Quick bathroom fix became a huge project (Part 3 – final)

Tags

accent wall, Behr, black paint, glass & iron wall art, Home Depot, Millwork, Pier 1, scented oils, vanity, wall sconces

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I can’t believe it’s finally done. For such a small room, it was a lot of work. You will be able to read all about our journey from the 2 previous blogs (parts 1 & 2). All we wanted to do was remove one wall of wallpaper and paint it black.

For the accent wall, I put one coat of Zinzers high coverage primer and 2 coats of Home Depot Behr 2 in 1 paint/primer. I thought for sure it would take at least 3 or 4 coats to get the true black color. I was pleasantly surprised. It took several hours to clean all the fine drywall dust from every inch of the room.

I found the amber glass iron works wall art at Pier 1 which matches perfectly to the shower tiles, along with the inspirational stones for the top of the toilet tank. The wall sconces were a steal at Millwork. They were from a discontinued vanity display and we bought both for $24.99.

When I told people that I was painting the wall black, they were shocked and thought it would close in the room, which isn’t very big to begin with. But with the butterscotch shower tiles, white textured wallpaper on the other two walls it doesn’t close it in at all. We chose black to co-ordinate with the trim of small black glass tiles accented on the shower and also the black marble top on the vanity. Chrome accessories and faucet adds just a little bling.

Total transformation for under $130.00. It was definitely worth the hard work and the wait. I love it!

Quick bathroom fix became a huge project (Part 2)

Tags

caulking, paint, primer, sanding, taping

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I know it’s been a long time since I posted Part 1, (Oct.3, 2011 to be exact) but one delay came after another. Leading up to Christmas, which came and went, we all know we tend to get busy with other things. Hence the delay in continuing the project. In February we finally set aside a weekend that we were determined to finish up the project. Unfortunately, 3 days prior my beloved husband passed away. You can read my tribute blog to him “My Best Friend” dated February 17, 2012.

As you can imagine my heart has not been into finishing the bathroom. It’s taken a back seat to mourning and more mourning. Today I finally decided he would want me to finish what we started together. It was hard to continue on my own. I did a final hand sand, washed the walls, caulked the edges and taped, prepping the wall for primer and then finally paint. Hopefully, it won’t be long before I finish and finally get my bathroom back.

My Best Friend

Tags

best friend, Cleaning, concerts, death, Gardening, love, plays, soul mate, support

The love of my life

Two weeks ago today my whole world turned upside down and inside out. They have been the longest, loneliest, saddest and busiest 2 weeks I’ve ever endured.

On February 2nd my beloved husband, best friend, soul mate and love of my life suddenly died from a massive heart attack. I just thank God that he went in his sleep and did not suffer or was in any pain.

On that day, my whole world shattered and will probably never be the same ever again.

We did everything together from gardening , cleaning, decorating, shopping, gourmet cooking and just spending quiet times together.

For me the hardest part of all this is knowing he was only 47 and in good health. We had so many plans and intended to grow old together. We had just moved into a new house 2 short years ago and had spent most of our time fixing it up and making it our own.

Claude was an easy going, gentle man who totally adored me and his girls. He kept telling me the best part of his day was coming home to see me. Totally unselfish, had a great sense of humor and most of all lived each day to the fullest.

We had known each for 14 years and were married for 8. Over the course of these years, we experienced so many wonderful things together. The most wonderful was getting married in St Lucia and spent 12 wonderful days there (just the two of us). He had never been anywhere south and was like a little kid in a candy store, exploring and enjoying every little thing he discovered. He taught me new things and I did the same for him. I treated him to a hot air balloon ride for one birthday, surprised him with a limousine ride to the Via and visited Ottawa for the weekend and introduced him to eating crab (which he loved). On his 40th birthday I surprised him with an authentic Habs Jersey with this name on it and the #40. On my 50th he surprised me with a cruise to the Caribbean.

He taught me to love the rock stars of the 80′s, especially ACDC. We went to a variety of concerts (Bon Jovi, ACDC, Kim Mitchell, Celine Dion, Shania Twain), and an assortment of live theater productions, such as Rocky Horror Picture show, Rock of Ages, The Nutcracker, Sound of Music and Grease. He was extremely open to anything new.

If I can say anything at all about finding this wonderful man to share part of my life with would be, we shared and spent each day as if it were our last. We both lived life to the fullest and appreciated every moment we had together.

I will never find another man to measure up to him. I miss him with every breath I take and with each beat of my heart (which now has a huge hole in it).

I pray every day that each couple out there has the honor of living and loving with the most wonderful spouse they can possibly find. Appreciate each other and never forget to tell each you love them every chance you have. Because you never know……….

Etiquette and Manners

Tags

appreciation, baking, cellophane bags, christmas plates, e-mail, gifts, goodie baskets, mail, manners and etiquette, proper manners, recognition, ribbons and bows, thank you notes

I might be old fashioned, but my Mom raised us to have proper manners and etiquette. Especially when a gift was given to us, we would take the time to acknowledge it and write a thank you note to the person who took the time to give it to us. When we were small, my Mom would constantly remind us to write the notes, until we finally did. As we grew older it became a a natural thing to do. I know it’s now passe to hand write thank you notes and most people will either send an e-mail or a thank you greeting card on the computer.

Personally I find this a very important exercise to go through, especially for the older generation. They appreciate getting these notes just as much as we enjoyed receiving the gift. It takes about the same amount of time to hand write a note as it does to send an e-mail. Oh, sure you must make the effort to use a pen, lick the envelope and most inconvenient….buy a stamp and find a mail box. How much effort and time did that person spend finding your gift, wrapping it and writing a tag to go on it?

I must vent at this point. I have been off work for almost a year now and was very stressed out about the expenses which we would incur with Christmas fast approaching. My doctor suggested that I make homemade gifts which would take some of the stress off me. Taking his advice, I decided to make a variety of baked goodie baskets for the 10 people I needed gifts for. It took me about 2-1/2 months of baking (because of severe back pain I had to take my time and space out the  work). I also had to take into consideration different allergies which some people had. Overall, I made about 20 different items. I put a lot of thought, work and effort into each basket. I purchased individual cellophane bags, Christmas plates and wrapped each one with designer wrap with ribbons and bows.

When we had our Christmas get together, we decided to give each basket to our guests as they were leaving. Of course they thanked us at that moment which was nice.

It has now been over a week and I’ve yet to receive a thank note (either e-mail or otherwise) or any kind of feedback from the recipients. I have no idea whether they enjoyed what I made or not.

It makes me feel like I wasted my time and effort making these baskets. Am I wrong to expect a thank you note of appreciation? It really makes me think that maybe next year I’ll skip the thought and energy, and just buy gift cards (which would take no effort or thought), or maybe just nothing at all.

What makes me really sad and upset is that some of these recipients were my children. I really thought I had taught them better than this, I guess not.

10 projects to complete in 2012

Tags

bedroom, computer, garage, mirrors, organize, Painting, patio, projects, update, windows

There always seems more projects than time permits. I am determined to finish some which have been started already and some which are still in the planning stages.

1. Finish the main bathroom. It has been sitting in limbo for about 3 months. The one disaster wall has been stripped of wallpaper, plastered and sanded. It still needs more sanding and then we can finally paint.

2. The computer room. Strip yet more wallpaper, repair walls and then paint. Find new furniture and it will be done.

3. Our master bedroom. Needs new ceiling, patch walls, paint and find something to cover up the hideous 10×8 wall of mirrors. We still haven’t decided what to do with that. I hate it with a passion and yet everyone else loves it! What to do?

4. Erect a privacy fence between us and our neighbors. We haven’t quite agreed on this one.

5. Find new patio furniture (without breaking the bank) for our lower patio to tie in with the new wrought iron fence we had installed this past year.

6. The ‘Man cave’ i.e. garage. My husband wants to make his work bench and tool storage so he can have someplace to escape to. Maybe even a beer fridge and stereo!

7. Clean out the cupboards, closets and unpack some of the boxes that have been packed away since we moved in 2 years ago.

8. Purge and make a trip to Value Village or Goodwill.

9. Wash all the windows, both inside and out. We ran out of time to do this last year.

10. My last project for 2012 is to complete at least half this list!

Happy New Year to all you list makers out there.

Transform art for the seasons

Tags

berries, Christmas, decorative sprigs, festive, hallway, red bows, spray paint

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These 2 very simple yet elegant pieces lend themselves to be transformed at any time. Basically you could do anything with them to change the feeling of the hallway entry.  As you recall from my earlier posts, these were purchased at a small shop in downtown Port Perry. The bases are silver lightweight aluminum and I put black reeds and silver “ball” shaped dried reeds (which I spray painted silver to match the decor).

In the autumn I added sprigs of orange, gold and yellow leaves with a few flowers to enhance the look.

Now it’s Christmas and at Walmart I found 2 sparkling red bows and 2 sprigs of green leaves with white, gold and red berries on them. The berries are also sparkling so they tie in with the bows. All for under $10.00, I have added a touch of Christmas to greet my guests.

No special tools or glue are required, these items are just inserted into the bases and when the season (or event) is over, they are easily removed. The possibilities are endless as far as decorating them. Seasonal, birthdays, anniversaries or graduation, the possibilities are endless.

As a sideline, I would like to thank everyone who have viewed my blogs over the past year. I hope they have been enjoyable and helpful. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and most prosperous 2012. Keep blogging!

Christmas baking

Tags

bowls, Christmas carols, cookies, favorite treats, kitchen, peanut butter, squares, utensils

Aaaah Christmas baking! There is nothing more delightful than filling the house with the aromas of baking. They say the sense of smell is one of the strongest memory jogger. As I was baking today the smell of the cookies brought me right back to when I was a child and back in my Mom’s kitchen. She would buy all the ingredients and set aside a specific Saturday for “Christmas baking”. All the children were  involved with the preparation and she had a certain agenda of which cookies or squares were going to be made. It was an all day event and with the Christmas carols playing in the background, we would start bright and early. Every counter space and kitchen table were covered in ingredients, bowls, utensils and cooling racks.

There were certain squares and desserts that my Mom hated to make, so she would coerce us into making these. Every Mom around the world has the standard favorites that everyone expects at Christmas. There were always Nanaimo bars, peanut butter balls and short bread cookies. She also always made her own fruit cake, which nobody makes anymore. She would make it in August and let it ‘age’ for 4 months before Christmas. It was the best Christmas cake I ever tasted.

Now 40 years later, all the kids and grand kids still look forward to Mom’s baking. She has slowed down a bit and only makes 2 or 3 things, but they are the favorites of everyone.

It just wouldn’t be Christmas without Mom’s treats. I can hardly wait until Christmas to taste these again.

10 Step to take the stress out of Christmas

Tags

baking, Christmas, decorating, gift cards, liquor, lists, money, tree

The 'perfect tree'

Every year we start out with good intentions of being prepared for Christmas. After last Christmas we swear to shop early, not stand in long lineups at the liquor store the day before Christmas and bake and freeze goodies well in advance. Well, it’s December 2nd and panic has set in. The malls are jammed and the list of gifts hasn’t even been touched yet. It’s no wonder the happiest time of year turned everyone into a grouch and totally stressed out.

I found these tips to be quite helpful to take some of the stress off me so when the “big” day finally arrives I can actually enjoy myself.

1. If you don’t have the time to bake, buy your goodies. With everyone’s busy schedule, people don’t have the time to bake not like the old days when everything had to be home-made.

2. Throughout the year, purchase 1 bottle of liquor on each pay week. By the time Christmas comes your liquor cabinet will be well stocked.

3. When entertaining guests, purchase pre-made hors douvres from stores like M&M’s. Who said they have to be home-made?

4. Set a money limit on gifts and stick with it.If there’s a large family, draw names and that way each person has to only buy 1 gift.

5. Older relatives (like my parents) have everything, don’t need anything and a thoughtful gift will go a long way. For example photos of the kids or an album of family photos.

6. If entertaining a large group of people, ask each of them to bring a dish. This not only takes the pressure of you but makes a nice variety of foods. Just remember to co-ordinate with them so you don’t end up with 5 of the same dish.

7. Your house doesn’t have to be perfect. Pass the vacuum, dust and make the beds. There is no need to have the ‘perfect’ place. Your guests are coming to see you and not examine your house.

8. Don’t just buy a gift for the sake of buying a gift. For example, teens are very hard to buy for these days. Why not ask them what they want. If that means gift card or money, so be it. My daughter is going to school in Halifax and has a weight restriction on the plane, so she can’t take a lot of things back home with her. She told us she’d rather have a gift card and that way she can buy whatever she wants when she gets back home.

9. Avoid long line ups at the mall. The best time to shop is at dinner time during the week.

10. Despite all the ads in magazines and on television, your decorating (i.e. tree, wreaths and ornaments) doesn’t have to be perfect. Decorate for your family and don’t go running around at the last minute to purchase more items.

I wish you all a ‘non-stressful’ Merry Christmas!

My 10 top pet peeves

Tags

cars, cashiers, cell phones, milk, parking, promises, snow, vans

I’m sure everyone has their own pet peeves, whether big or small, they are all things that tick us off on a daily basis. These are just some of mine.

1. People talking on their cell phones when standing in line in a store, and not even acknowledge the cashier when  it’s their turn. That’s just rude!

2. Cashiers in a store talking to each other and not even acknowledge the customer in front of them. That’s just rude!

3. Drivers who don’t brush the snow off their cars before heading out on the streets.

4. Drivers who don’t use their turn signals when changing lanes.

5. People who don’t or won’t reply to e-mails, texts or phone calls.

6. People who make promises and never follow through with them.

7. People who drive in the fast lane of the 401 going 70 kph and won’t move over when cars are backed up behind them. They don’t notice because they never look in their rear view mirrors.

8. Vans….need I say more?

9. All the specialized parking spots….”mothers with children”, “pregnant mothers” and “employee car poolers”. Wouldn’t it be good exercise for the mothers to walk a distance? As an employee, we have to park farthest away from the store to keep the spots closest to the store for customers.

10. People who don’t change the milk bag, leaving just a drop of milk in the bottom and putting it back in the fridge for the next person to change it.

Pizza for dessert

Tags

apples, blueberries, dessert, oranges, pizza, splenda

The other night we decided to have pizza for dinner. The package contained 2 pie crusts, so I made one with homemade tomato sauce, mushrooms, onions, left over steak (which I chopped into bite size pieces), bacon and of course lots of cheese. Wondering what to do with the other crust, I decided to make a dessert pizza.

First I baked the crust for 8 minutes. Let cool.

The first layer was apples. I peeled, cored and cubed 4 Macintosh apples, placed in a pot with just enough apples juice to cover the bottom. Then added cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. Simmered over medium heat until the apples were soft and the concoction was thick. Let cool.

The second layer was blueberries. I used President’s Choice frozen wild blueberries (about half a bag). In a small pot I placed the blueberries, enough orange juice to cover the bottom, the zest of one orange, about a tablespoon of Splenda and simmered until semi-thick. I then made a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken. Let cool.

The top layer was a crumble. I used 4 packages of Quaker Oats with brown sugar and cinnamon breakfast cereal mixed with 1/2 cup of melted butter. Let cool.

Then all I had to do was assemble the pizza and voila…dessert. Yummy! The best thing about this recipe is I made it up as I was going along and I could use any kind of fruit and transform it into a totally different wonderful dessert.