Kitchen is almost done...

The kitchen is coming along nicely and I am so pleased with the cupboards. I just have a few more things to do before I can share it with you all. But here is the display on my island.

Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

Where's Andy?....

Does anyone know what happened to one of our fellow bloggers, Andy of Andy's Primitive Home? I had noticed that she hadn't posted in awhile and when I went to her blog, it was no longer there. I emailed her, but no answer. I hope all is well with her and her family.

Tiff

My Son Knows Me Well....

When my parents were here in October, my dad built my younger boys a huge(16' x 6') train table in our basement. He brought all his LGB trains for them too. He set the whole thing up with three tracks running and the controls mounted below. The boys liked it and it was thoughtful of him, but it took up so much play space in the basement playroom that it was becoming a negative thing. Plus, there is really only so many times you can watch a train go around in a circle. And I know my dad was anxious about the boys breaking the trains, but my mom wanted them out of the house, so that is really why I think they ended up at our house :)

Well, after much thought, we carefully untacked all the train track and packed away the 4 train sets. We haven't told my dad about this yet. BUT, it's not like the table is being wasted. My boys have turned it into something much more useful. Instead of the small 3'x6' old kitchen table they were using in the playroom as a lego table, they now have a massive table to build their ever growing lego village!!! They LOVE it and it is getting used on a daily basis. We will break the news to my dad the next time they visit us.

Here is the whole village. I still need to make a fabric skirt for the table to hide all the toys being stored underneath.

Yesterday, my 10 yr old son called me down to show me what he had just made. I couldn't help but giggle and think to myself that he knows me well and he knows and sees how much his daddy tries to please me,....play imitating life. He shows me this knew vehicle that he just built for his "lego wife". It's her new truck with a removable snow plow(I enjoy snowblowing our driveway). He tells me in the summer she can use it to go junking and yardsaling to collect things for her antique shop. Which he then shows me the shop he built for this lucky plastic little wife. I thought it was so sweet and he actually put a lot of thought into it. I just love legos!
Here is pic of the lake area, we need to buy some more blue paint to finish it.
Thank you all for the advice on the eye twitch. It seems to be getting worse and is really bothering me, which probably is making it worse because I'm stressing about it. Luckily you can't really see it if you are looking at me, but I feel it and I feel like Egor sometimes when I'm talking to people. I know they don't notice it, but I can feel it and it makes me self conscience. The potassium thing is interesting, but unfortunately I am severely allergic to latex, so I avoid bananas, but I am taking a multi vitamin for nursing moms. I may have to try that calming tea, I have had celestial seasons teas before and I really like them. Hopefully this twitch will go away soon. Maybe I should try some meditation and yoga? WII here I come :)

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Fantastic GiveAway, Hurry...

Head on over to Design Dazzle and enter to win a Silhouette

Cutting Machine, valued at $400!!! This is an awesome

giveaway, but hurry, it ends tomorrow, Jan 26th . Make sure you enter all 7

ways to give yourself the best chance. I would love to win this,

so many things to make. I could even do my own vinyl labels

for my glass cannisters in my pantry.

Squirrels for Valentine's Day...

My squirrels went in the mail today and I am so glad they are finally done and on their way. I have had such a creative block with this Valentine swap that it was getting ridiculous. I made at least 5 other things that I ended up rejecting. These little guys were a last ditch effort. I think they are OK, not great, but like I said, I was just stumped. I had ideas in my head for things, but when I went to make them, they just didn't turn out right.

I packaged them up nicely, does that help?
I think I just need a good night's sleep. And for the last week or so, I have had an annoying eyelid twitch. I'm assuming it is because of the lack of sleep and the stress that comes from it. I just hopes it goes away soon.

Stay warm, it's coooollllllddddd here!!!

Tiff

Quilt for a New Baby...

This wall/doll quilt is heading to the mail box on Monday to be sent with my Valentines for the swap over at Makin Proiks. Sarah had her sweet baby Samantha a week and half ago and this quilt is long over due. I had hoped to have it made and sent to her months ago, but time seemed to slip away from me and I just completed it yesterday. I'm quite happy with how it turned out and after the little birds were hand appliqued on, the rest whipped up rather quickly. Even the binding went on smoothly for me, I hand stitch it on and I had no issues with wonkyness or puckering. I just hope she is still hanging these in the nursery like she had planned. If not, baby Samantha will have a quilt for her dollies.

I used reproduction prints that I have been stashing away for quite awhile.
I'm finally remembering to label my quilts. This time I stitched the label.
Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

I know I disappeared, but I've been busy and tired. I haven't been sleeping well, sleep apnea and back pain don't make for a good night's rest. But I'm working on those things by exercising(trying to lose some pounds) and I gave up my Dr. Pepper(man has that been hard). Anyway, I've been slowly working on the house. The kitchen is 95% done, I just need to do a tad bit more before I can share pics of it. I have also been cleaning out the kid's rooms. It's amazing the amount of STUFF in this house and I'm trying to clear it all out. Of course the basement is getting full, but it will have to wait until Spring to get worked on.

Sunday was hubby and mines 18th wedding Anniversary. We went to lunch and I got two more glass cannisters for the pantry(I'm slowly buying them so that the pantry becomes more organized). It was a very nice quiet day, of course hubby wasn't too happy about how the football game turned out.

We got hit with a good snow storm last Wednesday and now today another one has arrived, and this is now twice that dentist appointments have been cancelled! We just can't seem to get in there.

Not that this is a very exciting picture, but I thought I would share a bit of my kitchen progress. I'm not just redoing the cupboard doors, I'm organizing and clearing out all the drawers, cupboards, and pantry. So here is the pantry after a bit of cleaning out. I have a mixture of glass cannisters, which is fine, it just adds to the "collected over time" feel. I realized I needed some baskets to store things, but I didn't have any on hand that would work. So I took some sturdy cardboard boxes(that the baby wipes came in) and covered them quickly in fabric, and Wallah! Instant storage for little things in the pantry. I still need to do some work on it, but it is MUCH more organized than it was. There is a shelf above that you can't see in the pic that still needs some tweaking along with the floor area, but these middle shelves are better.

And here is Mason being a cutie pie the other night.
Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Making Progress....

I told you that I wasn't sure what color I was going to do the cupboards. Well, I walked into the hardware store to get some spackle and found two gallon cans of "Oops" paint for $8 a piece and they were the perfect white!!! Perfect, because the decision was made for me, you know how many different shades of white there are???? And because I got 2 gallons for less than the price of one gallon. I'm just going to start with the upper cupboards and see how it looks. Today I did this batch of cupboards....(5 coats later, and they still need touch up)

I cleared off all the Pfaltzgraff from the top of the cupboards....
And I'm putting it on racks in the basement. This is about 1/3 of my collection... I still have to clear out what is inside the cupboards.

And a pic of Mason, in his favorite chair. He climbs right up on the ottoman and makes himself comfy on the chair.
Lots more painting and clearing going on tomorrow. I'm getting a workout hauling all these dishes downstairs!

Have a great night,

Tiff

New Ride...

Happy Monday to you all. The first Monday of the New Year! Have you done anything different? I did some normal stuff, laundry, dishes, vacuumed, etc. But then I stopped, bundled up the two boys around 11am, put Mason in the sled, and went for a walk in the sunny January air. We walked around the block and then tracked up threw the snow in the backyard. We got our dose of vitamin D for the day and I spent an hour outside with my little boys and didn't worry about the house or what needed to be done. It was very nice.

I mentioned in a previous post about getting something new on New Year's Eve, something we had been waiting about 10 weeks for. No, it's not a new puppy...

Here my youngest daughter and I are saying goodbye to "raven", our suburban for the past 5 years. I really loved this car, but we had outgrown it, plus it was at the stage that it was going to be needing some work.

And here is our New Ride.... special order straight from the factory. She doesn't have a name yet.
Plenty of room for the kiddos and friends, and our payments even went down(which was an added bonus). The kids are loving it and think it is like a spymobile, LOL! I'm enjoying it, just taking some getting used to, it is very big!

Love,

Tiff

Resolutions...

Happy New Year everyone!!!

I have several resolutions this year and I'm posting them here to help keep myself accountable.

1) Exercise Daily. I'm not going to focus on weight loss, just getting exercise everyday and shaping up.

2) Declutter and Simplify my home. Which I'm hoping will do the same for my day to day life.

3) No Shopping! I have plenty of stuff in this house already, I can go shopping in my own basement. And clothes for myself, I have tons too, especially if I get in better shape.

4) Learn to Knit. I know how to crochet, but I really would like to be able to knit.

So there you go, my resolutions for 2011. Be sure to ask me through out the year how I am doing with them, just to keep me on my toes.

Do you have any resolutions?

Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff