A Diamond In The Rough

There is so much work that goes into fixing up a century home. When I look around and think about it, it is almost overwhelming. But there are so many neat things about owning a century home. Here are a few that we have found in our place:

Neat old wood floors that look like this:

But can be turned into this:

And even this:
From neat old door knobs (which are all over the house and use those cool old keys):


To pretty antique light fixtures:

We were lucky enough to acquire some antique furniture with the house (along with a lot of not-so-wanted items, more on that later). There are several antique stores around and it is fun to look and find things that fit with our old home.

We saw this and just knew it had to be ours (this used to be a pig farm):

Isn't it cute? It's a little worse for wear with a fair amount of rust but I just love it and think it fits right in here!

There are so many gems to be found, I look forward to sharing more, as I find them!

The Renovatons Begin!

Currently, my days are filled with this:

Lots more stripping of wallpaper to go but above is one section that is re-papered. That had to be done to install the heat pump that also provides AC in the summer, much needed AC! No lazy summer days here although we did manage to spend one day at the beach. More house pictures to come!

I know it is time for an update but....

I'm going to be redesigning this space first. It will be going through some changes and will have some kinks to be worked out (kind of like me these days). Just ignore all the craziness for the next few days and hopefully soon this blog will be ready to go again! Let the fun begin!

Big Changes!!

There are some big changes going on in my life at the moment. My husband has resigned as pastor and I am finishing my last week at work. We are moving to PEI to start a new chapter in our lives. My husband will be going to school for a year as a cabinet maker. This also means big changes to this blog! I would like to get back to blogging more regularly and will have lots of blog fodder coming I'm sure! We are moving into an old house that we are renovating that has over 3 acres of land. I plan to have a big garden and maybe even some animals at some point and all my adventures or misadventures, as most likely will be the case, will be recorded here! I'll soon be posting some pics of the house and what we've done so far. This house will be beautiful but I'm telling you there will be a lot of sore muscles in my future as it needs a lot of work!! I think this blog needs a makeover!

Just Checking In

*I'm sitting here trying to think of what to write. I don't have anything interesting to say or I don't think what I have to say is very interesting, one or the other!

*We are looking forward to spring break in a couple weeks. We are heading over to PEI to visit friends and family and the boys are counting down the days.

*We've had such an amazing winter over here that it already feels like spring is on it's way.

*Things are busy with me working full time. I've started with Sunday school again and still lead worship. My husband has been preaching some challenging sermons and once and while I'm lucky enough to catch one!

*The boys are growing like weeds. They are now 11, 8 and 6, where does the time go? Our kitten is now 11 months old and getting quite the round tummy (not a surprise since she eats more than the 6yr old cat).

*We've barely been sick this winter which is amazing. Everyone is well and seems happy! Not much else to report but like they say, sometimes no news is good news.

*We are thankful to God for our many blessings and look forward to all He is going to do in this new year!

The Guide for Every Pastor's Wife by Lisa McKay

I'm so excited to read this book, I have entered for a free copy and you can too. It would make a great gift for your Pastor's wife!

Into the Sunset

I was posting some pics for The Pioneer Woman's photography assigment and thought I'd share them here too. Doesn't everyone love a sunset? I sure do and I have about a million of them stored on my computer. Enjoy!

What I Wish...

1. ....is that you all had a great Christmas with friends and family and made a ton of warm memories to take into the new year (I sure did).

2. ....is that you have a lot of hope and excitement as you look ahead into 2010 (I sure do).

3. ....that I could be a stay at home mom again, so we could have more days with this:

Homemade soup, homemade biscuits and cookies!

Notice a theme with this pictures? Everything is HOMEMADE! Working full time just doesn't give me the time to cook like this as much as I'd like to, although I try. The consensus was that it was all good!

Well mostly...

Just so you know, those cookies (Mexican wedding cakes or Russian tea cakes, whatever you call them) cook a lot faster if you don't turn the oven off after making the biscuits but think you left it on, and after 15-20 mins think your oven is broken only to finally realize you turned the oven off. Just sayin'

I also got to lay on the bed with the boys and watch a movie (Santa Buddies). I enjoyed this time at home I've had this past week (next holiday isn't until Easter? Really?). I realize how much I'm missing being at work but I do know how valuable my time at home is and my resolution is to make the most of that time, along with the usual ones (lose weight, eat better, exercise...you get the idea!)

Do you have a resolution for 2010?

It had to come sometime!

Winter that is!

We did have one fluke warm day with rain that melted some snow but now it is back to cold and windy. I miss the carefree days where the boys just needed to grab a coat and their bag for school. Now it is a 12 minute production, trying to get all the snow gear on!

Even a winter hater like me has to admit, the first snow can be so beautiful!



Everything is bright and snow white clean and isn't that the reason for the season? The baby Jesus being born so that he could later pay the price that makes us clean again?

We got our tree up early this year because we won't be home for Christmas. As you can see, my 8 month old kitten has had a ball with the string of beads. I've given up, they are half hanging off now!

I hope you all have a great Christmas with lots of love and laughter and maybe even a little something special under the tree!

A Thanksgiving DYI Project

While out shopping a couple of weeks ago, I saw this cute fall/Thanksgiving decoration. It was a set of blocks, different sizes and colours that spelled out the words: Give Thanks. I thought it was cute and was going to buy it but then decided it was something I could make (and I knew I had everything I needed already at home). Of course my version isn't as cute but I thought it came out nice enough. I'd like to make some for Christmas and make them look nicer, I have some ideas! Here is a pictorial run through of what I did:

I used Rub On letters, figured it was the easiest option

My husband cut the blocks for me and I sanded them down. I made sure to sand all the ends and corners to round them off, looks nicer.


I painted them various fall colours and let them dry (my boys insisted that purple and blue were not fall colours, but I'm sure there are fall flowers of those colours!)


Fuzzy picture I know! Next step was to apply the rub-ons. I learned with one letter how important it is to make they are completely dry!

And Ta-Da! This is the end result! I'm going to spray a finish on them to give them a bit of gloss and protect them. I'm going to get more creative with my next try for Christmas but this was fun and costed me $0! Hope all my fellow Canadians had a great Thanksgiving!