A panda bear, a crab, ...

a pufffer fish and an elephant, hanging out at the soccer field.  Pocket sized toys here.

A few new blogs I found, one very sweet one and another popular one, but new to me.  The first likes kittens, the second does pink very well.

Spring flowers

I know, its autumn now, and these are spring flowers.  The smallest spec of prettiness.  Adjusting to a new routine at home. Laying low, enjoying the cooler temps.

Soapstone slab

If Friday wasn't exciting enough for me (with the cabinet installation happening), early this Monday morning I received a call from the counter people and they had an 9am opening to come over to my home and make the counter template.  I jumped for joy, literally, 10 times, kids laughing at me.  Ooops to another missed day of work, Ill go in late.  This kitchen stuff is a priority right now. Kitchen reno started last Feb 2011. That's 1 entire year and 7 months.

Friday's work and Monday mornings' surprise meeting wrapped nicely around my birthday weekend. Yes, I take the whole weekend to celebrate.  My birthday, yesterday 9/23, also marks my 3rd year anniversary in this house. I signed the closing papers and received the keys on my birthday three years ago.  I was also 4 months pregnant.  Life and renovations are progressing nicely. I'm jumping out of my skin with anticipation of a working kitchen, excited to bake, tidy up, and polish counter.

Last week I went to the counter place to commit to my counter selection, choose my slab and pay the deposit.  I forgot to take pictures of my slab, but was able to get the sales person to forward me a few.

This is soapstone. This is MY slab, before it gets cut up.  I chose soapstone because I liked its smooth feel and soft look. Rock. Smooth, soft rock. Incongruity.   I liked its rustic look for my kitchen. Not so shiny and overdone.  The color gets darker over time, as one applies mineral oil to the surface.  For a waxy look, there is Almond wax.  I'm looking forward to applying the oil and rubbing over the surface and watching it get darker over time.

This rock is none porous and doesn't stain.  I like how it will look with the porcelain sink; Rock and Porcelain. Gray & White. More incongruity and contrast.

This counter commitment is bigger then I thought though. I have been looking at other houses while this kitchen reno has been going on.  Entirely out of frustration and in need of a better layout and perhaps an extra room. But once I put the deposit on this counter, the thoughts of selling have left my mind.  For a few years.

Happy Birthday to me.

Going on right now...

A little extreme makeover demolition and and over the balcony.

  
Some drilling, and

installation.

Babystyle - ♥

Lucy has been diaperless for over a month and has been having rockstar success using the toilet. Initially, multiple months ago, she stopped pooping in her diaper. Too dirty for her. She had to make the choice, diaper or toilet.  Eventually she started "putting her pee" in the toilet too. Although recently, she has started to hold her pee. Forever. Until its too late. She doesn't want to poop anymore (at all) so she holds everything in.  And she requests a diaper. But she doesn't release in the diaper either. She squirms and is uncomfortable and in a conundrum.  A bit of potty learning regression. Will see what happens.

Hat: knitted, vendor @ Hillside flea market
Heart Sweater: Joe Fresh sold @ Independent Grocery
Scarf: bought in Assos market, 2011
Cloth diaper: FuzziBunz® Pocket Diaper
Boots:

Assessories: Elmo finger puppet

1000's and 1000's of tomatoes

Last year this time I was writing all about the backyard. I haven't written much about it since.  My spade broke in two.  And my lawnmower broke. I need a new one. The grass is long. It is a disaster. It's about that time when the neighbour offers her lawnmower to me.

I'm intentionally holding out, seeing how long I can get away without buying one.  My life is too easy, I need some fun.  The dry summer has helped me with my goals.  I have fared well, managed two seasons without one, and the next season is almost upon us.  Have some how kept the front lawn manicured and the neighbours content (ha).  Another reason why I drag this out ... waiting to see what kind of earth shattering BEST deal on a lawn mower I can get.  (I learned at my local hardware store that they do not drop the price, they put them in storage for the winter and try again next spring.). Maybe some other serendipitous solution will present itself.   And another reason, I just kind of do that ... same with my car, 10 years and still running. Part of me wants a new one, part of me wants to see how many miles I can put on the engine. 118000 already. I'm sure I could get to 200000. But I digress.

Last summer I bought a weed whacker. Stupid squirrels chewed through the weed whacker gas tank, siphoned all my gas and made it impossible for me to continue to use.  (Love ducktape, but screw it). I also bought a 5 gallon gas tank. Stupid tank wouldn't let the gas pour out (I grew up on a farm, these things used to be simple, but this one required a set of instructions. I burnt those).  For awhile this summer I had a stupid weed whacker and a stupid gas tank sitting in my garage. I got rid of the weed whacker. Placed it at the end of the driveway, walked into the house to get a sticky note and pen to scribble a note and stick it onto the hole of the gas tank.  Returned, and it was already gone.  I hate excess. I hate waste. I'm glad someone grabbed it.

One day this summer I came out with a pair of scissors and started cutting the grass along side the house. Got half done before the neighbour offered me her mower. Got side tracked mowing the lawn and never trimmed the rest of the sides of the house.

I also have a reel mower. I LOVED shopping for that.  First thing I bought along with my first house. Carried it to my rental and then on to this house. I was happy to drag that one around. Mowing the lawn early Saturday morning, oblivious college student neighbours sleeping away.

There used to be a mobile blade sharpener. I  discovered he walked the entire city, with his collection of sharpeners, offering his service. That made for an easy time with a reel mower.  I met him once. I chased him down on my bike and pointed him in the direction of my house. We met and he skillfully sharpened each blade.  My neighbour hauled over their mower and he went to work on theirs. 'See you in two years." he said. Then he disappeared. Forever.

My mower is long time dull now and fairly useless.  One time I hauled it over to a blade sharpening shop. Waited a week while the grass grew tall.  Finally retrieved reel mower and was exhausted and disappointed with its cutting performance.  I mowed for the rest of the summer and the next, until the blades were deemed useless and the thing now leans against my garage wall, retired.

Along with my long grass, I have three crazy tomato plants & a Hydrangea (it was raining this morning, so just a blurry backyard snapshot).  Successful and bountiful (the tomato plants that is, the Hydrangea was kind of water starved). And they (the tomatoes) are still flourishing. They are the heirloom kind, three different kinds; I forget much about them except they were each suppose to ripen at different times. I give away 1/2 of the orange tomatoes (one of my friends eats them whole, so he gets most of them). I blanch, peel, cube and freeze the other half. I hear they are really, really sweet and tasty.

Growing plants acceptable. Growing grass, not so acceptable. My neglected backyard, will soon  get the attention it deserves. I'm signing up for a two day landscaping course which hopefully will give me some ideas and direction to work on for next spring.

Linking up with SITS Girls and their Fall Photo prompt. Join in over here.

Two cage light options

One is found at Home Depot cage light  for 69.97.   The other at Restoration Hardware cage light for $119.00. 

I found the RH one first. Perfect for above the sink. And ties in with the beehive light I have for the main lighting. Put two in the basket, add in shipping, handling and taxes and we are well over 300 dollars. Search for other options and find the HD cage light. Suits me fine. No shipping fees and it does what I want it to do (dangle and protect the bulb and ties in with the other light).  But there is one small difference that is making me lean towards the other... the cord colour. Hmmmmmm.

Which one do you like better? Any more out there?

 Ohhh lala, I found another beauty, for admiring purposes only ... here & here. If I didnt have electrical holes for two, already in place, this would be a strong contender.

And another here.

Cool contractor

Up to the minute progress on the kitchen renovation! Contractor is at work in my kitchen, doing the electrical behind wall #3. (Wall 1, wall 2) Isn't he cool, sending me photos and keeping me updated.

Weekend snapshots

While one of us went to the college football game, the rest of us strolled through the outdoor festivities and ended up at a cafe with all the trendy styles that I have only seen online up until recently. 

Pallet chairs. Check. Re-cycled pallet hangings. Check. Re-cycled burlap sacks. Check. Bottled pendants. Check.

A Sunday drive leads us to the finger lakes region at the Corning Glass Museum.

A day for learning and experimenting.  After our walkaround, we went over to the studio where they offered classes in glass fussing, glass blowing and flaming. Chaz was too young to work with the torch so I decided we can return another year for that. We chose a sandblasting, glass fusing and glass blowing project. Our stuff will arrive next week.

 

Tufted chesterfield

The Chesterfield, featuring Gordon, Theo & At.

Gordon via Homedecorators

Theodore via Jayson

The Atelier via Anthropologie

I suppose we shouldn't forget about Chester,

and Chester too, via West Elm

I'm really digging the blue one, which claims to be upholstered from recycled leather, which makes me think it would have that nicely worked in and soft feeling. I need one of these for the log cabin I am longing for.

Photo art

I have a handful of photographs that I have enlarged to 5x7 and then had a local framer plaque them.  I like them and have this idea to do this with many, many more. And then nail them to the wall, creating some kind of gallery of plaqued photos.  For now, they are stored on my window pane. Its a long, long project indeed.

Anyhow, Kodak print developing recently switched to Shutterfly and I have received a few promo deals which prompted me to re-visit my albums which reminded me of this project   And, although I plan to eventually get on with it (perhaps when the kitchen reno is completed), I realized it was time to update the three 20x16 large frames I have in my office with these current photos (pops of nature in an otherwise bland, out of home office): 

The good thing about photo art, only YOU have to like it.  The photos do not have to be professional or stunning. Pick photos that mean something to you, make you smile when you see them, or move you in some way. I cant wait to see how these look, blown up.

Speaking of neglected projects, I still have this collection of cat cards that we picked up in Paris last summer, still waiting for frames.

Check out this bloggers cool Cloud project via 6th Street Design School

A few other photo projects here and here.

How do you keep up with your photographs? All online? Develop and box them? That is mostly what I do now, when I get around to developing.