spring miscellany

After breakfast yesterday, I asked Phillip what he would like to do more than anything else in the world.
"Go outside!"
So out we went. First for a long walk, where we saw these hundreds and hundreds of crocuses. See all of the ones at the top of the photo? I couldn't get a closer shot without going right into the backyard, but it was beautiful.
I also made these scones again yesterday. Yum. Quick and easy. Oh, and I used my new mixer! It works like a dream.
Yes, there are two on this plate, both of which I promptly ate.
I am enjoying A Homemade Life, a birthday gift to myself, very much. It's by Molly from Orangette, and it's a cookbook of sorts. There are plenty of recipes, and each is accompanied by a well-written mini essay on a particular event related to the recipe. I love that it's in (pardon the pun) bite-sized pieces, and I can sit and read one or two and feel satisfied, or if I'm comfy and the tea is good, several. It's definitely worth picking up, and this is one I wouldn't recommend getting from the library, since you'll want to go back and make the recipes again and again.

sewing accessories, etc.

I found this little sewing case at Value Village this week in Halifax for 99 cents. I couldn't pass it up, especially because of its resemblance to this fantastic place. Don't the blue metal and the font scream 'Brunswick'? There were only two spools of thread worth saving from the things inside, but the case will certainly come in handy.

I haven't had a chance to use any cardamom yet, but check out the comments on this post for a granola bar recipe from Sarah.

Look what I bought with some soapmaking money! I think the picture that was chosen for the cover was a dreadful selection. Shells on lampshades? Really, Martha. I'm disappointed. But the rest of the book is excellent, and I have some more things added to my list of crafty projects. Like I need more things on my lists. Good grief.

It's a long weekend! We may have some friends coming to stay, and as always, there are lots of other things to be done. Soap needs to be made, and I'm eager to try making some solid perfume. The one I ordered isn't quite the right scent for me (too much lemon and not enough sugar), so I'll do it myself. "Sherrie do it!" (Phillip's been saying "Phillip do it!" lately when he wants to do something on his own. I wonder where he gets that from?)

Today was a kind of crummy day, punctuated by a fun, impromptu lunch with Ingrid. But there's always tomorrow, and a long weekend certainly helps! I hope that you have a great long weekend, whatever you're celebrating. (Even if it's just having a long weekend!)

the day after (and the winner!)

First, the picture - I have a pile of images that need to be properly named and filed, and picked one completely at random. More of my favourite white and green combination!

I had so much fun reading your birthday memories after yesterday's post! Thanks for sharing.

My favourite, and the winner of some of my soap (can you tell I haven't decided what to send yet?) is Austen! This was her comment:

"The year I turned 29 my sister arranged a big surprise party for me. As part of the distraction plan, she shipped me off for a visit with a friend, a visit which included an hour-long hike around the edge of Lake MicMac. (At the end of January. It was frigid.) Eventually my friend dropped me off at home and I rushed inside, ripping off my boots and jacket and making a beeline for a hot shower, yelling to my sister (who I figured was somewhere around the house), "Honey, I'm home and holy god, I'm freezing my ass off!" By the time I screeched to a halt in front of them, sweater off and shirt soon to follow, the two-dozen-odd people hiding in my living room were laughing too hard to yell "surprise." (Funny how the hot flush of embarrassment can warm you up in a hurry!)"

I think it's probably my favourite because a similar thing happened to me, which Konstantina mentioned in the comments. A surprise birthday party was waiting for me, and I entered our then-apartment with a yell of "Geez Louise, I have to pee!" On my way to the bathroom, past the doorway where everyone was lurking, some movement caught my eye and I nearly jumped out of my skin with a shriek that would have woken the dead. It was hilarious!

So, Austen, e-mail your mailing address to grahamsherrie [at] yahoo [dot] ca, and I'll send you some loveliness in the mail!

lounging

I'm glad that you appreciated the discrepancy between the beautiful begonia in yesterday's post and the topic. I thought that it might make me feel better, and it did. Much like yesterday's post, this image is somewhat irrelevant to the text in this one. But I love it and wanted to share. These are a few of the Olivier soaps I bought last week, in a handmade bowl I bought primarily for pictures. Like these ones.

Thanks so much for all of your sweet well-wishes. Whatever I have seems to be getting somewhat better already, which is a very welcome development. I've spent pretty much the entire day in bed, although with the sun shining and the idea of evil germs lurking about, I did wash the bedding and my mom was good enough to hang it on the line. We're so very lucky that she is able to come and look after P when both of us are working. Or when I'm sick and Adam's working. I remade the bed with some lighter and Spring-ier bedding, and promptly went back to sleep for most of the afternoon.

Okay, on to fun things to share! I found a brand new (really, truly, brand-spanking kind of new) pair of Dansko clogs, exactly like these ones at Frenchy's. (Annie, if you were here, I would give them to you, since I know that we both have a thing for clogs.)

This is an endlessly entertaining flickr set of Darling Dexter's outfit every day. Fun!

And I can't recall if I've mentioned her blog here before (I must have!), but Amber of Amber's Ambry posted a hand balm tutorial the other day which looks fantastic. Easy peasy and a super sweet little gift idea. Have fun trying it out! I'm hoping to get around to it soon.

Marta posted today about Fresh's lemon sugar eau de toilette, which almost made me buy some, since I adore anything lemon-y. But I couldn't justify $28 for something I wasn't guaranteed to love and probably wouldn't use. And since I don't usually wear scents of any kind, I thought it might be wasteful and ridiculous. I could definitely make my own, using essential oils and Amber's recipe, and I think I will. But since I'm feeling icky, in a moment of weakness I took a peek around on Etsy, and found this Lemon Sugar solid perfume to try. I'm hoping that it's one of those super-light and delightful scents that you have to touch your nose to your arm to smell. The nice thing about the solid perfumes is that they don't spray all over everything else in the room, so you can control exactly how much you use. And now I'll have a tin to refill, too.

Happy Thursday! I'm off to take another one of these.

dreamy soap shed

Isn't this the perfect soap shed? Okay, maybe larger windows would be nicer. But on sunny days I could open those doors and enjoy the fresh air as I whip up some beautiful soaps.
A colleague of mine was here from Halifax yesterday and today, and since we were in Pubnico this morning, we went to see the windmills.

kicks

Doesn't that pasta look absolutely simple and delicious? Today I'm on a Donna Hay kick, from whence the photo by Chris Court comes. This follows the Ina Garten kick (that kick ended after the hours-long Ile Flottante, although there are still many recipes of hers I'm hoping to try). As most people who know me can attest, I go on 'kicks' quite often. During these 'kicks' of adoration for a particular person, author, or subject, I go to our local library website and place holds on whatever books are available. I just placed holds on 4 Donna Hay books. Yay! It's definitely cheaper than ordering them for keeps, and if I really, truly fall in love with a book and still want it when my birthday (March 30, just so you know) or another holiday rolls around, then I ask for it. If no one buys it for me, I can use Air Miles to get Chapters gift certificates. If I don't have enough Air Miles, I just might cave in and buy it with soap money. And if all of those avenues fail, I just might buy it. (And of course, I always check the book bin at Frenchy's - that goes without saying.) The Martha Stewart kick is the only one which has no beginning and no end. My mom has food kicks, as I think most moms do (probably me included). I know that Adam went through several Tater Tots kicks of his mom's when he was growing up. The thing I like about kicks is that they usually come around again, sooner or later, and enthusiasm for a particular thing peaks once again. So there's no need to feel as though you've abandoned anything - you'll get back to it eventually. If only there were enough time in each day to do everything I want to, I could be on a perpetual kick of everything. What are your kicks? Are they seasonal? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and can't wait to hear about yours. I feel another kick coming on; the gardening one this time, which is most certainly seasonal. To me, it's by far the most exciting time of the year.

nothing but blue sky

The sky was the most incredible shade of blue today.

Phillip and I went for a walk after I came home from work.

An electrician came today. He replaced some old and hideous light fixtures and repaired some outlets.

It was a very good day.

a little red here, and little red there

Look what opened up yesterday! "Am-ryl-isss! Boo-ful!" (In Phillip speak, of course.)
And this is my current project. I'm making a set of the Swedish Roll-up Blinds from Simple Soft Furnishings. The fabric is a heavy, almost canvas-y cotton, in the form of tab-top curtain panels from Wicker Emporium. They were on sale, I loved the fabric, and we could definitely use some new blinds in the living room. Bonus: I have enough left over to make some cushions. I haven't decided if I'll be able to handle the matchy-matchy, but I'll give it a shot. I've got the main part all done; I just need to pick up a few supplies to finish them up.

Oh, and I'm excited for Tuesday! We're having someone coming to do an energy audit on our house. That should provide us with lots of information and direction for some of the improvements to make to the house (of which there's an ever-growing list!)

Oh, and the reason for two posts in one day (one of which was at 6:24 am)? Bladder infection has me home for the day, and had me in outpatients all night on Monday (10:30 pm - 5am), noticing things like the floor's resemblance to oatmeal and that the number dispenser looks like a cardinal in one's peripheral vision. The vending machines are circa 1982. That's generous. I'm starting to feel better, and hopefully tomorrow will be right as rain. Happy Thursday!

the sweetest boy and funniest movie

Adam took this picture of Phillip today. I love this boy so much.

We re-watched Little Miss Sunshine tonight. (Warning: there's serious language in the upcoming clip link.) Grandpa and the chicken scene kill me. I'm still giggling.

tea for three

Ingrid stopped by after work today for a minute, and we had some tea. Those are paperwhites in the green pot on the left of the windowsill, and little terra cotta pots with (gasp!) artificial moss in them on the right.

And is it just me, or does this mini-pita look just like a chubby little bird? He was delicious smothered in baba ghanouj. Happy Thursday!

kiva, spread the net

In case you're looking for a productive way to spend some post-holiday money you have on hand, I just wanted to remind you about Kiva. Each month I give a loan from my soapmaking profits to an entrepreneur in the developing world through Kiva. You can read about December's loan here, and January's will be coming up in a few weeks. Find out more about how the program works at Kiva.org.

Also, I wanted to let you know about Spread the Net. I do love Rick Mercer, after all. In the latest issue of GOOD, there were some staggering statistics about malaria and the number of children who die from the disease. With a donation of $10, you can purchase a mesh bed net for a child to sleep under, which protects them from mosquitoes which transmit the disease. Each net lasts up to 5 years. We bought some this weekend in honour of a family member's birthday. The program is through UNICEF, and is worth checking out.

Edited to add: The malaria statistics are here, not in the Globe and Mail as initially posted. Oops!

it snowed, it snowed, it snowed last night (and all day today)

Two posts in one day! Can you tell I haven't left the house? The snow finally stopped just before dark, but the wind has picked up, making it blustery and blizzard-y. I've accomplished lots of cleaning and organizing over the past couple of days, including the cobweb-ridden scary storage cubby off of our bathroom. I was quite proud of myself for tackling that - now all of the Christmas decorations have been sorted through and stored, and I've freecycled a bag of old ones. A satisfying way to start a new year!

chicken bones

I just realized that everyone in the world doesn't have access to my favourite holiday candy. They're called chicken bones, and they're made by Ganong, here in the Maritimes. The outside is a hard cinnamon flavoured candy, and the middle is chocolate. They are lovely. My tongue is bright pink and has been for most of the past week. The ones pictured were at the bottom of a bag, and are a little bit broken and crumbly, but every morsel is delicious. They're in a gorgeous pottery bowl I picked up at Handworks in Saint John at their seconds sale on the weekend.

christmas, part 2

A boy who had fun building a snowman (with chocolate eyes!) and riding a toboggan with his Papa.

Christmas morning!
And the remnants of Christmas dinner.

We still haven't finished Christmas - we have yet to party with my folks, which we'll do later in the week. The house is slowly coming back to a somewhat livable state, it's a beautiful sunny day, and I think I hear a sweet boy waking up. It's a good afternoon!

christmas, part one

We had a lovely holiday and are home again. We visited lots, ate lots, and have lots of laundry and cleaning to do, especially since we didn't have power for a few days before going away. Adam took a few pictures I'll share; more are coming when I unpack my camera. The PJ's were an early gift from Phillip's aunt (my sister) and uncle, who will be having their first wee one in 2009. I'm going to be an aunt, yay! I really am super excited.
Adam gave me this gorgeous handmade wooden ladle, specifically for crockpot use, so the surface doesn't scratch. I love it, and so does Phillip!
And this was a gift I gave to Annie, which I made from a beautiful 100% wool Frenchy's sweater. She uses a water bottle every night, so I knew that she would appreciate it. And I thought it was quite clever, since Toast sells similar ones for 44 pounds. Too bad I didn't get a better picture! I'll be back soon with a few more pics of some beautiful handmade goodness.

Merry Christmas!

My 'Merry Christmas' post was supposed to be one of those short and sweet messages with a single lovely picture, but I'm going to do a bit of rambling. We had a snow and wind storm at the end of the weekend, and had no power for a day and a half. Luckily, we have a wood stove, so we were fine. We were also lucky that we didn't have any damage to our house. Lots of trees are down, a car was burned out by a power line on our street, and we're very lucky indeed. I haven't verified, but I heard that the gusts were up to 120 km/hr. Overnight on Sunday, I actually thought that the wind could have blown through out windows. It was wild.
To catch up on a few other things, Annie and Ingrid came over on Saturday and opened some gifts. Ingrid got that nifty roll-up needle holder from Annie, from this shop, which I think is adorable. We made some cake and generally had a lovely visit.
Oh, and those crazy knitters fluffed a rodent. (That's Annie's Ravelry Christmas t-shirt from Ingrid). I won't say anything else about the rodent, as it's a Christmas gift having nothing to do with me, but it was an entertaining way to pass the time.

So, I'm signing off for a little holiday. I hope that you all have a lovely break with lots of rest and happy times. Merry Christmas!

"you'll shoot your eye out, kid"

Good Saturday evening to you! I hope you're cozy and warm, snuggled up and ready for some snow. I have a cup of Aveda tea and a piece of cake waiting for me, and a new magazine to "cuddle read", as Phillip says. Ingrid brought the tea this afternoon, and it is just as good as my Egyptian Licorice Yogi tea. Both have licorice root, the source of yum, in them. Phillip's snug as a bug (or 'nug bug', as he says) in his bed, the washer and dishwasher are humming away, and it looks like it will be a quiet evening. My favourite kind. Oh, and we might finish watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It's right up there with A Christmas Story in the holiday hilarity department. If you've got a few minutes, take a peek at a couple of my favourite clips from them, in order. Heh heh.



Did you notice I changed things up here on the blog yet again? I couldn't take the cluttery background any more, festive as it was. I think this is much easier on the eyes. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

christmas reading

Guess where I found this for 20 cents?

I like to read Little Women at Christmas time, and I found this tiny, perfect little unabridged edition with shiny gold pages today. For 20 cents.
And this is a fun book from 1972. Also 20 cents. One thing I would like to learn is how to read a sewing pattern. My favourite parts from it so far are highlighted:
That's me!
"You know how your husband feels about his car?"
I am a small woman, though, so I should be careful. Oh wait, Phillip weighs that much. I think I can handle it.
And these, too. I am planning on doing lots of reading and resting and nothing. We'll see how it turns out!

i love pia more and more every day

The handle of a glass pitcher I found at Frenchy's not too long ago.


Pia posted about Poladroid today, and I think I just might like it as much as she does. I took pictures with my camera, ran them through Poladroid, added text in Photoshop, and voila! Poladroid is a free, adorable magical little tool (for Macs only, right now) which converts images into looking as though they were taken with a Polaroid. The little tool looks like a Polaroid camera, makes the sounds, and you have to wait as it 'develops'. FUN!

pharmacien de 1re classe

Santal Midy. L. Midy, First Class Pharmacist. Dose: 10 to 12 capsules per day.
Paris. Pharmacie, 113, rue de Faubourg St-Honore. Sold wholesale to: Maison Grimault & Cie, 8, rue Vivienne.

I picked up this little bottle at an antiques shop downtown at lunch time today. I saw it there a few months ago, didn't buy it, and kept thinking about it. Since I was on my way by today, I stopped in to see if it was there, and it was. So I bought it. I looked up 'Santal Midy' and this was the only information I could quickly find, from a fellow Maritimer, no less. The bottle is labeled as 'huile essentielle de santal citrin', and it was apparently, used as a treatment for bladder, liver, and venereal ailments. Syphilis, eh? No thanks. It was the French label and 'huile essentielle' that drew my attention, and I'm glad that I picked it up. It will cohabitate with my other small bottles.