Afternoon Class.

A dear friend and I took a class at IKEA a few weeks

ago and had a blast. It was a great project and we both

went home with two different sized frames with dried

flowers. Taught by the amazing DIY Mommy, it was an

honor to be there with my friend and to be taught by a

real life blogger! I'm hanging my frames in the studio.

Have you taken a class lately? Or time off for yourself?

~ Chy

Saturday Sharing.

My breakfast in bed this morning. Paying tribute to our upcoming Disney trip! And celebrating that we are safe and warm today. We had a bit of a blizzardy day yesterday. And despite careful driving and literally no traffic, we still ended up in the ditch. More on our adventure in a later post but all is well. A small dent in the muffler and no one was injured, so life continues, with thankfulness for amazing neighbors and perfect strangers who stopped to help. Life in the country continues to amaze us and this was just one example of how lovely and genuinely helpful people are out here. I asked dh if our experience yesterday would make him move back to town and his answer was quick and short ~ "no way!!" I guess that means we're staying put out here!

Yesterday afternoon, after our ditch escapade, I cancelled our grief program this morning. It was blowing snow, icy roads and cold wind. Thankfully, everyone agreed. We woke up this morning to beautiful bright sun but I didn't put class back on. Everyone is working so hard, a little break is okay. We'll go one week more this month to make up for this lost day. 

In this house, it will still be a busy day. We have hockey playoffs this afternoon and hockey to watch on tv this evening. In between both, we have to stop at Michael's to pick up an item I'm still missing for my art class tomorrow. I thought I had the glue required but went through my art studio and discovered that I'm out of that one. Off to the store we'll go, coupon in hand. We also have to stop at the grocery store for a few fresh items and pick up our favorite Chinese food that we didn't get yesterday with our ditch blip! Can't wait ~ such good food and prepared right in front of you as you order it. Mmmmmm! Home to eat and then time to chill. However, I have plans before the game on tv.

As you can see by my two pictures, the art studio has gotten very messy. Yup, this is real life some days. The rest of the house we can keep so tidy, except for our back entrance (five of us coming in and out each day means boots are all over and school bags and work bags dumped) and the art studio. As my dad, the realtor, would say "you have to have some spaces that look lived in!" And it's true. So part of my day before we go to hockey today (now that I'm not teaching this morning) and once we get home later today, is to tidy and purge the counters and put things back where they go. I have a whole cupboard full of painting supplies but do you see that nice pile above that should be IN the cupboard? And in the picture above, a few bins are out of their cupboard as I was looking for some items for the dollhouse reno. But then got sidetracked and never put them away. Once I'm doing cleaning up my mess, I'll post new pictures to show the open spaces that I dreamed of but keep filling up with projects. The back entrance will be my project next week ~ we bought some new heavy duty mats to cover the floor better in the Winter with our snowy boots. I'll take a before and after once I tackle that project. In the Spring, we're hoping to have someone come in and epoxy our garage floor but we'll paint the walls first and get it better organized. We built two big shelving units ~ one for the storage room and one for dh's workshop area but now I have bins to put items in so it's more streamlined. Can't wait for that project to start. Going to look great and be a nice work space for him, instead of "just a garage." 

Tomorrow I'm off to my art class, the one I'm nervous about and hope it goes well. I have some homework to do later when the game is on tv. My supplies are gathered and other than figuring out a snack to take along, I'm ready! I'll post pictures of my creation once I'm home. We have one more playoff game tomorrow, after my class, so it's a busy Sunday. Hope your weekend is fun and relaxing! Enjoy!!

~ Chy

Comfort Zone.

Saturday morning musings from my very comfy desk ~ aka our bed! I truly don't want to get up. Our province is once again under an Extreme Weather Warning for the weekend. I haven't checked yet this morning but with the windchill, the temperatures are supposed to sit well under - 40 C. Really, Mother Nature? Please give us a break! A mild Winter was expected and we enjoyed, right up until the first week of February. And then you gave us some snow, not too much but enough to make it a true Winter. Our snow has gotten less and less over the years. Sometimes we don't even need boots. It was a bit fun at first and very pretty. But the bitter cold was not welcome. Please Mother, take it back and bring on Spring! Don't you think after all the cold, we deserve some beautiful warmth? With warm sun and melting snow? I'll just leave this thought out here for her to ponder.

On to my news for the day. I, little me, the very cautious, over thinking me, has taken a huge step out of my comfort zone. What, you may say? Yes, my comfort zone. I struggle with social situations and am always very protective of myself but since discovering an art store in the Big City, I've been drooling over their art classes that come across my laptop. I open up the email messages and gaze at the incredible projects. And then close them. Taking a class by myself isn't particularly appealing to me. How will I concentrate on the task at hand if I have to talk to people? What if the noise is too much? What if my voice gets crackly? What if my hands get tired and won't cooperate? 

And then this "Whisper Box" class came up and I just had to swallow my concerns and sign up. I thought about it first for a few days, dh said "just do it" and I did! I'm a self taught mixed media dabbler ~ I won't say artist yet but that is my end goal. So this class is a step in the right direction. I'm excited but very nervous all at once. To combat the nervous, I've been reviewing the list of additional items that are required (the fee includes most of the kit) and spent time in the art studio gathering what I already had ~ scissors, gold pen, matt finish, etc. After my kids grief class today (see I can teach a class, but attending ..... ooohhhh), I'm heading off to our local M's, coupon in hand to start gathering the archival inks and the varnish needed. The class is a week from tomorrow and is for 6 hours, so I'll also have to figure out how and what to bring along to eat and drink. 

Isn't it the sweetest project? I have a feeling I'll be nervous all week right up until I arrive and then it will be so much fun that I'll be signing up for the next class before the first one is done! There is only 7 spots in the class and then the instructor, so 8 in the room. I think if I can talk in front of a 1,000 people and not be nervous, 8 should be easy peasy! Do you ever step out of your comfort zone to tackle something that is exciting to you? Send along your coping techniques if you do so I can reassure myself this will be just fine and worth it in the end! And fingers crossed, mine turns out as nice as the project pictures show. I will work very hard to ensure that it does. I'm off to teach class. Have a great day!

~ Chy