I like predictability....

For a few weeks, my oven was still in position upstairs...but... then...last weekend... after I already had scone batter ready to go... the oven didn't work ... so...I tried my tiny toaster oven.


You can see how tiny it is ..., or, maybe you even know how tiny it is because you have one of your very own.... I call it my Easy Bake Oven...cuz honestly, it is so much like the toys of the same name from waaay back....

It did a great job...even if it took three sessions to  get nine scones..hahhahah...  ....  who cares as long as it bakes them nicely?

The BBQ, on the other hand...well, let's just say it's a work in progress to get them evenly toasted..and maybe one try is enough.

The bottoms got totally torched ... ....waaahhh...makes me feel like a novice baker.

And, after the struggle to get batter together in a tiny, unorganized and disorganized makeshift kitchen....naah....don't think I'll bother again.   I'll stick to the toaster oven.....

Caution: ...may be toxic....

If only we could bag it and use it ....perhaps for hamster or gerbil shavings...but, pine, cedar and some others can be toxic to your little guys..... so...be careful what you do use.  Sadly...I am just sweeping and tossing (I feel guilty as it must be good for something) ...mounds of the stuff!  All the new wires need newly drilled holes, because the old stuff just hung down from the ridge vent area at the top of the house.  These low slope roofs are a nuisance to renovate.

I wonder if my garden would appreciate some ..... hmmm...must look that up too.....



There are literally miles of wire hanging everywhere ....the electrician is here...has been for days.  Older homes need to be brought up to code.  If you see something ... you must change it if it is not up to code.  That's the law.  So...if the drywall is still in place and you don't actually see what is behind it ... okay....but...if the drywall is taken off and you see older code wiring ...it must be replaced.  And... as usual, when we take off another sheet of drywall...we 'discover' things nobody knew were there....or things that need bringing up to date.  Sigh... it has become a total re-wiring job.

In other news...my hen had chicks...hahahha.... Mr. BV snapped this the other night..... in the midst of chaos ...always a little pretty to admire ....

not an extension ....

...but, it is new windows....wider entrance way..... 'elipticals' here and there .....  ..

window that is almost ceiling to floor on the one side....

... and, look....a lovely fluffy petunia.  Have you ever seen such a beauty?  I don't even know what it is called... or how I managed to choose it.... I just bought several little bedding plants with no buds on them.... ...but, I love it.

it's amazing how quickly things move....

...especially in the framing and roughing in stages....it'll seem much slower later when the drywall taping and mudding begins I'm sure....

they are grinning because I told them they were going global...on my blog.....

Today there is big pounding .. I'm hanging outside most of the time...... .the rest of the stucco is being knocked off on two separate areas.... where later .... there will be rock going on in its place.

Think I will go mow the sorry looking lawn now.....

not posting much...

but....I have excuses....

The 'Renovation' has begun..... and .... well....I'm not in control much.....

plus....the power is off and on...  and not when I want it to be ...so the computer is down and out as well...


it was soooo nice and clean and tidy last week.....

They were gone on the weekend.... and the stove was still hooked up...so I tidied....and baked muffins. hahahha...what an idiot!

it got steadily worse......

can't do it....

..... just can't throw this little guy away..... it's so weird.

Can you see it? ......his little trunk is broken.

My Mom bought him for a few pennies at a thrift shop years ago.  She and her sister loved to spend hours in there.
She bought him because he was cute...and....well, because he had a broken little trunk.  She couldn't bear the thought that nobody would want him and he would be thrown away. That's just how she was.... and I seem to have inherited some of that...well, more than some I suppose....

Every so often, when I am moving stuff and trying to get rid of a few things ....I pick up this little guy and look at him and wonder if I should maybe get rid of him....but, .... nope.... still can't do it.

A lot of other stuff has hit the curb with the moving prior to the renovation.....

........a lot.........

.... still around.......

..... moving out (well, not really 'out', but out of the main floor and into the basement..it should be interesting) .... and getting ready for the big renovation...  packing boxes and moving furniture (my body sure feels it today) and searching for the perfect tiles, trying to choose wall colours, cabinets, contertops,  etc....  etc..... takes a lot of time and effort ......

We'll be cooking on the BBQ on good days... and the rest? ...mivrowave...toaster, kettle, electric frying pan and maybe a little toaster oven...if I can find it....now where did I put that thing?  It's a tiny one I bought at a garage sale for $5 one year.  I meant to use it to cook my polymer clay dolls....but, hardly made any and toasted them in my regular oven when I did....tsk, tsk...yeh, yeh...I know..... toxic fumes...... but, I think I only did two or three things in there....

While I was busy and ignoring my yard.... ...this popped up in the driest portion of garden in the whole place ... the other iris are suffering.  I think because we have been having so much rain... they just aren't  doing anything.... even fancy Beverly Sills ... who last year was sooo beeyoootiful.... has no buds .... bummer.

But, I love this pinkish very long legged one....a corm from a neighbour I planted last year.... hahahha.... that sounds funny....as if I planted the neighbour.....but you know what I mean......

Au naturel........

....and..... with a white board behind....