gerberas and good books

I hosted a little soapmaking workshop for four locals who wanted to learn how to make soap. I had lots of fun, since it involved talking about and making soap. Each participant made a one pound batch of soap (six bars' worth) with the essential and/or fragrance oils they chose, and I made a demo batch. One of the women who came brought me a gerbera plant! I thought that was so very sweet. And Springy! Happy March!
If you're at all interested in poring over gorgeous pictures of other people's homes and gathering ideas for your own, all three of these books are winners. I have to return them to the library this week, and I really wish I could keep them forever. Found Style, Family Living, and Country Living Storage Style - I think that just about anyone could find things they like in each of these books.

I enjoyed a storm day today, since we had an icy night and morning here. On the weather forecast I check online, they had an icon of triangles falling from the sky, which I had never seen before. Phillip and I washed the dishes, read books, and made granola bars. While he was asleep, I hemmed pants, read in those terrific books, packed up a soap order, cut the bars that the group made yesterday, and generally puttered about happily.

I'm so excited, I'll say it again - Happy March!

**
P.S. Thanks for all of the great comments about Adam's site! Just to be clear, I take all of the pictures for this blog, unless otherwise noted. He's a good inspiration to have around.

a home for all seasons

This is a great little book I picked up this week for $4. (When I say 'little', I mean physically little. It's very cute.) It is full of beautiful pictures and inspiration. I've been gazing longingly at the light, bright, summery images. Although I do enjoy winter, too.

It's snowing today; beautiful, fat, wet flakes. I'm hoping to take a few more pictures later on.

Tomorrow, I'll share the next Recipe-a-week, from Barefoot in Paris! It's a dessert, so save some room!

a whole lot of great things at home

First, do you remember this red enamel pot I got through Freecycle? Well, I decided to order some vinyl letter stickers from this Etsy shop, and they arrived yesterday! They're anything but perfectly positioned, but they do remind me that there could possibly be a snack hiding inside.
And this arrived ages ago, and I keep forgetting to post it! It's my very own blog book, which I ordered through Blog2Print. I am very happy with it, and if you're looking for a physical record of your blog, I highly recommend it. The only things which are kind of funny are that the comments are compiled at the end of the book, rather than with the posts (you may be able to change that somewhere during the process of creating your book), and any text that contains a link is in the same colour as the rest of your text, which can make for some funny sounding sentences. The process was quick, easy, and the book looks great. I have enough material for about 10 more books (this one only covers the 6 months before P was born) so I should order my next one soon. One more thing - they offer free shipping in the US (I had mine sent to my sister, who sent it to me).

Despite all of the reflections in the glass, I think you can see this gorgeous print that Adam ordered for our living room. I bought a hideous piece of 'art' at a yard sale, in this square frame, for $2 last summer. Since square frames are hard to come by, and this one is perfect for over the couch (although I hung it a bit too high) I think that's a pretty great deal.
Speaking of great deals, I found this adorable wooden bus with cute little riders at Frenchy's. Phillip's latest favourite song is 'The Wheels on the Bus', so I knew that he would love this. And he does.
And here are the blinds! The pictures aren't the greatest, but I'm quite happy with them. I think I have enough leftover fabric to make a couple of cushion covers, so maybe I'll get to that on the weekend. The pattern is from Simple Soft Furnishings.


Ingrid brought a couple of her Barefoot Contessa cookbooks over at lunch time! I'm excited to devour them. Thanks, Ingrid! I'm at home today, trying to rest a bit and shake off this silly infection. Thanks for all of your kind thoughts - I'm sure I'll get over it sometime soon. :) There's some comfort coming up later on. Happy Thursday!

bowling enlightement and home enlightement

We went bowling yesterday with Ingrid and her hubs. Phillip loved it.
Ingrid kept score.

It's a pretty retro place.

Since it's Comfort Week next week, and to me, comfort = home, here are some great new home-y books I've acquired recently, mostly from redeeming Air Miles for Chapters gift certificates. Nice.

I've heard Annie Bond a few times on Whole Living, a radio show on Martha's channel, and she knows a LOT about green cleaning. This book was mentioned, so I borrowed it from the library. It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it does have some cleaning recipes and useful information on enlightening your home. It's a little bit out there (to me, anyway) on some of the other home things, like using crystals to help people get along at a family dinner, and physically hugging trees. I think what I was hoping for might be in another of her books, Clean & Green. So I put a hold on that one.

Comfort Week starts tomorrow, and I've got an amazing recipe to share! It's not too late to join in the fun!

make hay (or paint doors) while the sun shines

It's been very foggy and damp as of late, so when the sun came out yesterday, I repainted our doors. 'Regal Red', it's called. And it matches my toe, which I just sliced open on the step of our kitchen garbage can. I'm not sure how. Well, I kicked it on my way by, which is how, but I'm not sure how something apparently so dull could cut through my flesh. I didn't even notice it was bleeding until I felt my foot sticking to the floor as I walked along. Ick. Sorry if that grossed you out. All bandaged up now, and doesn't hurt a bit.
On a brighter note, we bought some corn at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and had it for supper that night. It was both beautiful and delicious. Any vehicle for butter is A-OK with me.
And I just picked this book up at the library today (that's my Inter-library Loan slip sticking out the top). I love it. I'm only on page 17, and there are already a thousand crafty ideas swimming around in this little head. I'm starting to allow myself to not try to do everything crafty that's out there. But doesn't iron-on transfer paper to make beautiful custom skirts sound (and look) great? You can see the one I'm referring to in the third picture on this post. Anyway, the book is gorgeous, the photos (here comes that overused word) inspiring, and the instructions clear. And there's an old school note paper dispenser in one of the pictures which I adore. Like this one, only wooden and, well, old. I remember my mom having one in the kitchen when I was a kid. I wonder if she still has it?

confession

So... here's part two of the cookbook story. No, we don't have piles of money sitting around to be spent on cookbooks. But I did join a book club (I can hear you now: "What? One of those annoying book clubs that sends a bazillion mailings out and drive you crazy like Columbia House when I was in high school?") Well, um, yeah. Because, for $28, I got the two Martha cookbooks shown in that previous post, The Food You Crave (which I was planning on buying for $33), The Giving Tree, The Daring Book for Girls, and the above. Martha's Cookies. Oh, my. It is an amazing cookbook, organized by texture. Full pictures of each recipe, both all together at the beginning of the book, and with each recipe. YUM. So, where does the Oreo come in? Well, we don't buy junk at the grocery store. Almost ever. But for some reason, (Adam pointed out that it was right after I got this book) I NEEDED to have golden Oreos. It was also suppertime, and I was starving. My belly hurt immediately after I ate 4 of them for (I mean with) supper last night.

summer miscellany

The pea blossoms are out and beautiful, and some peas are well on their way. It is so satisfying to grow your own food!

I borrowed these two books from Ingrid the other day, and am especially enjoying The Food You Crave. Really, the only thing I don't like about it is the title. The recipes are amazing - simple and delicious and quick, as well as creative and healthy. The pictures are gorgeous, too. I think I just might order a copy for myself.

Speaking of Ingrid, Phillip and I went to Th'Yarc yesterday at lunch time for a bite to eat and two short plays (one of which Ingrid was in). All for $8. P was extremely well behaved, and we had a good time.

After making toothpaste yesterday, I was looking at this funny little assortment of recipes for lotions, scrubs, salves, steams, and other homemade potions for various purposes. Mother-in-law gave this box of recipe cards to me awhile ago, and it's really quite good. There are 50 different cards, with lovely pictures of each recipe on the back of the cards. I think I might try whipping some more up this week. Happy Thursday!

the kite runner and other summer reading

I finished reading The Kite Runner last night, in a reading marathon. I started when Phillip went to bed, and I couldn't even put it down during 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?' (It is the only show I've made a point to watch, like, ever. We usually only have the TV on for movies, which works out to be, oh, a few times a month. We're radio folks.) I haven't done that in a VERY long time. I stayed up until 11:00 and the book was done (wild, I know!) Here are my scattered thoughts.

It's always refreshing to be reminded that we're all human, and this book certainly did that. It's an incredibly quick read, which often (for me, anyway) means that a book isn't that good, just plot driven and fast. This story was completely engaging from beginning to end. The characters were thoroughly developed, but not in that fake way where you're reading along and thinking "Oh, the author is developing this character." All of the events were woven together in such a way that it felt like real life. Details were described so vividly that you really felt that you were there and observing the events unfold, but not in so much detail that it was distracting. The writing was pleasantly clear and succinct. I also found two typos in the copy I was reading. It's so satisfying to find typos in a printed book. It's also a disturbing book, and I almost didn't choose it for summer reading because of this. But since I borrowed it from a friend a few months ago, I thought it was high time I returned it. To sum up: highly recommended. And apparently there's a movie from 2007 as well. I don't know if I could watch it, both because of the events in the book, and also because I feel as though I've already watched it. I don't know if I want to let go of the movie of it I have in my head. Isn't it funny when you're reading a book and you picture events happening in places similar to those you're familiar with in real life, but it's this unconscious dream-like sort of thing where you have to make a point about thinking about it before you realize that's the case? Anyway, I'm rambling. My apologies for publishing this accidentally before it was finished. Next up is In Defense of Food and East of Eden (I've already read it, but feel the need to again. Another human book.) Happy summer reading!