Progression of Reno's

We are progressing with the renos in our home.  This week my husband and a friend worked hard on emptying three bedrooms, and painting the ceiling and walls.  Now mu husband is in the middle of sanding the floors, and then staining them.  This is a messy process and  have voted it the hardest job so far.
       

Since we have emptied the bedrooms we needed somewhere to sleep so these are the pics of our displaced bed in our dining room... and my kids are in the livingroom.  You can only see two beds in the pic but my son has his bed in there as well but he has made his own area behind a room divider.
needless to say, I had a bit of a stressful day Tuesday when we were figuring out where everything was going to go for storage while we worked on the bedrooms

This is a picture that I took while I was at work this week.  I loved the way the clouds looked and  I find that the beauty in nature I see makes me appreciate creator God more. It makes me think of 

Psalm 19

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.[a]
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.

Are you into handy work?  I knit and crochet, and this is my latest wip.  I am making this afghan for my queen size bed.  I still have 30 rows to put on it, but it is taking a long time because of the renos around here.  I love the colours and am looking forward to having it on my bed next winter.                                                                                                                                      

We are moving so we can buy land and build a house in a few years... in the meantime we are looking to rent in a rural location so we can have some animals and a garden.  I am so excited about the adventure that we are about to begin.                                                       

 Yesterday I received a farm and nursery catalogue in the mail, and spent two hours this afternoon searching through it.  I have wanted to have a small orchard, and this catalogue has cemented this for me.  The thought of going out my back door and being able to pick apples,plums, peaches, cherries, grapes, pears, elderberries and bake with them or give them to family and friends, can or preserve them makes me smile!                                     

Would love to hear any advice on starting a small orchard.  Do you have a certain fruit that worked well for you?  Anything you would stay away from?                                                   

Soli deo gloria!

Spring

I love this time of year, it feels like the whole of nature is waking up, warming up and embracing the warm weather. And I guess that is exactly what is happening...we are shaking off  winter !
This is a picture of my flowers that are beginning to come out now.  In other countries spring starts so much earlier than here, but in Ontario we are slower to warm up.

When I first took this picture I felt it was so sad, but in reality it tells of nature bursting forth and fulfilling the purpose God has for it.  Nature truly tells of Gods character, He has order and you can see it in the seasons, the sun rise and sun set, migration of birds... creator God is amazing!

This is how I plan my veg and herb garden of the year.  I have 28 different herbs and veg I am going to plant this year.  Everything from tomatoes to basil... I love planting the seeds  and watching the seedling erupt and unfurl.

Before and after of our garage door.  My husband picked the door, put it in, and connected the garage   door opener.  He did an amazing job, the lines are perfect with the widows in the front of the house and I was impressed with the new look of the garage.  Scored some major points with me:)

I am a bath person.  I love to soak at night before bed... I prefer bathing to a shower anyday of the week!  My birthday was last month and I am totally blessed to have a good friend that knows me well.  My friend is talented and has a small home business making soaps and bath products.  This is part of my birthday present, an amazing bath soak  called Forest Floor Soak that smells of the woodsy and is so soothing!!  And my favourite whipped soap is Absinthe, leaves my skin feeling moisturized and smelling faintly of licorice.

On my way grocery shopping then gardening this afternoon..

blessings 

Trying Something New

After a very busy weekend, I am so glad to be able to sit for a moment and write .  I look forward to connecting with friends on line.   I find writing so relaxing...

So, I have been wanting to try to make my own granola for a long time, but I could never seem to get around to it. This week I finally got it together and I found a recipe on Pinterest that I thought looked promising.

Side note, do you love Pinterest?  I have found so many useful, smart intriguing ideas on Pinterest... I enjoy searching for ideas on there. I have actually found a couple of great  blogs, such as theelliotthomestead.com   This blog is an excellent source of  information, is full of humanity, laughter and is writen beautifully.   Ok, so two side notes:)

Back to granola..  here is the recipe I tried http://www.recipetineats.com/homemade-granola-muesli/
The recipe is easy and yummy... however I found the cooking temp a bit high as mine got brown quickly, so I turned my temp down to 275.   The cost was about $3.60  for two 1L mason jars. 

I love the granola I made and am glad I found the recipe... perhaps I should make a practice of trying out new recipes.  Trying new foods really isnt in my personality but I am trying to venture out.

This picture is what my garage looks like right now  My husband is refacing garage including a new door.  This is a facelift for the front of out house, bring the curb appeal up to scratch.  Hope it will be done this week.

For EAster I dyed these eggs using al natural ingredients from my fridge.  Beet juice, grape juice and vinegar was all I used.  They turned out pretty...

Lastly, we celebrated Easter, my oldest daughter came to visit and we had such a lovely time.  I love having the whole family together.

Happy  Tuesday!

Thursdays are for Reminiscing

I have a job that allows me to think.. a lot.  I spend hours  thinking, planning, wondering, 
praying, deciding, and then rethinking everything all over again because maybe I had missed something. Yep, I have a lot of time.  Thursday is a big day for me because the weekend is coming and with a large family there is always tons to do in on Saturday, as Sunday is a day of rest...

Except this weekend.  Easter weekend means that we have two extra days, more can be accomplished however, we are taking Friday morning and Sunday to reflect on the death and resurrection of our Lord.
Easter... what a total blessing for mankind!!  I feel so privileged to be chosen to know God intimately.

This is a picture taken from the back of our church property. I love that I live in country where is is lawful to go to church and be able to put up a structure during our high holiday to celebrate Christs death and resurrection.  

Easter is also a sign that spring is in the air.  So I picked up these beautiful tulips for our table. I love purple tulips, they are my favourite coloured tulip, and I am so glad you can purchase them as my tulips won't be up for at least another two weeks.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly tell you that I was invited to take part in a delightful French cafe at my daughters school.  My youngest is in an extended French program, and the learn foods, serving of food, food prep and shopping the kids prepared a French menu and invited parents in to the cafe to try out their handy work .  I had a ball, the food was lovely, I chose a fruit salad to start , followed by a small helping of poutine, I finished with tea and a cookie.  My daughter was my server, everything was conducted en francais, and I was  impressed by the entire event.  Have to say that my daughters teacher this year is amazing and I am thrilled that she is in his class.

Here is a picture of my daughters placemat made just for me:)

Have a lovely weekend!