Photo a week...

Hi everybody!! .... haven't had time to visit many blogs .... hope you still stop by from time to time ...and...I will be back to visit yours when I find a few more hours to rub together in a day....

We are "stuck in" ... re-doing bits and pieces to run more cables.... getting some paint matched to the one room that was finished and painted a few years ago..they no longer make the colour..but, finally got a perfect custom match. Thank you Mr. Benjamin Moore man....
..... pulling up carpeting around the edges to re-float some areas of the underlying cement in hopes of getting no ridges in the new carpeting..some old tiles under the existing carpet were removed and probably should have been left. Then... decisions... whether or not to carpet the exercise room..or...great idea just tossed out there for us to ruminate upon... paint the floor!! I don't want cork..don't want laminate... the carpet will be too cushy to be safe... I am researching rubberized colours....

None of the four rooms on the lower floor are useable now.... all in various states of disrepair...but... new paint now on the office walls... and the trim is being painted as I type....
























We have had the light carpet for years...and now...are looking at the dark colour samples.... going for the gusto..... we enjoy the medium dark colours we painted the upstairs...so..... colour it is!

Uh, oh..I smell the little chicken..must away to check and baste.... lemony/garlic-y/onion-y chicken... all three of those ingredients stuffed into the cavity.... some butter smeared on his body... spices liberally sprinkled...and voila...a tasty morsel.... .

I missed Wordless Wednesday...

it blew by in a blur of trying to match paint colours.... taking some ceiling things apart...moving furniture upstairs... paying piano movers to take the washer and dryer out into the garage...etc....

how'bout thoughtless Thursday? ...cuz my poor head is boggled and I can't even think straight today...???














....trying to keep happy thoughts....... in the midst of total chaos.....

Photo a week...

It's time for Italian Prune Plums again....I saw enough at the grocery store to make three loaves...and am still looking. I can't understand why they have so few. They are the backyard variety. And..not cheap. I need to find a neighbour with a tree full. I forget how many I managed to bake last year..but, it was not enough! This is a great tasting loaf. You need a cup of cut up plums for each loaf. ...MMMMM.. pictures and recipe from last year on my Tea and Scones blog.











and hey! I grew a tomato.... I have no idea what kind it is as the baby tomato plants were a gift from a gardener friend ..

They must be a grape or cherry type.... this little guy is a good inch long....and I am going to taste it the minute I get off here. It's exciting to grow your own goodies.... the only edible things we tried this year were a few tomatoes in pots ...and some chili peppers in pots too.... and...have already had some lovely hot ones to use from those...and now have several more larger and very red peppers to pick. The tomatoes were so slow to get started that we got caught out and didn't get wire cones on them in time. Then...I was procrastinating on tying them up or tied a few with twine when thicker strips were needed... because two branches.. (yes, by that time they were almost branch size) keeled over from the weight of the tomatoes! so..of course, we lost that branch full... I was pretty devastated. But...there are several more..one plant is a yellow variety...I'm looking forward to tasting those...











Hahahah.... some of you think I am a patient person because I have been at the renos for so long. NOT!! It's just the only way we can do them. I am a grumpy person... and getting grumpier by the minute. This better be over with this year...or ...well, I'm just saying.....it better be over. We never would have bothered if the area wasn't so perfect... older, well developed and has lovely trees and large lots. It was the only house in this area that we could afford all those years ago even with both of us working two full time jobs each. We did plan to do a bit of fixing...but not quite what transpired. But, some of you know how it goes...start with something and all of sudden another thing gets involved. Besides...both of us are pretty particular about how things get done and after hiring out for several years...we got fed up with the results and headaches of babysitting the tradespeople. And...got some shoddy workmanship to boot. So...then we began to do things ourselves... which takes a long time when you can only get to things after work or on weekends and also have to study up on how to do any of it. So.... that's what's been happening. And...then...after years of it... Mr. BV got so tired of it all that we hid our heads in the sand for a while and lived in limbo. Things finished to the point of utilization...but, not pretty if you know what I mean. Then, we did the whole bathroom ourselves..it took over a year...and now...the laundry room is nearing completion...another year. All was ripped right out to plumbing bits sticking out...no electrical... cement and studs...that was it. We have done it all now.... just the tile in the laundry room needs sealant...and the sink then needs to be attached... wheeee!! The upstairs bathroom just needs a cabinet... and so on. But... my handman ran out of work at his paying job at the end of June...and the company seems to have nothing in the forseeable future..so the timing is perfect. He can just stay home and paint, build and finish things off.... we keep pushing each other daily now to do at least some small things each 24 hours.... and already we are seeing a difference. However, in the downstairs... the difference means that 4 rooms are now totally in disrepair...empty of furniture and we are repairing some cement stuff... laying missing floor tiles in the landing area...and awating our final decision on the choosing of the perfect carpeting (it's taking us forever to decide, but it is an expensive thing and will have to be there many years..so it better be right) ....and the office is going to painted in about 5 minutes... we did the undercoat yesterday... because we are going from oil based to Latex.... the last of the oil base in the house is now history. Today... first coat of a new green..... the original was called Carriage House Green...and we have been trying to have it custom matched because we painted the tv room a few years ago and wouldn't you know it...they don't carry the colour anymore...I hope the colour match is perfect today. We have been back and forth more than a few times already... the first baseboards I painted it on... ick...it was a funny taupy camo colour. After much calling around.... the piano movers... who charge less than regular movers.... will be here Wednesday to cart out my old washer and dryer...and... the...list goes on....must go make a few more calls.... bye for now....

...suppers are pretty simple....

this past week........but, at least they're still more or less nutritious...











... and...colourful... ya gotta say that about 'em. The dishwasher was full and I forgot to turn it on, so we resorted to patio plates. I love those brightly coloured little birdies...

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs... with garlic, honey and spices. My latest fav salad... chickpeas, cucumber and tomatoes with lots of fresh parsley. Lemon zest grated on... oil, some lemon juice, a bit of balsamic drizzled over...sprinkle on some sweet basil and cumin.... mmmmmm. A few lettuce leaves tossed onto the plate under it...good enough. Some homemade bread toasted to clean up the salad juice.... and there was a glass of white too.... earlier.... hahahahha...














luckily, some of the garden is still flourishing.... all by itself... because I haven't been out there much the past week or so...














look...I grew a coneflower! or maybe it grew in spite of me.












and this..... eventually this will be my finished exercise room. The treadmill gets plenty of use in the cold weather. But, lately this room has become the drop zone...for everything. It even looks tidy in this pic as we already moved out much of it. I couldn't have leaped over all of to make it to the treadmill the past month or so.....thankfully that is gone now.... and it is empty today, awaiting some new paint. Then... along with the two other rooms....carpeting..... sigh.... four rooms on the go at the same time is rugged..... nothing feels permanent in my whole life right now..... but, soon......I keep telling myself that.... soooooonnnnn!! oh, please let it be soon. Over 20 years of renovations is more than enough for anyone.... there is only one wall in this house that we have not touched now. The main bearing wall.

almos5t..whoops...almost wordless Friday...

It's weird typing on my knees, sitting on the floor...craning my neck to watch the screen and stretching my arm to move the mouse..lots of wrong letters pop up.... and I keep forgetting where the delete key is for some reason... just weird....

so...this is my office desk now....










too big and heavy to get back out of the basement area now that our steps are finished hardwood. It took 5 men to get it down there..sort of sliding it on the old linoleum...many years ago.... BR.... "Before Renovations" ..











Even the top (which looks so much smaller in this pic that in real life..) ..was too darn heavy to lift...so we cut it in half. It took hours to dismantle the thing into manageable size pieces. They don't build 'em like they used to anymore.... I could take any desk these days and give it two good whacks and it would fall apart... this took a lot of unscrewing and plenty of pounding....































I leave us both with a "pretty"..... which I bought yesterday at the consignment shop...while I was supposed to be trying to get rid of a crystal coffee table.... that has been sitting in the exercise room or any other room for too many years to count. Nowhere to use it seeing as we have two other coffee tables...and the style never did suit our decor anyway...it was a table that we ended up with in exchange for a big deposit lost by Mr. BumbleVee's dad in a furniture store bankruptcy....long story made much shorter....

So, our morning was spent going to the smelly old dump...paying $36 to get rid of the desk and other rubbish...and now..we are setting up to paint...before calling the movers and the carpet layers...and the phone guys..cuz all of a sudden it isn't working either.....

Wordless Wednesday

Photo a week...

Here I am again...a day late and a dollar short... and short my last 3 marbles too. I don't even know what day it is anymore. And...I don't get enough play time on here anymore either..... whine.........

My other half has been off work since end of June and my loosely woven schedule has gone to aitch ee double hockey sticks in a handbasket.

Tuesday, almost Wednesday ...but, hey...I'm still around!!

We were supposed to get busy as soon as he was off work (before somebody finds him more work to do) and begin some of the little (and even the not so little) finishing jobs of our past 23 years of renovations..... I have not had a backsplash in my kitchen for many years now. Somehow, almost two months have flown and we have finally just begun doing some tile in the past week. Then, today he hit me between the eyes with some other projects that we have not even discussed....but, now...will also be part of the ongoing saga of this Money Pit. If my laundry room doesn't get finished by the end of next week, somebody else is going to get something between the eyes too...

I had my rant and now am scrubbing these little guys in preparation for the sealer...











Friends and relatives all think that because we tackle all sorts of household repairs we know what we are doing. We know jack squat.... well, I can't say that anymore now...because over the years we have learned plenty! But, in the beginning... we knew nothing.... ..nada...zippo.... But, finally, we tired of paying so called tradespeople to do things and getting crappy jobs in return for big bucks. We baulked... ..we quit hiring and just gave things a go on our own. We find info on line...go to the hardware stores and tile and paint shops..and pump and quiz them up one side and down the other. We even buy books on some of the projects... and then...we just get busy and do them. We have made some mistakes...and sometimes things turn out a bit differently than they should...but, mostly we make it right by the end of things. Even if it takes a second and a third go round..or ripping off tiles... or re-doing shower bases... or ... lifting bathtubs one too many times and not lifting anything for over 6 months while recuperating.











This is our first time for tiles this tiny...half inch mosaics. There are three types of glass tiles and some travertine in the pieces. One type of glass has a nubbly texture. At the tile shops... they don't always have display tile grouted....and you have no idea how it should look when finished. This was the case with this particular tile. However, while grouting... we knew that if we washed off too much the sharp corners of the travertine bits would be sticking out of the grout...and be difficult to wash regularly...or be really sharp...so we kind of had an idea that the grout should be left almost as high as the surface of the little tiles. We were a bit surprised to see the grout remain in the nubbly surfaces of the glass...and even more surprised to have grout stick firmly to the flat glass tiles as well. So..it took a lot of cleaning the day after to make sure the smooth glass was clean ....even though we didn't want to clean out the grout on the nubbly surfaced tiles. It makes them look almost like a greenish veined marble piece now.... we did check immediately with the tile shop while the grout was still soft...and they said people do it either way. On the short run in the laundry room... we actually applied a bit more grout...because we had already washed out a bit more than we wanted to ..... but, all is well. The wall will fall down before the tiles fall off and the grout is not going anywhere...my finger nails will attest to that fact. They are wrecked from trying to scrape off tiny bits on the flat smooth glass bits..... and my neck is killing me...but....all is ready for sealer tomorrow. The sealer is apparently "bullet proof" ..... and a good thing, because me and tomato sauce have a thing.... if you know what I mean. Every single time I use tomatoes.... I get little spatters on every surface ...so, it better be bullet proof...I don't want any orange on my creamy whites over the stove. Now...for the backsplash behind the sink ....... woohoooooooo ... well, maybe next week...I won't get too excited this week.














....but...I sure do love this little run of tile behind my stove .... .......

now I know !!

I don't have a cat...but, honestly, if you have ever had one....you can understand this in a heartbeat !! just had to give you the lowdown...and a good laugh....

open road....

The highway to my sister's town winds through the Rocky mountains.... what a feat of engineering that has been over the many years that it has been in existence. This is one of the latest new stretches near Golden B. C. ...
blasted through and leaving part of a small mountain.... you are so high in the air on the bridge span..but, luckily can't even see it or know how high you are til you are on the opposite side...or conversely, you see the height of it prior to driving on it coming from the other direction...but, then you can't see it from that side either once you are driving on it.... ....











oh, look...open road.. !! a lovely little window of solitude...
























there are several areas of sheer cliffs... ... always loose rocks and bits and pieces falling or rolling down. The wonder to me is that there are not more accidents and injuries with the size of some of the boulders and rocks that you often see on the sides of the road....



























... huge, strong wire mesh curtains hanging from many of the mountainsides to protect from that very danger.... they stop the debris from reaching the highway... it falls harmlessly to the edge just below the mesh and is cleaned up regularly.. actually if it was safe to stop or some of those beautiful "rocks" were not so darn huge...I might stop and pick up some for my yard. They have become a whole new business in landscaping these days. The granite boulder I did buy for my side yard cost me plenty to have delivered with a truck and crane...











one of the areas now has a huge cement retaining wall.... even more effective than the mesh guards... I call it the Great Wall of B. C. .... look how the highway meanders through the beautiful mountains..... beautiful but deadly, especially in winter. There is a lot of snow in the mountains and many days it becomes impassable. They even do avalance control by blasting and bringing down huge snowy areas before an avalance can occur... to try to keep things safer...then they must do a major cleanup with trucks and machines...and ...the traffic flows once again.... it's the number one highway between provinces and the freight trucks and buses absolutely must be able to travel it. In the winter... and with the construction always happening in plenty of areas all summer....it is an obstacle course...but, a necessary one. It is getting better and better for ease of travel each time we drive it. Although, having said that... it is also busy... and busier each year. Just more people and more cars ...more summer traffic every year. On some of the long uphill climbs...if you get behind freight trucks and a convoy of motorhomes..especially the rental units?...ick...! it is bumper to bumper .... We usually try to go before school is out for the summer, but this year couldn't avoild the worst of it. Next year... I hope we can manage early June .....

Wordless Wednesday

Photo a week...

First ..... I must begin by saying thank you so much to everybody for all the nice comments, congratulations, ...and... especially, for the wonderful compliments on Madame!! I worked pretty diligently on her and I'm very proud of how she turned out. The sad thing is .. now I won't see her in person for a year as she will be traveling with many of the other dolls to various places in Canada and the U.S..... fingers crossed that she comes home intact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's already Tuesday in Australia....but, here I am with my photo of the week girls....

today I was impressed with Susan's lovely photos of her geraniums .... how could I not show you mine now? Although my pics don't hold a candle to hers.... the actual plants are looking very beautiful ... almost had too much heat and rain the past weird weeks though. How do the delicate petals survive? They got pounded with a wild storm while I was away at Vikki's a week ago.. then several days of cool... and prior to that... blistering heat.... I don't know how any of the flowers stay nice for as long as they do.














The portulaca look lovely too...but, are beginning to get a wee bit leggy and slightly paler on the greens now .... but, look at the blooms. This colour is my fav and looks just like a prefect little rose to me. The softest of buttery creams.... the edge of each petal looking like it was barely dipped in a bath of palest lilac ...












At the beginning of the summer, the bets were on to see if our little tomato seedlings would survive..... now...they have green tomatoes on pretty sturdy stalks....and the bets have now become ... will they ripen in time? will there be enough sunny days left? ....

Madame .....

...... managed a place on the Hoffman page. That's kinda cool....she'll be there as long as the page is there....






















































.......... the results are in and you can see the winners here .

Click on each to "bigify" as Daisy says.... that way you get to see a bit more detail...those thumbnails are pretty small.

If you want to see a few more pics of her just scroll backwards through a few posts .... you will find one with several pics... and, I also have a few more on Flickr along with some info on how I did various things...... click here or go there from the sidebar badge...

Wordless Wednesday

Photo a week...

Just got home from B.C. again.... at my sister's poor dry hillside.... and..it was stifling hot. Even the cats were hardly moving. Too hot to whack a golf ball and besides that ... there was a fire at the golf course...the club house was burned to the ground. Forest fires everywhere in the vicinity and thick smoke hanging in the air.... everybody keeping a close eye on their surroundings. Temperatures hovered around 41/42C which equates to 105/107F ..... it was bloody hot. Last night we had a huge thunderstorm with wild lightning and deep booming thunder... so were standing out in the pounding rain trying to pet a couple horses and assure them all was well... then we sat on the porch totally drenched ...after doing our little happy rain dance and stomping in the rivulets running down the driveway...and sipped tea and grinned. Rain. YaaaaaY... !!! the parched grass even got a sort of light greenish look to it...or were we just imagining it? Probably. It is totally dead and brown ... looks as golden as the ripe hay across the road.

Four fire bombers flew by really low to the ground and we did panic slightly...wondering if they were going to a new fire just started by the lightning....but, thanks to radio and phone calls... found it was the guys returning to their base after dousing the nearby Kelowna fire. Whew. We were ready to halter and get the hell out of there..... with 5 cats and two horses...that would have been a bit of a rodeo....

Came home to pouring rain here and temperatures that are 30 degrees lower than hers... it will be cold golfing here in the morning with only about 8 degrees...which equates to about ...oh....46F.......... ridiculous...... 6 hours away....over the mountains. ....

Funny I didn't lose a pound or two..but, nope.... still hung onto it. It was hot enough we didn't even dare turn on a stove and cook...forget that. And didn't really feel like eating much anyway... so most afternoons...we had a great little smoothie we concocted. Different each day according to what fruits and juices we had on the go. One day we were so busy shoveling (compost and horsy poo) that it got to be late afternoon. We were tired and not hungry, but good and thirsty and hot...so, we decided to make it into a happy hour smoothie... she had a slurp of Tequila in hers...I had Vodka in mine....mmmmmm..... icy cold fruitsplosionsmoothies...........

look how pretty ....










Yep... pretty pink wine glasses too..... and our almonds for some added calcium...

This little quiltie is made by Lorraine from Busy Fingers Boutique in a small town named Lone Butte, B. C. I don't quilt, but the ladies who do will admire this one. It is a little beauty...

okay...off to bed...I'm bagged.

I'll get around to all of your blogs sometime tomorrow.....

Wordless Wednesday

Photo a week...

Cleo.... my sister's cat....

... good help is hard to find......



Oh, hey.... picture taking and email...my two fav things in the whole world.....




























Awwww... c'mon Mom... you know I love it... can I just send a few lines to Auntie Vee? ... pleeeeeez???














I promise I won't take too long.... I'll be off there before you know it.....














just a quick little message..... alright?....














have I told you lately that I love you?..... ....















You sure do smell nice......

Wordless Wednesday

photo intensive post....

My special doll that I've been working on for several months is finished and finally I sent her to the Hoffman Challenge. It was painful. I almost couldn't do it. But, several fellow doll makers and Mr. BV.. (my biggest fan and cheerleader) reminded me that I did make it for the challenge and I should send her. Now..I'm just keeping fingers crossed that she comes home in close to the same condition I saw her last.














There were lots of new-to-me techniques that I tried for this little lady. Here are some of the steps in making her wig. I used a tutorial I found online for those hardbody, store-bought fashion dolls... but, I figured what the heck...it's still a head. Gluing the completed wig on was a bit tricky...and I did get a bit of the wispy hair caught in the glue...so... there was a bit of tension...okay, there was a lot of swearing and frustration and there were almost tears.... but.... it finally did work out.

Her head is made of a slightly stretchy fabric...then needle sculpted around the nose, lips and eyes..











then a tea dyed piece of spandex glued and smoothed and smoothed...and smoothed some more... It's a great way to hide a center seam on a doll.











Just remember to leave plenty of extra fabric to arrange and tuck well back on the head. And...good luck on having no wrinkles!! It can take quite a bit of time to get it right. I made several heads.... 5 or 6 ... and didn't have much luck with any of them..... some of you heard those stories. Still and all, on the final head... (because I would have refused to do another )..... I had to do a bit of surgery beneath her chin to do away with one stupid stubborn wrinkle...but, it isn't visible .... Think I'll hang out my plastic surgery shingle.
Her little ear I just made from a tiny bit of the spandex material...and it isn't anatomically correct, nor is it wonderful...but, it is my first ear...and besides...as you will see in the final pics....most of it is not visible...and I pierced the lobes with a set of the most perfect tiny earrings that used to belong to my Mom. How I wish she could have seen this doll.....
























...plastic over her face to make sure no glue ruins her make-up...











oooohhhh....what a wispy, fine mess it all was !!!











There was lots of hand stitching, even some "semi ruching" as I call it, because it is not the real deal, but it allowed me to use a fair bit of the required material and make it look nicer than if it was just a flat panel tucked into the front of her dress.

I did all of the stitching and sewing before making it into a skirt for her gown... and it was a bit tricky for somebody who is still a novice at sewing ... I agonized over how to make sure it would all come together in the end.... but, finally it did. And..I even managed to line it...last.... to hide all the stitching on the inside of the gown and make it look tidy.
























The soft green material is also a Hoffman print, and it was not required, but I love the look of it next to the large paisley print. It is a bit difficult to tell in the picture...but the lace and organza trim on the bottom are also of the palest greens... the gold braid all stitched on by hand is a greenish gold.











The celery coloured fabric is satin one side and crepe on the other... a great two metre bargain chunk I found at a local Indian shop. Oh, what fun looking at the goodies in that shop... I managed to use it for the bows on the crepe-y side and trim on the satin side. I made tubes of it and ruffled and twisted and stitched it and voila...trims and bows.... I stitched the centers of the bows with gold thread.














Her chest began as pretty flat... and then with several suggestions ... again from fellow dollmakers, and of course, my in-house advisor... yep..the mister knows as much about the darn dolls as I do.... how could he not? I yak about them all the time and obviously he listens...gee how unlike a man eh? ...and then, he reminds me about things I have done in the past that I forgot already...hahahha.....hope he hangs around for a long time....











I added some conical shapes and stuffed them well ...I will stuff them even more firmly next time. As you can see...there would have been a noticeable transition between chest wall and the cones...so I carefully added some bits of stuffing after I pulled on her "sweater" of very lightly tea dyed spandex. I glued and stitched it tightly to her torso along the bottom of the spandex...











Lovely smooth breasts just like I wanted so that her very low neckline would be beautiful. Gathered the pullover tightly at the top of the neck and screwed on the head...then stitched her head firmly into position.




























There is too much to show in one post ! ... I should have done a week in the making or something... perhaps I'll do a few more pics on special areas......














If you go to their site you can click on "past challenges" to see some of the dolls from other years...