Painting, Painting.

We're getting ready to sell our other house ... and

part of the "getting ready" is painting, painting,

painting .... ceilings, doors, trim .... it's never ending.

But at the end of the day, it will be so worth the time!

~ Chy

Chocolate House.

Finally eating up our little Christmas house.

Made from white and milk chocolate bars.

Royal icing and a whole lot of Smarties.

This is just before we started to break

it all up to munch. And crunch. Yum!

~ Chy

Another Corner.

Another corner to share. This spot is in

our living room at the front of the house.

I love the armchair, the Robert Bateman

painting, my grandparents glass lamp, our

Celtic Harp, the handmade throw, the tiny

teddy and the gramma pillow. So cozy.

~ Chy

Frosty House.

A shot of our little cottage,

covered with hoar frost.

We love our house so much and

feel so privileged to live here.

~ Chy

My Favorite ....

I love all of our ornaments. They each

have a meaning, a story and a history.

But this one is truly my favorite. We

bought it not long after we moved out

to the Country, to our Little House in

the Big Woods. It captures life now.

~ Chy

Empty House ....

I truly was not one of those moms who couldn't wait for her kids to grow up. I cherished being surrounded by my little ones, even on the days that seemed like they would never end when things didn't go as planned. I dreaded the idea of my kids leaving home. And moving on. I feel fortunate we had a larger family, so the leaving took longer and I'm grateful for the extra time we got.

My house is quiet now. We still have two at home and one grand baby as well. Most days and nights, our home is filled with noise and activity. But I do get a glimpse every now and then of what it will be like once everyone is gone. Yesterday was a prime example and today will be more of the same. By 8 a.m. everyone is up and ready to leave the house. Two days every week I have quiet all to myself and the house is still. Some days I love the time I have to do work I have at home, to tackle projects, to write, to dream, to garden, to clean, to fold and to read. Other times, I find it a bit unnerving and end up putting the tv on so there is chatter in the background or music to work by. And in those moments, I'm appreciative of the fact that both daughters who reside with us won't be leaving any time soon. The quiet is lovely but only in little bits. I still need life and activity around me to be truly happy. I may be an introvert but I still need my noise and my people around me. Do you need yours too?

My House in August #25: Art.

Two decades of dreaming of having

our own Art Studio are coming to an

end. The dream is now real, minus

the flooring, window coverings and

two lights over the island. We are so

excited to have this precious space.

#myhouseinaugust

#AugustPhotoChallenge

My House in August #23: Stripes.

Stripes in the ceiling of the veranda.

And a sweet birds nest with babies.

#myhouseinaugust

#AugustPhotoChallenge

My House in August #19: Cake.

On the 21st, we celebrated our tiny

daughter's birthday. She would have

turned 19 years old that day but on

her birthday, she arrived in our arms,

without opening her eyes or taking a

breath. We loved her before she was

born, we loved her the day she was

born and we continue to love her each

and every day, for now and forever.

Our little cake to honor sweet and tiny

Ciara~Rose Kennedi, our princess 

that we will cherish all our lives.

#myhouseinaugust

#AugustPhotoChallenge

My House in August #14: Metallic.

We have been dreaming of a wooden

gazebo to add to our landscaping but

the price was a bit too high this year

with all the other things that are in 

our budget. So we took the gazebo

off the spreadsheet for now. Then we

found a bunch of great deals and our

budget bottom line went down. A

sale at our local greenhouses gave

us a new plan ~ a metal gazebo. We

went back and forth between this

one and another one big black one

at the other establishment. In the

end, we chose this more Victorian

styled version. And the price we

paid was at least 1/6th of the fee of

the wooden gazebo. For now, this is

our lovely compromise that we are

both excited about. And down the

road, once we have a few extra $'s,

we can sell this one, likely for more

than we paid for it and buy the

wooden one. Love this plan and

the style of this more vintage look.

#myhomeinaugust

#AugustPhotoChallenge

My House in August #11: Shelfie.

My "shelfie" in my office at hospice.

A collection of kids books and many

for teens and adults as well. Teddies,

candles, thank you cards and my

lunch dishes. On top, "writing hat"

that I sometimes wear if I work out

in the garden while writing and the

wind is breezy. I love having a spot

in my office to store and display things.

#myhouseinaugust

#AugustPhotoChallenge

Country in the City.

Driving to an appointment with a new

family for our grief program this week,

I drove past this amazing house in the 

city. Overlooking the river valley, I was

truly impressed this heritage house has

been so lovingly restored. Beautiful!

Do your urban community have old homes?

Or are the vintage homes just in the country?

Shadows.

A dear friend spent the day with me

yesterday and we had such a good

time. While I waited for her to

arrive, I captured these shadow shots.

 

Looks like such a tall house when

the shadows are cast on the ground.

I am Strong, I am Woman.

Although we have contractors at our old

house doing some renos, we've been helping

out to keep our costs reasonable. Personally,

I love renovating so it was nice to do this.

On the weekend, I ripped up the old

laundry room floor. I've painted this room

and the contractors needed the floor

gone so they could install the trim. 

We'll be putting the same tile down that

we have in the front hall. Looking good.

Tony the Tiler.

Such a great guy. We truly 

lucked out in booking the best. 

Even though he was paid through

our building fund, we enjoyed him

so much and he added some great

ideas to our design, a tip was in order!

A thank you and a gift card to

take his lovely and patient wife

out for a lovely evening after a

job well done. He was thrilled!

Now we wait for the rest of the

trades to finish up. Can't wait.

If you've built or renovated, did you enjoy

the process or couldn't wait for the end?

Sunrise in our Bedroom.

I captured this moment in time the other morning.

The sunrise, pouring in through our bedroom window.

Hitting the wall and moving higher as the sun rose.

The bed post and my dh's bedside lamp shadowed.

The Reveal!

Here's what we did with the beautiful fall leaf

garland that we bought at the beginning of October: 

A bit of extra color on the veranda, mirroring the

incredible leaves that surround our new home.

Now I feel like we're truly living here, with the

fun opportunity to decorate not just the inside.

How is your fall decorating coming along?

Did you add color to the outside of your house?

Wild Garden.

Now that we've lived in our little cottage in the big woods for a couple of weeks, it was time to start exploring what's outside our front door. And what have we discovered? A jungle of wild plants, weeds, flowers & berries. Not sure what everything is & I'm hoping the book I packed last summer will soon find it's way into our hands so we can research the names of each. For now, we'll take pictures so we can remember what we've found. 

Lots of growth in the forest.

Wild raspberries ~ so good!!

Pretty sunshine filtering through the trees.

White berries. Any thoughts?

Cedar chips smell so lovely!!

Tiny pink & white flowers.

Something that is a darker shade of pink. 

Where I'd love to hang the hammock.

Rocks for our "rock garden".

And that is all for now. A bit of a sneek peak

at our little forest surrounding our big cottage.

Any ideas of what we've captured?

Feel free to send along your thoughts.

Even on a rainy day ....

.... we can look at any window in our house

& see the beautiful trees that surround us.

We'll have been in our home officially an

entire 3 weeks tomorrow. But it feels like

we've lived here all our lives. I can even

walk through the house in the dark at night.

What do you see out your windows in the rain?

Are you surrounded by trees & nature?

4 Weeks To Go!

In just 4 short weeks, we'll be doing a final

inspection of our new home & then our

incredible builder will hand us the keys.

Since the beginning, he's joked with me

about waiting to see me do an "ugly cry",

which are tears of happiness but messy.

I've come close a few times but I agree with

him that because the "cry" hasn't happened

yet, all bets are on the moment we have the

keys in hand. Our process, from dream to

possession has been long. We bought our

little lot in the big woods in 2000. This dream

has now been over 14 years in the making. 

And there isn't anything that we'd change.

Waiting all this time meant we were able to

do exactly what we wanted, no compromises,

no lost wishes. Worth the wait, the extra time,

the commitment & the constant daydreaming.

We're almost home. Our task list is long but

last night, we put dates to items & assigned

the activities to the individual who could best

get it done. Soon, soon, we'll all be there.

What is the next big dream you are wishing for?