I had to post this photo of this doll, the girls got a real kick out of, for some reason unknown to me she has breasts , really is this correct ...?why?I am no prude, but did the doll really need boobs.

My days during the week can be pretty full, I have lots of kids to take care of , over the summer mostly 6 to feed at lunch, at 12:00 my house is pretty much a disaster, as you can imagine, I can not stand filthy , so I have quite a list of to do's to keep things in check, the list is never complete, it waits till nap time but I surely could fill my days with cleaning if I had that luxury.Like the load of dishes, oops I started to vacuum yesterday while running the water, I caught it just in time,thankfully, because I didn't need another mess.

Because of the kids and the dogs, and my dark floors I need to dust the floors many times throughout the day, I was a swiffer chick, but recently went for the Bissel Flip ease mop/vacuum, it is cordless , and it can mop , but the solution leaks , which is very counter productive to dry vacuuming.It is very well used and now I feel better not throwing out swiffer cloths daily.I highly recommend it, ok , I can not flip it and mop, not the best design, but as a kitchen vacuum, or for wood floors it is fantastic, but I still shake my head at the amounts of dirt that can be found daily.

Unlike many teachers I am looking forward to the start of school, as it brings order and calm to my house, my 9 and 6 year olds should not be home all day together for such long periods of time. They need the structure and stimulation that only school can give. Don't misunderstand me, I love them I have given them every single day of their lives, I have not missed one day, I have worked at home to be here with them and to not miss anything, and I am happy that I made that decision, I can always look back on these years without regret, but at the ages they are now, we all need our time apart. Todd told me the other day when we shake our heads at how big they are, that our time with Mason is half over....wha? half over , oh my he is right , by 18 she will be going off to full fill her dreams.I can not even imagine letting them go off into the world.

So off I go on my day off,

1. clothes laundry*gonna have to wait till tomorrow

2. wash sofa slipcovers*done

3.workout..to try and get slimmer for friends wedding*( done...3 miles on elliptical plus weights)

4. start fast*started

5. clean house*working on it

6.water plants*done

7. feed kids constantly throughout the day*they have been very self sufficient, thankfully

8.wipe many a tear*yep

9.give puppy medications, by jamming fingers down his throat*done

10. bring order to this summer house in prep for school*trying very hard

11. talk to Sophie's teacher about her allergies*done

12.clean up puppy pee???* just one so far

13. clean out playroom*put off for another day

14. weigh in.. most dreaded*did that , that was an eye opener

15. shop for special fasting beverage* done

16.return dress to Winners*done

17.Clean out under sink in master bedroom *done

18. drop off clothes to Goodwill*done

I know I am forgetting somethings...sound like a day off to you?

Lights for thought

So here I find myself offering up some nice pics from http://www.homedepot.ca/ for my sisters new house, which in her words needs lighting updating. I think any little girl would love this cream light fixture , with simple basic white lamp shades covered with trim and fantastic fabric,the square which can be mounted flush or hanging from the chain , makes a wonderful entry light or mounted flush lovely for a kitchen, the leafy one is very natural, myself , its too much , but spray painted in one tone would simplify it and show off the cut work of the metal, and shades of course, wicker or heavy linen, the other with the dripping glass beads, is so pretty and simple, beautiful for a bedroom, dining room, entry ,you name it its great.

A rug for many rooms

I found a great deal on a cotton rug yesterday , I had thought it would look great in my family room, but fear it will just become a big pee pad for our new puppy, it was 68% off so it was quite a steal, however it would easily suit the living room where it is now family room even dining room, where it would look great but drive me crazy with the chairs bunching it all up, I will retake a picture when the lighting is better, but I wanted to share. For sure I like the size of this rug much much better, the other sisal one was never intended for that room , it was just a standby.

The evolution of my bedroom

I just wanted to share some of things that I have done to update my bedroom over the last 6-8 months,

Funny how things

change , my original thought for this room was a mocha colour, which I tried some samples of just looked mucky and dreary, after finding this blue it gave me the calm feel I was after, but lacking that spark , on christmas eve I decided to see how some large bold stripes a few shades darker would look, loved them and too my surprise so did my other half.

After base coating this dresser and leaving it for over a year , I tackled faux finishing it, due to pottery barn inspiration, it was a lot of elbow grease but I love how it turned out, and its the smoothest item in my home, who would think I dresser could be tactile?

I finally found the right chair for my corner, a velvet brown comfy chair, for the occasional escape.

I first had cream linen drapes,drab, babyish, then I had brown mocha velvet drapes, they were fine but I longed for some stripes, I wanted silk, but at $500.00 seemed very greedy, so these at $60.00 for the pair, gave me the look of silk for a fraction of the cost.

For sure my room is feminine, but the drapes (which are blue and brown stipres)and chair and grey tones in the room add a bit of masculine , to tone down some of the sweet.Truth be told, I long for a pink bedroom, but I would never do that to Todd.Thankfully I have little girls, perhaps some day I will have an office and it Will be pink.

Pretty Things.....

Look at all the pretty things I saw today , can you believe I found an even more perfect bench than yesterdays, well I think I did, this one is button tufted and just slightly more than the pottery barn one and comfy, the island is so gorgeous, if I didn't have one, this would need to come home with me, even thought the steep price of over $4000.00 on it well worth the pennies, it has a marble top inlaid,and this chandelier is $995.00 on clearance , pink crystals it was over $2900.00 wouldn't that just be perfect in my dining room. well of course it would, but even a reasonable $995.00 before our hefty taxes are added is too much for my blood.

Trips

On Sunday we took an hour long drive to one of my favourite places Aberfoyle Antique Market near Guelph Ontario, it it one of the oldest, sadly I forgot my camera and we were too far off to turn around to get it , but I will go back at the end of September for the big show, and do a proper post. I was of course searching for a bench , found one, $55.00 in blue it would have been great , but it was too long to fit in our car or even our truck, we would have have to left someone behind, the dealer didn't offer delivery so it stayed behind. I did find these lovely brackets, which I thought would be nice inside but they will replace the small brackets under my window box, the perfect update.

For Mason we found an old cheque printer a ribbon writer, its the perfect colour and it works so lots of fun for the kids and its pretty too.

That was for the best because yesterday we went to another of my favourite places Pottery Barn, Todd and I agreed that the cosmo bench would be so nice for our dining room, its more than 10 x's the antique bench but a last forever type of piece. Very grown up as well, it was very comfortable with its rush seat.

I picked up lots of seaside supplies on clearance, all the shells , sand and stones were marked right down, I love to figure out the retail regular price I would've paid, $73.00 was the total, what I paid was $21.95 for the same thing, oh that makes me so happy. Now I get to play with some accessories today.

To sit or not to sit.

Benches ,benches ,as my dilemma continues with my dining room continues, I have great faith that the X back or Hampton chairs I ordered will be just what is needed to make me happy and update this space, but the table I have is long now but can be even longer with one more leaf, so I want to make the most of the available space for those rare occasions when we have dinner guests, I think we have had meals there 6 times in the last four years.........so a bench will fit the bill, allow plenty of kids to pile on , at least that is what I imagine, I sure wouldn't want to spend much time on a bench eating , but it looks cute. Maybe I will use the bench off to the side pile magazines, plates and baskets for table linens, but on occasion pull it up for additional seating, that is probably the best use.
I will pick up the simple bench to the in pine as it is $99.00 at IKEA, I will paint it, maybe add some details to spice it up a bit.

Although I would always choose shopping for my home over clothes, I tackled the daunting task of finding an outfit for my dear friends wedding coming up in two weeks,
of course my intention was to drop at least 10 pound but that hasn't happened, I haven't completely given up on trimming a few pounds of in what little time I have left.
It took about two hours and trying on about 10 different options but I found the perfect outfit, but most wonderful I found these shoes,, oh they are so nice and comfortable too, and this lovely shiny purse , which is vinyl, I love that its vinyl, it even has a little man and woman stitched on it , very appropriate.
They will be separated by lots of charcoal grey , and I think they go well, no not match , but go.

And the winner is ......

As the dining room saga continues...I have made a decision of sorts, I have ordered the x back chair, I love it I always have, and when I went searching Design inc's website I saw the room I have coveted for so long and said yes this I too must try, if they don't work I will return them.....now what to do with the 6 ladder back chairs, three of which I have really messed up...?

This is starting to feel like show and tell ....

I just had to show a picture of one of my favourite meals, dinner meals, thankfully my kids have grown to love it as well.Apple pancakes, my mom used to make them for dinner, not breakfast, perhaps this is why I would always choose breakfast for any meal , I love it all, all the breakfast foods. I even recall I time I was spending the day in bed sick as a child and mom asked what I wanted and this was what I knew would make me feel better. Ok I didn't make the batter from scratch like mom would , but I do use the mix that requires eggs and milk , so that should earn me some good points, as well I grate an entire apple and mix that in , and sprinkle each pancake with a healthy dose of cinnamon sugar.Yummy.

I found this print on Monday , I and hubby love this artist, the originals are very pricey so when I saw the print I didn't hesitate , I still haven't found a place for it , but I haven't tried very hard, I will.

The Toronto Zoo

I have very fond memories of visiting the zoo as a child, riding the zoomobile, which is quite expensive...but I have always love this zoo , so it is nice for me to bring my children to make some lasting memories for them as well.

This gorilla seemed to position himself for perfect photo ops....

That's nice "do not drink or touch this water" ...scarey.....I didn't notice that till right now.

Monday was one of the few days we booked off to spend doing a family day trip, we chose the zoo as it is always fun, but the weather couldn't have been gloomier , cold, even a touch of rain, but it didn't dampen the turn out at all,it was a great day for the zoo, the animals were not hiding so there were plenty to see.

There is an enormous dinosaur exhibit that was built in China ans shipped over to Canada, very impressive, and very interactive. All in all we had a good day and saw some of the world's beautiful animals we have the privilege to live so near by.

Wow what a nice suprise...

I am up way too early this morning, a young puppy to take out for the 1st of his umpteen outdoor visits to hopefully catch most of his bodily functions, its not going so well, and back to work from a four day weekend this morning, and I found a lovely surprise I have been featured on www.todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com, how wonderful and flattering for me. Kim thank you for all of your kind words.

Updates

On goes my dining room drama, I decided today to tackle painting the chairs a creamy white, but I am already worn out, it is such fiddly work, annoying, and the paint isn't wanting to stick, the pic of the chair on the floor is with three coats,so I have found two very nice options from sears, I like the curvier option which is twice as expensive as the x chair, which I have always loved , but find it a tad trendy. Oh what's a girl to do , now I have a bunch or chairs in a multitude of colours none of which I like.

I decided it was ok to give Mason who is entering grade 4 a few highlites for the new year , it went well, I even did foil at home with a kit , I asked Sophie if she wanted a few , she said nah! until she saw how Mason's turned out, then she was ready so I did 3 or 4 for Sophie, her's look very natural ,not as bold as for Mason, its fun.

Moe is growing like a weed, still pooping with no warning at all, but he loves to poop on our register vents, little bugger. He's lucky he's cute.