Workshop Blues

I've got the workshop blues.....

There is nothing to show you from the workshop today.  I've taken a few days off from the fun stuff to get some of the household projects completed. I have a very long to do list and have knocked off a few things this week.

• first I painted the crown moulding in the living room. It has needed doing for a couple of years now (not exactly a speed demon am I?) I couldn't decide whether to continue the wall colour or paint it the ceiling colour - not that there's a huge difference. The walls are painted "White Swan" and the ceiling is also white - not sure it has a name. Finally, after consultation with my seester I painted them "White Swan." Such a non-exciting project - no wonder I kept putting it off. But I'm glad it's finally done.  CHECK
• Repaint the white kitchen shelf using the RIGHT paint this time so it doesn't flake off, get stained etc. I'm glad I have CAA as it took 20% off the cost of the paint! CHECK
• Remove wallpaper from a small hall wall hahaha! The other walls of the foyer had been re-wallpapered close to 2 years ago! I wasn't putting up wallpaper on this wall however, I was painting it ?  ............ yes WHITE!! You got it first try! ....to match the wall along the staircase. Put up hooks removed when I began redecorating 2 years ago. Put shelf back up above the hall tree. Put new batteries in door bell thingy. Put candle holders back up by foyer mirror.
• paint other kitchen shelf white. Started and will complete today!
• repainted powder room baseboards, foyer baseboards and small hall wall baseboards. No photos but you can trust me on that! CHECK

And here are the photos...

The previous redecorating of the front foyer - ignore the messy floor.

Stripping off the really old wallpaper.

This shows the hooks I put back up to hold hats and scarves. Also the shelf above the hall tree.

This is just a dead space that I've given a purpose. 

My hat and scarf hooks - don't remember where I bought them.

On the shelf - a beautiful pot I bought while on holiday with Kazi in Quebec and one of my soapstone pieces. Above is the painting I bought from my artist brother, Kim, last November - it finally has a home!

The view from the dining room.

The kitchen shelf painted in extreme white melamine paint.

To the left is the other shelf that will be painted Extreme White.

The final transformation with 2 baskets for hats and gloves. Oh, and a Lily.

A close up reveals a gargoyle hanging over the ledge.

There, that's better.

 

Once I've had lunch I'll get back to work!

 Are we having fun yet?? Do you have any redecorating projects in the offing?

What I'm Eating.....

...Real food.
End of post......
Not really!

Remember the old food pyramid that advised us to have 6-11 servings of grains?! I hear it is getting updated once again. I offer for consideration the Real Food pyramid. I've been working towards this model for over a week. It requires a lot of thinking at first and I'm taking a gradual approach because there are a lot of things that are hard to give up/replace in order to LOVE what I'm eating and in order to cover all of my dietary needs - for example - protein and calcium.

For me, the most important thing to get away from is stuff that comes in packages and contains very little to NO food. Take a box of Kraft Dinner - one of Canada's favourite "foods". I've eaten a mountain of KD over the years starting when I was a wee tot and you could buy 2 boxes for 15 cents! BUT - it contains next to NO real food and provides no nutritional value. All it does is taste good and fill you up. Well, as a single parent sometimes those are the choices I've had to make. I get queasy thinking back to when Kazi's favourite lunch "food" was Zoodles!! I mean there is no such real food called a zoodle!!  So NO more. No more mystery foods!

Getting enough protein is easy as we love eggs, chicken, turkey and fish/shellfish and we eat lots of vegetables for every meal. Calcium is harder though I take a supplement along with vitamin D every day. I have to start examining labels on yogurt, cottage cheese and other cheeses to see which ones contain food but no chemicals. Sticking with organic should do the trick. I don't drink milk except for soy milk and again I stick with organic as I'd like to stay non-GMO as close to 100% as possible.

I'm not craving anything, so far. I will make things to satisfy my sweet tooth. With my Vitamix I can make my favourite food - ICE CREAM - by mixing soy milk and frozen berries. I will try to substitute honey, maple syrup, raw sugar or other natural sweeteners to re-create my favourite oatmeal cookies and scones. It can be done, it just requires some thought.

My hope is to have a stronger and healthier body. The body doesn't know what to do with UNreal foods so it stores it as fat. UNreal foods don't boost your immune system, don't strengthen your muscles, don't build bone etc. It all turns to FAT. I should know. I have a nice belly made out of licorice, ice cream, candy, pretzyls and chocolate bars. (Pssssst! I'm not giving up chocolate - just making better selections! There are choices that are organic and contain only real ingredients!)

Today I am eating:
Breakfast - organic green tea, 1% cottage cheese with raspberries
Lunch - falafel mixture (ground chicken, green/red peppers, onions, garlic and spices) over a bed of romaine
Mid-afternoon - organic green tea/cheese/half grapefruit
Dinner - green beans, cauliflower and broccoli, grilled shrimp, green salad (spinach, grape tomatoes, cucumber, onion, red pepper)
Before bed - a small yogurt

I'd like to think I can stay away from NONfood products but I know I'll want Dairy Queen eventually (VERY MUCH NOT A REAL FOOD) and I'll enjoy it! But I will try to keep to meals made from Real Food. It's a work in process!

Monday Money Madness

Well, hello. It's one of those fun weather days when every time you look out the window something different is happening. I took out my recycling bins earlier in a blizzard, then it became brilliantly sunny and now it's a mixture of both - sun, cloud and little flakes of snow.

I'm grateful the sun has been shining the last couple of days. Saturday I got out for a ramble in the woods and thoroughly enjoyed myself. A little later I went with two friends to see Michael Moore's latest documentary - "Where to Invade Next". I highly recommend it - I laughed, I  cried, but most importantly I learned a lot. Moore visits several countries to find out their solutions to current American (and in some case Canadian) problems in education, child nutrition,  prison reform, free health care and other benefits like paid vacation, racism, free tuition, banking and financial institutions and much more.

Did you know, for example, that there are many American students enjoying the benefits of free tuition in Finland and Slovenia? Who knew?! (Here in Canada we charge international students an arm and a leg to go to university here!!) There are good  great solutions to all of our huge burning issues if we look at how other countries are doing things. I mean, who wouldn't like 8 weeks of paid vacation like folks in Italy get? And in Germany if you are stressed/depressed you will be sent to a spa, all expenses paid, where you will be massaged by the pool back to health.

The most important goal of the people who were interviewed (from children to highschool students to factory workers, to business owners to police officers to health care workers to prisoners and prison guards) was: maintaining the value, dignity and respect for each person - there are NO throwaway people. Everyone is consulted and listened to, even children - it was really quite remarkable. We have it all wrong. Work and money should be at the bottom of our list of goals, not at the top.

That's all I'll say, please go and see it.

Back to the fun stuff - the BUDGET!!
Is it blown? Pretty close!

As long as Murphy doesn't rear his ugly head I should be ok. My next payday is in 10 days. I did purchase a few things regarding my little project which is...duh duh duh... continuing to refresh my foyer. Around $110 was spent on paint and painting supplies so that is going to keep me busy for the rest of the day. I also had a hot date with two girlfriends Saturday when we went to see the movie and then went out for Mexican food. Oh, and I bought more music (no wine required Living Rich on the Cheap LOL!) - I'm a sucker for new music in the genres that I love.

That leaves me with aprox $220 to get to payday. Things should be ok - Dougie is at 3/4 full of gas, the fridge is in good shape after shopping for fresh produce on Friday and I'll focus on getting things done around the house and stay away from the shops, which is nothing new for me. BUT, if you see Murphy - don't tell him where I live!!

Have a happy Monday (is that possible??) !                                

Foto Friday (and more!)

Look at me! Look at me! I'm actually doing my Foto Friday post on a FRIDAY!!! Don't get used to it though, no doubt I'll be back to my old lazy ways next week! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my photos from one year ago will contain some sunshine, even just a smidgen, as I'm forgetting what the sun looks like. Okay, here goes.....

WOW - there IS sunshine!! Okay, now I hope there's a million dollar error in my bank account...in my favour of course!

I remember this day - it was a TWO DOVE ALERT Day! Luna and Lily were glued to the patio door. Luna was a bit more relaxed but Lily (on the left) is in full pounce mode.

 And MORE sunshine, though a LOT colder - a friend and I went for a walk and ended up near the forks of the Thames River in downtown London. The fountain is frozen solid. It usually looks like...

...this!!

There's Robyn - she of the scathing letter last week about the artists' gathering now infamously known as "The Stupid Waste of Time".

Okay, I don't know how this photo got uploaded but we'll go with it. This is Kazi, age 9, when we travelled to Edmonton, Alberta for a highland dance competition where she almost won a trophy, but came in second. This was taken after the week-long competition - we travelled about the province visiting Jasper Park where I got out of the car to  chase a bear for a photo - he wasn't interested. We also went to Banff and then to Kananaskis country which is west of Calgary, about halfway between Banff and Calgary. There is a huge conference centre/hotel there where the G8 leaders met in 2002. We didn't stay there though, we stayed in a very rustic hostel (private family room). We walked a few times to the conference centre to buy snacks/drinks etc passing signs warning us to watch out for bears. They advised travelling in groups and making lots of noise so Kazi and I sang every song we could think of at the top of our lungs! We loved this spot and Kazi happily played in "Harrison Creek" with the gorgeous Rocky Mts in the distance while I kept a lookout for bears. What a great memory.

Kazi and I travelled to many places across Canada for her 12 year dance career and I utilized the vast system of coast to coast hostels. With a $30 membership Kazi stayed for free and I paid between $10-$20 per night for a private family room with ensuite bath. There wasn't one that we didn't like and they provided an economical way for me, single mom, to travel around Canada.

Well, that was random but anything goes in Blogland so roll with it!

HAPPY HAPPY Weekend!!

A Day Late and a Dollar (several) Short

Greetings from the workshop! This should have been posted yesterday but as you all know I'm a day late and a dollar short this week. I'm blaming it on the stupid time change. Perhaps the title should read "a day late and an hour short!" 

Here we go...a  friend (the one who invited me to the infamous "waste of time" artist gathering) asked me if I could fix a pendant for her - I'm pretty sure it's soapstone. She had whacked it on something and the tip was scratched and a little piece broke off.

I haven't attempted a repair before (for someone else) but I said sure, why not. It was a fairly easy process - I lightly filed the tip back to its previous shape, then started with my finest sandpaper and worked backwards til I found the grade that would erase nicks and scratches. Then I worked my way forward to the finest grade to make it shine.

It's good as new!

Here's my latest piece all sanded and polished up, yes, the more I look at it the more I like it.

This is my favourite angle...

It reminds me of this!! Or someone kneeling and praying.

This piece also has a little secret...a spiral carved into its base! I am hooked on spirals and their symbology. The main part of the carving also contains a spiral as the groove winds its way from the base to the very top. That's not possible to see in 2D photos.

And finally - Luna and Lily continue to provide CUTE CAT photo ops.
Luna is making the most out of a shaft of sunlight!

She always lies with her front legs stretched out.

I bought a little pet bed at Dollarama - unfortunately Lily chose to have her bottom on the side where there is a scooped out area for easy ins and outs.

If she'd only turn around she'd have a lot more space for snoozing opportunities.

Luna's favourite spot is still the upper section of the castle especially when it's sunny!

I haven't picked my next piece of soapstone because I finally got started on a little redecoration project which requires me to buy some paint. When it's finished I'll give you the tour :)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Mid Month Money

Sooooo,  yesterday I got the computer all set up and a title on my post and somehow I ended up in the workshop!  I'm one of those people who starts a lot of things all at the same time, instead of doing one thing at a time until completion. I might decide to vacuum but on my way to get the vacuum cleaner I see a lot of cat toys everywhere so I start picking them up and forget about the vacuum. Then I remember I need something from the truck so I head out to the truck and end up driving to Timmy's and buying a coffee.

Then, oh yeah, I need to vacuum; but I should pick up some milk since I'm out. Home again and guess what...it's time for lunch! I'll just take a minute to get the mail from my mailbox. Ooooooh! Flyers! I'll make lunch and look at the flyers while I eat - MULTI-TASKING!! Where did all of those dishes come from? I'll just do them first and then I'll vacuum! Oh wait, what are we going to have for dinner?  And so my day goes...

Obviously I'm much better at budgeting than I am at getting things done around the house! Which I guess is a good thing. March is one of those months that really seems to last a verrrrry loooooooong time! Perhaps because February is usually 3 days shorter.  Whatever the reason I would be happy if March was over, but alas, still two weeks plus a day left. Will I make it? Or more to the point will the money end before the end of the month? Possibly.

• my Misc budget stands at $230, it should be at $290. I accidentally downloaded a bunch of music from iTunes, about $33 worth.  But that's fun, right? It's the UN-fun uses of my Misc $$ that I resent. Like $27 for a prescription yesterday and the $7 I spent on the useless artsy craftsy get together but on the bright side it doesn't affect my bottom line by much. I visited a friend last Saturday and stopped to buy snacks on the way - I tried to be virtuous by going into the health food store instead of the grocery store and purchased some "nutritious" snacks HAH!! Two bags of handmade potato chips made with coconut oil instead of the usual - soooo good! And a container of those yummy stove-top chocolate/coconut cookies made with NATURAL RAW sugar! I felt so health conscious that we proceeded to eat all of it!!!!
• my GAS budget is doing well again this month - I have spent just $76/$160 (just filled up 2 days ago so might make it til the end of the month.)
• my FOOD budget is a bit low - I've spent $210/$280 with a big shop done Monday. I think I can make it on $70 for the rest of the month. 
• my small emergency SNOWFLAKE box is sitting at $49 which I can use if I need to. 
• That's it for my variables; everything else stays the same from month to month except, of course, utilities. So far I've underestimated my utility bills for Jan., Feb., and March by approx. $35 - $40. 

So there you have it. My budget lines are a bit low for this point of the month but the truck is full of gas and the fridge is overflowing so I'm not worried. I'm really hoping I can tsf another $50 to savings to make for some nice round numbers - I like my savings to end in nice round zeroes. We'll see. I know that I'm working with small numbers here which I am really happy about. I'm one of those people who plugs away very methodically with my budget (not like household chores!!) I can look down the road and see where I'm going to be financially. Saving $400 per month is pocket change to many people but over a year that's almost $5000 - more than enough for another fantastic trip and some household renovations!  I never go on shopping sprees except at my local thrift store :)

I finished that sculpture that was causing me grief - it's all sanded and polished and ready for the camera. It's not my best work but I like it. I'll take some photos and show you tomorrow.

In the meantime I hope your "Mid Month Money" situation is in good shape! 

I Love Sunday

Don't you just love a Sunday when there are no demands on your time? Me too! Especially since we've lost an hour by springing ahead. I appreciate having daylight now til 7:30pm but I don't like that it will be dark in the morning again with sunrise at 7:38am instead of 6:38am. That being said, however, this is my favourite time of year wherein we add 2 minutes of daylight everry day now until June 21st, or "Summer Equinox". I plan to use those extra minutes on my bicycle. I don't believe I've ever had my bicycle out so early in the year before and I don't kid myself that spring is here to stay (considering it's still WINTER!!)

OOPS - there goes the dryer...I'll BRB! (be right back!)

Okay, one load folded, another in the dryer.

While the laundry gets laundered I plan to do the following on my peaceful Sunday:

• finish the crossword puzzle that I started Friday (I do the Los Angeles Crossword every week; I like a challenge but find that the New York Times Crossword is usually too difficult for me to complete. The LA version is just a tad easier.)
• I've started reading the "4th" book in the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series. If you've read that series of books you know that it's a trilogy, not a "fourology" (yeah, I just made that up). 

"Spider's Web notably marks the first novel in the series not written by Larsson. Instead, Swedish writer David Lagercrantz, a former crime journalist and novelist, took over for Larsson, who died of a heart attack in 2004. Lagercrantz was chosen by the Larsson estate and the author's Swedish publisher, Norstedts, to continue the Millennium books."

You can click on the link above if you want to read the full review. I'll let you know if it's any good! I have high hopes!

• bring my bike upstairs from the basement where it's been stored the past few months
• clip kitty nails
• eat whatever I want as Kazi is away this weekend
• ride my exercise bike (not the best weather here today so I'll stay inside)
• listen to CBC radio which I am currently doing - Stuart McLean of The Vinyl Cafe fame, is on right now - he's a Canadian story teller who sees the humour in everything :)
• have "afternoon tea" and eat snacks :) :)
• maybe yoga, maybe not - we'll see if I can find the ambition!
• go to bed early!