Good morning all!
I hope your Saturdays were all great! Mine was a bit lazier than I anticipated; it poured all day so I did a lot of indoor work, but somehow the day got away from me. I don't know how it is that an entire day can pass so quickly and you can have so little to show for it!
One of the things that we did do yesterday was order new windows for our family room. We have been renovating this room since Christmas. My renovator (Barry) is good, but is not on this full-time, so when the mood hits him to keep going, I jump on it!
In January he built a floor to ceiling shelving unit, designed to look like library shelving for our huge collection of movies (and video games, none of which are mine!).
You can see the new chair in front of the shelving unit. Across the front are three framed photographs: James Dean, Gene Kelly (in the famous scene from Singing in the Rain) and Humphrey Bogart. At the top are brass picture frame lights, which look nice in the evening:
Looking down into the room:
Don't mind the blankets; I didn't tidy up for you! We have moved the TV over on top of the fireplace. My live-in contractor will be painting the entire far wall a lovely silvery blue, re-applying crown molding and trim, making a new fireplace mantle and placing faux Pennsylvania field stones in bluish/grey/tan over the drab brick. That won't happen till the fall, because right now we are working on the wall to the left in this picture.
New windows will be put in and the bamboo shades that don't fit will be replaced by light-blocking levelor blinds custom-made to fit. Between the windows will be three framed movie posters. The top of the knee wall will have a larger shelf so I can have plants in front of the windows to bring in some greenery down here.
It is a lot of work, but I look forward to sharing the "after" photos with you very soon!
Oh my gosh! Sea Monkeys! I have not yet moved them into their new home weekend, but they have been very active since they finally got fed again and I am pretty sure one of them is pregnant.... Maybe this will be my new career: Sea Monkey Expert!
But they are NOT easy to get a picture of! And my camera is not good for taking those kinds of close-ups!
Now you can truly appreciate just how eccentric I am, keeping these things alive! As my son (who is the actual parent of these sea monkeys) said yesterday: "Really, they are YOURS now." Just like the dog, the groundhog, the humminbirds, the other birds, the chipmunk and the skunk who visits out front. It is a busy place here.
Did you see the amazing legwork Get Fresh did on my skirt quest yesterday? I am being patient, as I know that some of the companies have some new releases coming up this week. Right now, there is one from Talbots and one from Yoox in the running!
Before I got GF's skirt picks, I did pop into our local Winners (TJ Maxx equivalent) to see if there were any skirts there that fit the bill there when we were out in the morning ordering windows. I bought two home to try (when I see things at Winners I always bring them home to try in the cold dark light of my bedroom) but I don't think either will stay and neither were what I wanted really!
A Ralph Lauren DSX Denim Supply skirt. It is a lovely cream and only $30. But am I too old for a ruffled skirt? This stops right at my knees and has pretty embroidery on it.
The other was the colour I was looking for, a cotton one by Max Studio, but really, is not the flouncy I-am-a-woman-of-Paris-or-Grace-Kelly-or-Audrey-Hepburn-on-a-bicycle-style. Closer than the one above however.
This one also hits right at the knee and both skirts fit perfectly.
The other thing I brought home to think about were these spanish espadrille ballet flats:
The canvas is the colour of pale chocolate ice cream. The ribbon is black grosgrain and the trim around the top and the back is black faux leather (I assume it is faux leather). They are very cute and comfortable. I have not decided whether I will keep these either - I need to see what I have to go with them and then wear them around the house for an hour or two to be sure. I am getting very, very picky!
It may seem odd to bring 3 things home - my experience with Winners is that is is always better to buy, think about it, then return the item as opposed to leave, think about it, decide you can't live without it and then go back to get it only to discover it has already been sold. I typically return 80% of the clothing I buy at Winners, but the things that I keep are usually wonderful deals!
Today is a beautiful spring morning, cool and crisp. The snow is almost all gone, so I plan to head out and cut back the grape vines on my arbour and start cleaning up the yard and cutting back some of the dead tops of my plants. Yesterday I purchased some Dahlia, some primula and some gladiola bulbs for planting.
As you know, now that Spring has finally arrived, I am in the throes of planning. To do this, I get out my own personal gardening bible, The Garden Primer, by Barbara Damrosch.
Barbara and her husband Eliot Coleman live in Lane's neck of the woods in Maine and they are my gardening gurus. They used to have a TV show on PBS that I was completely addicted to. Now I am wondering if I can get it on DVD, hmm....
Anyway, if you want to learn how to garden or have questions, Barbara is your gal. She writes well, she writes clearly and she pretty much talks about every kind of plant and problem in her book. A real must-have for anyone who wants to learn how to do this!
So that is my Sunday morning. I hope you have a wonderful day! Stay Safe out there!
I hope your Saturdays were all great! Mine was a bit lazier than I anticipated; it poured all day so I did a lot of indoor work, but somehow the day got away from me. I don't know how it is that an entire day can pass so quickly and you can have so little to show for it!
One of the things that we did do yesterday was order new windows for our family room. We have been renovating this room since Christmas. My renovator (Barry) is good, but is not on this full-time, so when the mood hits him to keep going, I jump on it!
In January he built a floor to ceiling shelving unit, designed to look like library shelving for our huge collection of movies (and video games, none of which are mine!).
You can see the new chair in front of the shelving unit. Across the front are three framed photographs: James Dean, Gene Kelly (in the famous scene from Singing in the Rain) and Humphrey Bogart. At the top are brass picture frame lights, which look nice in the evening:
Looking down into the room:
Don't mind the blankets; I didn't tidy up for you! We have moved the TV over on top of the fireplace. My live-in contractor will be painting the entire far wall a lovely silvery blue, re-applying crown molding and trim, making a new fireplace mantle and placing faux Pennsylvania field stones in bluish/grey/tan over the drab brick. That won't happen till the fall, because right now we are working on the wall to the left in this picture.
New windows will be put in and the bamboo shades that don't fit will be replaced by light-blocking levelor blinds custom-made to fit. Between the windows will be three framed movie posters. The top of the knee wall will have a larger shelf so I can have plants in front of the windows to bring in some greenery down here.
It is a lot of work, but I look forward to sharing the "after" photos with you very soon!
Oh my gosh! Sea Monkeys! I have not yet moved them into their new home weekend, but they have been very active since they finally got fed again and I am pretty sure one of them is pregnant.... Maybe this will be my new career: Sea Monkey Expert!
But they are NOT easy to get a picture of! And my camera is not good for taking those kinds of close-ups!
Now you can truly appreciate just how eccentric I am, keeping these things alive! As my son (who is the actual parent of these sea monkeys) said yesterday: "Really, they are YOURS now." Just like the dog, the groundhog, the humminbirds, the other birds, the chipmunk and the skunk who visits out front. It is a busy place here.
Did you see the amazing legwork Get Fresh did on my skirt quest yesterday? I am being patient, as I know that some of the companies have some new releases coming up this week. Right now, there is one from Talbots and one from Yoox in the running!
Before I got GF's skirt picks, I did pop into our local Winners (TJ Maxx equivalent) to see if there were any skirts there that fit the bill there when we were out in the morning ordering windows. I bought two home to try (when I see things at Winners I always bring them home to try in the cold dark light of my bedroom) but I don't think either will stay and neither were what I wanted really!
A Ralph Lauren DSX Denim Supply skirt. It is a lovely cream and only $30. But am I too old for a ruffled skirt? This stops right at my knees and has pretty embroidery on it.
The other was the colour I was looking for, a cotton one by Max Studio, but really, is not the flouncy I-am-a-woman-of-Paris-or-Grace-Kelly-or-Audrey-Hepburn-on-a-bicycle-style. Closer than the one above however.
This one also hits right at the knee and both skirts fit perfectly.
The other thing I brought home to think about were these spanish espadrille ballet flats:
The canvas is the colour of pale chocolate ice cream. The ribbon is black grosgrain and the trim around the top and the back is black faux leather (I assume it is faux leather). They are very cute and comfortable. I have not decided whether I will keep these either - I need to see what I have to go with them and then wear them around the house for an hour or two to be sure. I am getting very, very picky!
It may seem odd to bring 3 things home - my experience with Winners is that is is always better to buy, think about it, then return the item as opposed to leave, think about it, decide you can't live without it and then go back to get it only to discover it has already been sold. I typically return 80% of the clothing I buy at Winners, but the things that I keep are usually wonderful deals!
Today is a beautiful spring morning, cool and crisp. The snow is almost all gone, so I plan to head out and cut back the grape vines on my arbour and start cleaning up the yard and cutting back some of the dead tops of my plants. Yesterday I purchased some Dahlia, some primula and some gladiola bulbs for planting.
As you know, now that Spring has finally arrived, I am in the throes of planning. To do this, I get out my own personal gardening bible, The Garden Primer, by Barbara Damrosch.
Barbara and her husband Eliot Coleman live in Lane's neck of the woods in Maine and they are my gardening gurus. They used to have a TV show on PBS that I was completely addicted to. Now I am wondering if I can get it on DVD, hmm....
Anyway, if you want to learn how to garden or have questions, Barbara is your gal. She writes well, she writes clearly and she pretty much talks about every kind of plant and problem in her book. A real must-have for anyone who wants to learn how to do this!
So that is my Sunday morning. I hope you have a wonderful day! Stay Safe out there!
