Our First Sign of Spring...

We have flowers and butterflies showing up in our yard!!  

Are you jealous??

Sometimes you just have to get a little creative with the idea that Spring is here!

We are all suffering from cabin fever; 

we are tired of the snow after having grass not too long ago!

Today we hit the wall and boredom set in.

How is that possible with two girls in the house that always have books, sketchbooks or knitting in their hands?

I have no idea....but it happened!!

I tried to ignore...

I tried to continue to think about work 

(yes I had to work on this pd day and I brought home thoughts of things I would like to do)....

I tried to get annoyed....but even that didn't work because I truly understood how they felt...

Eventually, they trudged outside and grabbed their sleds and I put my "Mom" cape back on.

Remembering their favourite "toddler" winter activity, I pulled out the jars of food colouring and my plastic bottles and set to work.

It turns out that their favourite "toddler" activity is still a favourite as we approach the teen years!!!

Welcome to our Garden

and from our family to yours....

Happy Spring!

Snow Day = Work in Progress Wednesday

We were hit with a snow storm last night.  That meant a chance for my girls to sleep in a little and a chance for me to play catch up.  I also introduced my oldest daughter to Pinterest...heaven help me!

I am participating in an online quilting bee hosted by the fabulous Mrs. Pickles Garden.  Pop on over and check out her blog.  I am not even going to complain about the amount of snow in our driveway after looking at her photos in SK!  Spring is here....right???!!!!  I am in the We Bee Canadian group.

I'm really sorry about the quality of the photos.  To be honest, I'm not sure why they are coming out blurry.  A tad frustrating but at least they give you the idea of what I have been up too.

January Block ~ Bow Tie

Tutorial: http://www.canoeridgecreations.com/2011/06/bow-tie-block-tutorial.html

The theme was a garden.

As you know February was a tad insane for me.  Today I was able to do my two Feb blocks and the two March blocks.  Yippee!!!!

February Block ~ String (Kaledioscope) Block

Tutorial:  http://filminthefridge.com/2009/04/27/a-string-quilt-block-tutorial-paper-pieced-method/

Gray, Blue and Lime Green

March Block ~ Wonky Log Cabin

Tutorial: http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.ca/2008/04/for-dana-wonky-log-cabin-block-tutorial.html

The inspiration came from Drunk Love in a Log Cabin (I love the name)by Denyse Schmidt.

Red, Teal/Turquoise

I will be making more of the Wonky Log Cabins for myself!

Bedroom Reno Update...We hung a new light fixture in the blue room.  I thought I had a photo but alas I didn't get one.  Probably not a great idea to get one now (I may have a very upset girl if I flick the light on! lol)

Feels Like Spring

I stepped out the front door this morning and realized that our snow was pretty much gone thanks to all of the rain.  There is grass and that means the deer will be back grazing in our yard soon.  My oldest daughter stepped out and took a deep breath and declared it to "smell like spring...and that means summer is not too far off".  Good weather equals ROAD TRIP! so we headed in to Bedford for an early morning hair appointment then hit the road for the Valley.  I'm not sure what it is about the Valley.  If I have had a bad day, a trip to the valley is sure to bring up my spirits.  I know it isn't just Avonport Discount Fabrics.  When we first moved here they were closed anytime we drove by.  It definitely doesn't hurt that they have an awesome fabric store there making it well worth the drive (especially when you take the correct highway and don't end up on the road to Amherst).  It doesn't hurt that I love Gaspereau Valley Fibres too (although we didn't go there today...I had to resist the temptation!)  It simple comes down to the fact that the Valley feels like "going home" to me even though home is really in Ontario.

Today, our goal was Avonport.  I needed that gray to make the blocks to mail away.  It took me a while to pick some.  I guess I don't really care for gray and there wasn't a HUGE selection to choose from.  I topped up my gray purchases with some colour that really excited me and made me happy (my girls were even happier when I said "yes, I'm done").  This is what came home with me...and I pretty much stayed in/close to  blew my budget. (The skulls are for my oldest daughter....we went in last October searching for a skull print with no luck.  Today I spotted them so grabbed a bit for her for this Halloween.)

As I was at the cash I heard my youngest give a little shriek.  "Elephants," she cried. "Mom!  How could you not even see these?"  My youngest LOVES all things 'ELEPHANT'.  "Please, Mom...Please buy a little more fabric so I can make some pillows for my room!"  Bless her little soul!  She was begging me to buy more fabric!!!...how can you resist that?  So, along with my purchases these two pieces found their way to the checkout....

...along with this...followed up with the statement "Can you make me something to hang on this mom OR maybe I can?"  

I then headed in to Wolfville to have a quick lunch with my girls so that we could laugh and visit and plan before our wonderful March Break comes to an end.  

The countdown has begun for summer holidays!!  

I need to confirm some PD days but we believe there are 

68 CLASSROOM days left!

A Gray Day

My goal today was to make my two blocks for last month's Quilting Bee AND my two blocks for this month so that they would be ready to mail tomorrow.  I woke up today to a rather gray and overcast day and a rainfall warning.  It was rather dreary but still beautiful enough to throw my flip flops on to drive my husband to his bus stop.  As soon as I was home I wanted to call my mom to see how they are doing...then realized it was only 4 am in British Columbia...that made my gray day feel rather blue.  My friend Jackie came to my rescue with a phone call and chat.  Her daughter is in Alberta so she completely understands the time difference issue.  With my sewing machine set up and ready, I ran downstairs to find the perfect fabrics.  The first block needs blue, lime green, and gray.  The second uses teal/turquoise and red.  Can you believe that in all my fabric I don't have any GRAY.  How have I sewn all these years and not used any gray?  Turquoise...I used my last bit not too long ago.  My first inclination was to jump in the car and go to the fabric store...easier said then done.  The fabric store is about an hour away, my kids in were in lazy day pj movie mode AND there was a heavy rainfall warning....I don't do well driving in the rain.  I decided to wait until tomorrow to go and make a day of it.  Soooo, essentially NOTHING was accomplished today other than a great nap on the couch and a couple loads of laundry.  It didn't even rain (well it is now).  I guess I could have gone to Avonport after all.

March Break Catch Up

Thanks for the "Are you okay?" comments that I have received. 

Yes, I'm great actually!  

Over Christmas we had been pondering packing up and leaving the HRM or maybe even Nova Scotia.  Both were sad thoughts for our whole family.  We love it here; this is home.  Just when we had pretty much decided that we would have to leave I started getting more substitute work (I work as an EPA) and that turned in to a 80% term until the end of the school year.  As quickly as that things started to turn around for us.  I love what I do, I love working where my children go to school, and I love that many stresses have been totally lifted (or at least alleviated)from our shoulders. It has been 12 yrs since I have worked full time so it is a lot trying to be gone all day AND plan meals AND get girls to dance or music or.... Most days I am away from home 12 to 14 hrs and still need to come home and do all the day to day stuff.  Fortunately I have a very helpful husband who pitches in to do the dishes and make bread before he heads to bed (for about 5 hrs if he is lucky).  I was always busy as a SAHM and rarely sat down so now I am basically trying to cram an additional 5 hrs in to the day!!  All things creative have essentially taken a back seat to life.  I need to make up some sewing kits to take to dance to get in my sewing time!

This week we are on March Break.  YEAH!!!!!

Day One...

• I got up before the girls and painted my daughter's bedroom, 

BEFORE

AFTER

(Martha Stewart's Aegean Sea)

I love this new colour.  She was completely resistant to the thought of painting her room.  The yellow is from the previous owners and it really needed freshening up.  Over the weekend I was FINALLY able to get DD to look at colour chips.  According to her, there were TOO MANY beautiful colours to choose from.  In the end, of the 20 some odd paint chips that came home, every single one of them were shades of blue! (this from the girl that LOVES red and pink).  She kept coming back to one chip so I ran out and bought the paint and this morning started painting before she woke up and had a chance to change her mind!  

She LOVES IT!!!

•  did four loads of laundry (that my DH is standing her folding while my daughter reads to him)

• cleaned the carpet in my daughter's bedroom (thanks to my friends for loaning me their cleaner)...it was rather disgusting when I saw the water...YUCK!  Now I am pricing out flooring for our rooms.  The carpets have to go!

• took the youngest to dance rehearsal...typically I stay and wait but I hadn't even started supper yet and she was dancing for 2 1/2 hrs tonight (usually it is only 2)

• drove home to pick my husband up from the bus stop

• came home and installed a new light fixture in my oldest daughter's bedroom.  I've never actually done this before.  I had started earlier but couldn't shorten the cord so DH pitched in and helped me until he had to run back to pick up my dancer.  Fortunately my oldest has grown a lot lately and was tall enough to hold the light while I connected everything.  I can now add "light fixture installer" to my list of abilities!  It is so pretty and my daughter LOVES it so success all around!

• AND cooked a pot roast for supper...complete with mushroom gravy!  YUM!! (supper was at 830 pm tonight)

I still have a couple of quilt blocks that absolutely HAVE to get made and sent for a Block Bee that I signed up for.  They were due the end of February.  She was late posting them (when I had lots of time) and now I am scrambling to get them done.  Hopefully once the munchkin goes to bed.  This is kind of (minus painting a bedroom/cleaning carpets) how my days were prior to working...and since working (adding in 5 hrs of work to the list).  I am hoping that after March Break I will have more balance once some things that need to be looked after are done and crossed off of my list.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this beautiful spring-like weather that we have been having.  Tomorrow...hmmm...I'm not really sure what we will be doing.  Today was my catch up/work day...tomorrow is our family day.