No Promises Today!

 

Roy Lichtenstein 1964

 

8AM  4/21/15

 

8AM 4/21/15

 

It's almost May and we're still getting snow.

I'm working inside today so if it must snow I say let it be today.

 

I don't really have any grand plans today. I will finish painting the medicine cabinet today, clean the bathroom and start work on my new bag ( I hope).

 

BTW, have I told you already that youtube has a whole gamut of audio books that you can listen to as you work? I take advantage of this with nearly all of my projects. It's amazing how much more enjoyable it makes the task! I just plug in my external speakers, set them within my hearing range, and choose a good book to play, making the hours seem to fly by as I'm busily slaving away.

I've listened to dozens of Madame Agatha Christie's books this last year, but last week I switched to Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax for variety.

Have you ever read any of her stories? I find they are humorous with a bit of mystery thrown in too. I won't say anymore, you will have to read them for yourselves. As I always recommend, start with the first novel (if you can) for the background and birthing of the character.

Gee, that sounded sort of bossy! But it is good advice-I think.

 

I'm off for now, as I hear Mrs. Pollifax calling my name.

Where will my adventure lead me today;

Bulgaria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or possibly the Swiss Alps?

Only Emily and I know where our secret assignment will take us today.....

Blessings-Kimberly

 

 

 



No Weather Report-I Promise

 

I had to start my post with a promise that I would not be informing you of the local weather report here today.

It seems to have become my favourite subject of late!

So sorry about that, ladies.

 

Instead I'll talk about some happenings in my life that I've forgotten to mention to you.

Starting first with my kitchen corner redo...

 

 You see, I know just how much more exciting it is to you to know about my little furniture rearranging in the kitchen than it is to hear about how slowly the snow is melting in my back yard. Ha!

Well, it's definitely more exciting to me at least.

You might remember that I had this small china cabinet here before, but it is now moved into the spare bedroom were it has become a blanket cabinet.

Yes, it's true.

That photo will follow later.

I also forgot to tell you that I started work on painting my bathroom cabinets last week.

Whew, was that a job!

 

I first sanded the cabinet surfaces. Then I washed them down. After they were dry I painted the cabinets with primer. And lastly, I applied three coats of paint to the surface. I still need to go back and apply another coat in some places. So not quite lastly yet!

Of course by the time I got to the second coat and realised this wasn't doing the job, I remembered I'd read somewhere (Pinterest, no doubt) that you should mix a bit of your paint colour with your primer to avoid having to apply so many coats over the bright white surface.

As always, a day late and a dollar short!

 

I spent today gathering ideas for a new bag that I want to sew as soon as my bathroom project is finished.

 

source

Bag #1

 

                                              source
                                              Bag#2





source

Bag#3

 

All of the bags are styled very similar and each one has great tutorials to follow.

So what do you think?

Which one would you choose?

Happy Monday All!

Kimberly

 





 

 

 



 

 

 



Barn Living

 

source

Have you ever considered living in a barn?

 

 

Today Tim, his mother and I took a day trip to view a barn home property.
The photo above is the huge unfinished area of the barn.
 

Can't you just envision what this could look like completely finished?

I can see it now as an open kitchen/dining/living area with a woodstove to warm the space and several scattered rug to warm my feet.
Yes, I'm good at dreaming!
 

There is a small finished apartment in a portion of the barn.

 

 

And I do mean small!

The above space is the kitchen, dining and living area.

But it is nicely finished, I think, don't you?

 

 

Above the living area is this nicely sized bedroom.

 

This is the view from the bedroom balcony.

There is another nice barn on the property as well.

The red barn belongs to the neighbors.

 

 

I've always loved a claw foot tub, but honestly I never knew that they ever made them as small as this one was!

Pint sized, for sure.

Works well with the pint sized bathroom.

 

The exterior of the barn needs to be sided, which to me is a plus. This would allow the purchaser to put their own personal touch on it.

 

The property has over 26 acres.

It is such a beautiful place.
I think I could live here!
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I have taken such a liking to barn houses that I've recently started a Pinterest board.
You can check it out here if you'd like.
Have a good day!
Kimberly

 

 





 







 

 

Signs of Spring

 

This photo, ladies, is my contribution to all of those being presented out there in Blogland as proud signs of Springs arrival.

No pretty photo of purple crocus's showing their full faces or daffodils inching their way through the Springs warming soil here. 
 I have to tell you though, it's "A" okay with me. Just seeing the bare ground once again has me jumping for joy!

 

Not bad...
And this thermometer was in the shade.
 Our car's reading was 15C, or somewhere around 64F today.

Glorious warmth again, whether it's in Centigrade or Fahrenheit!

 

 The sounds of  water running was like music to my ears. You could hear it running off of the roofs and trickling down the roads.

 

Our front side walk-encouraging!

 

Our back yard-not so much.

On the back side of the screened in porch the snow is still waist deep.

But it's getting there....
All in all it's been a beautiful Sunday!

I want to end this day by sharing with you one of my favourite old songs. I was reminded of it this morning when it was performed on a Sunday program I watch each week.
Hopefully it's a favourite of yours and you'll enjoy it too.
Blessings-Kimberly

 











 

 

 

My Sewing Closet Conversion

 

 

Well, here at long last is the sewing closet that I finished last week.

I've put off sharing it because I am not at all happy with the photos of this little nook, but for some reason even with the many adjustments on the camera I'm still not getting clear pictures.

Onward with what I have.....

 

 

I'm not sure whether you can tell, but this is a full sized closet. Somehow it doesn't look like it is!

 

Here is how it all happened....

First Tim and I removed the tons of Winter coats that were hanging inside. Next he made two new shelves for me. He built a large bottom shelf to hold my sewing machine and another shelf above for much needed storage. The very top shelf was there already.

 

As you can see, I went a bit crazy with the scrap paper wall quilting again.

I can't seem to help myself!

Honestly though, the reasoning behind this is very sensible.
 One, I hate painting! Which I'm sure I've shared with you so many times before. And secondly, I love the bright and colourful patterns on the five dollar scrap paper book that I had purchased at Wal Marts.  I don't scrap book so they had to go somewhere-hence the closet walls!

 

I opted for just painting a frame I had black and hanging a clipboard to write my future projects on instead of a cushioned bulletin board.

In case you're wondering how I attached the paper squares, it was done with homemade Mod Podge.

 

I have everything quite cluttered nicely arranged on the shelves: my scissors, rulers, threads and bobbins, most everything I need for sewing.

My favourite storage unit is the white drawered cabinet on the left that my father made for me many, many years ago. It was his first attempt at making something with drawers and they are a little bit wonky.

This makes me smile whenever I look at it. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how special it is to me...

 

 

And lastly, here is my sweet little doggie who so faithfully holds my spectacles for me until I need them to thread the needle!

Which is always.

 

Now I just need to get with it and get on to those many projects I've been wanting to work on lately.

Shall I list them?

No, I will save that for another day. This post is far too long as it is!

 

Blessing to all and have a good weekend

Kim

 

Partying Here:

 

 

Our life in a Click



 

 







 







Bread Brags

 



Okay, I'm sure that after you have read the title of my post you're now thinking that  I'm going to be bragging about my wonderful bread making abilities.

Well, you couldn't be further from the truth.....

I think I gave up on making my own homemade bread over twenty years ago.

After multiple (maybe thousands) of attempts at getting the dough to raise, I finally had to admit this bread making was just not my thing.

 

 

 

But guess what.....

It turns out it is my husbands thing!

Tim has been making his own special whole wheat bread for years now.

He started out working it the old fashioned way.

You know all that hand kneading. Then he progressed on to a Kitchen Aid with the special bread making mixer attachment. Next to a bread making machine which he literally wore out pretty quickly since he makes a loaf of bread every week. Then five years ago (I'm guessing, I have a short memory), he purchased a commercial bread making machine.

 And believe me, it was well worth the investment.

 

 

Occasionally Tim decides to try a new recipe.

Last week it was two new recipes!

Both of the breads he chose were Italian.

The Focaccia is considered a flat bread and the Ciabatta (slipper in Italian) is a wonderfully chewy bread that is good, we think, as Bruchetta or even just garlic toast  to go along with your spaghetti.

 

You do see now why I had to brag, don't you ladies?

The breads were just too beautiful not to share with someone.

 

Now that I've discovered that Tim's bread making talents go beyond just the regular weekly whole wheat loaf of bread, I'm thinking, dreaming really, of a  batch of gooey, giant sized cinnamon rolls for his next out of the box experiment.

 

I don't know though, since Tim doesn't like sweets at all I may have to do a little arm twisting sweet talking to get him to make them for m e.

 

How about you, what is your favourite out of the ordinary bread to eat?

Do you make it yourself or buy it from the bakery?

 

If you would like the recipe for either the Focaccia of the Ciabatta breads let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

Until next time-Kimberly

 

 

 







Monday Thoughts

 

 

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I can't believe it's Monday already.

I wonder where last week has gone...

 

I did get a couple of projects finished last week! One was a closet conversion. Tim and I turned our office closet into a sewing nook for me.

More about this later this week!

 

I will share my small kitchen pantry conversion with you today.
I actually finished this closet before we went west to the Yukon last Fall, but I didn't have a camera at that time to take a photo to share with you.
As you can see I went a little crazy with the scrap paper squares!
I do like how it turned out, if I may say so myself.
Ha! 

I haven't started using it yet, but I think this little nook will work great for my blogging!
 

 

 

 

Here is a closer look at the stool that I painted to match the little office nook.

I'm sorry to see that the photos are so rotten. I can't figure out why they are so fuzzy.

They were clear in my photo gallery-very strange.

 

 The forecast this week is for below zero temps again.

Fortunately I have tons of things to keep me busy inside.

Hope your week is beginning with a smile.

Kimberly

 

 





 

 



 

 

 



Easter Blessings

 





Remembering...

 

May We Never Forget