Hair to Help You."

Helpful Instructions

I was working on a curtain the other day when I noticed this printed along the edge of the fabric.

I thought, "Well, that's a good thing."

'Cuz, wouldn't you feel stupid hanging this -

- upside down -

- or even sideways?

Customer What? - Part 2

We finally got fed up today. Went back to the carpet store and cancelled our purchase.

Sounds easy, doesn't it?

At one point, no less than FIVE people were wandering around, looking for paperwork. They'd head into the warehouse and then come back to confer and then someone else would wander off.

Finally one of them realized that leaving the customer steaming in the front of the store was probably a bad idea. They had lost one of the vital bits of paper, but finally thought that maybe they could give us our refund and THEN go look for it.

Sheesh.

We stopped by another carpet store. Bought a nice piece of remnant. Saved five bucks. AND they cut, rolled and wrapped it for us right there. Helped load it into our car and sent us on our way!

Guess where we'll be shopping for all our flooring needs from now on?

They also have tile. Pretty, pretty tile....

Customer, What Was That Word Again?*

The bedroom is all painted. Next step is to lay the carpet remnant, which we bought and PAID FOR on Monday. They said they'd call when it was out of the warehouse.

No word Tuesday. Alan gave them a call yesterday. Since, you know, it's obviously in stock. And we've PAID for it.

"If we haven't CALLED you, that means we don't have it READY. When we FIND it, we'll CALL you!"

Oh.

So, OK. I'll do some sewing instead. Thrifted remnant and a nice old cotton sheet.

*If you guessed "service", you're both right and, apparently, a total dinosaur, just like me.

A Big-Time Repurpose

Over the holidays, Alan and I went to stay at the Millcroft Inn, a lovely country inn and spa in Alton, Ontario. We ate, we drank, I had a massage.... as I said, lovely.

But I did not forget this blog or my readers while we were there. I did a bit of research. Because the Millcroft wasn't built as an inn. Originally, it was a knitting mill, specializing in the manufacture of long woollen underwear. The mill closed in 1965, leaving a solidly-built stone building in a beatiful location.

Someone had the vision to turn this into something good. It is now an Inn, Spa, Conference Facility, using buildings originally on the site, including a warehouse and the owner's quarters.

Here in Canada, the practice is usually to tear down a building once its original purpose is finished and build something new. I'm always heartened to see instances of preservation and repurposing.

I'd love to take on a project of this scope someday. But for the next little while, I'll content myself with sorting through the stuff in the basement and seeing what I can make of it.

Anyone Else Feeling a Little Tense?

Living green isn't just about the cool stuff, like Tomato Cage Christmas Trees and Balloon Wisk Candle-Holders.

Sometimes it involves actual mechanicals and bureaucracy.

The Ontario government is trying to entice the electorate to conserve energy by offering cash incentives. Whoo!

So we recently upgraded our furnaces (both houses). The cool thing is, you can now rent furnaces in our area. So if (when) something goes wrong, you just call the company and say, "Dude, your furnace is broken." And they have to come out and fix it. On their dime! I can't wait till the day we can rent sewer connections....

To qualify for the cash incentive, you have to have an energy audit done. And today, the start of my pre-Christmas sale, was the day.

I was in the middle of trying to get myself prettied up and ready to start work when the doorbell rang. Alan was down in the bakery and didn't hear it.

By the time I got to the door, NO ONE. And no car, either. I poked my head out the door, looked around. Nothing. Told Alan that the guy was here but, apparently invisible.

Then the phone rang. Of course, we live in Sebringville, where cellphones don't work. "Hello? Hello?"

I decided to finish getting ready for work, having wasted five minutes looking for the Phantom Energy Auditor.

That's when he pounded on the back door. The one with all the crap in front of it. By the time I got it open, he was disappearing down the end of the driveway.

I shouted a frantic hello and back he came. "I rang the bell, but nobody answered."

And I, who try always to be polite to everyone who crosses my path, lost it, possibly, just a little bit. I mean, I'm pretty sure I didn't actually swear at him. But I think the neighbours heard me explain that when you ring the bell? You have to WAIT a bit to give people a chance to ANSWER THE DOOOOOOOR!!!!!

Note to self: learning to manage your stress better might be a good idea.

The Snow, It Blows!

I had my first Snow Day since moving to Sebringville. I decided that there was no point opening the shop, since the views out my window looked like this.

Yes, Janet - that's a church across the street. And very charming, too! Good call!

How 'bout the rest of you? Staying safe and warm I hope?