Welcome September!

Now don't get me wrong - I love summer. And by summer, I mean June. By August, although I love the warm weather and wearing sandals and eating at outdoor cafes, some of the pleasure of summertime pursuits has worn off. It's TOO hot. Seriously, it's 39C with the humidex. (That's 102F to my American friends). And the flies, the flies, the flies. Not much of an imposition in the City, but our poor horse is suffering. He has lost weight, even though he is getting supplemental feed, wears a fly blanket and boards inside overnight. Poor Vegas!


Poor sad boy.

At this time of year, I start dreaming of a nice hard frost and nice sunny fall days. And the decorating - the decorating is my favourite kind of decorating! The colours are warm and cozy and natural. There are only two things I DO NOT like about fall are:
1.) it precedes winter. AND winter is very long in my neck of the woods.
2.) Fall vegetables. Blech. Need I say more? Parsnips. Shudder. Squash. Barf. Brussels sprouts. EEWW. And the worst fall vegetable of all is (drum roll, please) turnip. I could barely type the words. Luckily Jack agrees with me on most of the veggies. My kids, however, have been deprived of theses vegetables. Oh well. Life goes on.

What I love about fall is....DECORATING! Big surprise, I know! Lots of cozy colours, pumpkins and football. And I can't forget - the fall Parade of Homes in my city.
What's not to like?

More to follow.


Nadine

Desperately Seeking...

No, definitely not Desperately Seeking Susan (if you automatically thought of this cheesy 80s movie starring Madonna, you're at least as old as I am!)
I am actually desperately seeking chalkboard paint. Look at these beautiful inspiration shots from Canadian House & Home magazine...




Be still my heart.

I am not simply jumping on the latest hot trend. In the 90s I painted a small chalkboard on The Creative One's bedroom wall (notice the film theme and you may also notice I am STILL the skilled photographer I have always been).


I later painted that entire wall with the chalkboard paint, and the other walls in his room in alternating colours (purple, sunshine yellow and lime green - the ceiling was royal blue because he wanted his room to look like the Silver City movie theatre complex in our city). I obliged which probably makes me Mother of the Decade!

So back to chalkboard paint. I loved it before and now I want to use it in our condo. I thought I would paint my entire powder room in it - cool right? And what about my old ugly kitchen backsplash - I saw the idea to paint the backsplash in the July/Aug 2010 issue This Old House magazine which featured the blog condo-blues.blogspot.com. Super cool!

All I need is the damn chalkboard paint! Why am I cussing, you ask?

Because, while there are several different products available, if you look online,
(it even comes in spray paint!) it appears to be a rare commodity in my town...

Since I live within walking distance of a paint store (ICI), I went over and asked if they carried the paint. Not only did they NOT carry the paint, the clerk told me all I needed was FLAT BLACK regular latex paint to achieve the same result!!!!!!!!!!! Notice all the exclamation points! Seriously! This is not my first time at the rodeo dude! Can you imagine if someone actually TOOK this advice (why is the question mark not working on my keyboard) All I'm getting is ÉÉÉÉÉ. If I was a DIY newbie and actually did this - I would seriously be ÉÉÉÉÉÉ all over them!

[Ok, so I talked to The Creative One and he told me I had my keyboard in Canadian French - problem all fixed for now.]

Back to the problem at hand. So I took myself down to the local hardware store - McDiarmid's - and no luck either. Ditto for Walmart. So it was time to go down to the big orange box- yes, you heard me - Home Depot (heavenly lights go on) and guess what - THEY didn't have it either! What is the world coming to? This is a trend that is in ALL the magazines, but you CAN'T BUY IT IN WINNIPEG!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!

But I still have Rona and Benjamin Moore to try out. I was trying to avoid Benjamin Moore because of the price point, but at this rate, folks, I may have no other choice.

I'll let you know how it goes.....






Nadine

Like Watching Paint Dry, but Worse

So yes, I have been AWOL for a while. I know you missed me. Summer called and I have been enjoying the hot beach weather. I promise I will be back in full force this fall with lots of new projects.
This summer we have been working on our powder room. Veerry sloooowly, working on the powder room. Under the heading "Jack must do everything the most hardest way possible", after ripping out the old light fixture, he was left with holes in the drywall which needed to be taped and mudded over with drywall compound. Since he has placed a lifetime ban on me EVER touching the stuff (in my defense, did a few goopy messes really ever hurt anyone?), I now must wait until he has patched the holes, sanded them down and declared the room fit to paint.

Ok, fine, UNTIL he opened up the leftover compound and found - a soupy mess. Why? We'll never know. SO what would a reasonable person do? Go buy a new jug? (I suggested; he rejected). Go buy a box of dry compound and add it to said goopy mess? (I suggested; he rejected). What is he doing instead? LEAVING THE LID OFF AND LETTING IT DRY OUT. SERIOUSLY. I mean that is really cheap-ass. I have been accused of being cheap-assed in my lifetime, but THIS, THIS is seriously cheap-assed. So that is why I do not have a finished room to show you.
THIS is what I have to show you:

Notice the open drywall compound bucket. Notice the red lid balancing on the tissue box and the starfish. Notice the dust everywhere. Sigh. At least he works cheaply. If not quickly.

Finished room coming soon (I hope!).

Nadine

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Today, the Creative One turns 23 years old. So hard to believe that someone so young as moi can have a son that age. ;P

Here are the top 10 things you should know about Andrew (had to narrow it down cuz there were so many more)!

10. Was the world's happiest baby. And he's STILL witty and charming.

9. He's always loved wheels...

but now they look like this:

8. He's very smart.
7. He's a snappy dresser. (he's gonna kill me)


6. He's got the moves. Let's do the time warp again....


5. He likes animals-especially cats and horses.

4. He's the godfather of this beautiful little girl - Noelle.

3. He created this awesome music website all by himself.

2. He loves to holiday.

1. He's beautiful inside and out and his father and I become prouder of him everyday.

Happy Birthday, Andrew! Hope this is your best year EVER!!!!!


Mom

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all Canadians - whether you are at home or abroad!







And a special shout out to the Horsey Girl, who is celebrating this Canada Day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, working as a groom for a polo player.



Have a great day!


Nadine

images via google

Happy Father's Day

My dad - I miss him every day!


My kids and their dad!

Happy Father's Day to all the great fathers out there, and all the lucky people who call them "Dad"!




Nadine

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die...

I have a blue house with a blue window.
Blue is the colour of all that I wear.
Blue are the streets and all the trees are too.
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue.
Blue are the people here that walk around,
Blue like my corvette, it's standing outside.
Blue are the words I say and what I think.
Blue are the feelings that live inside me.

I'm blue da ba dee da ba die...Now I'm going to have that song by Eiffel 65 on my mind ALL DAY! Serves me right! Here's a link if you want to sing along with me...

I love the colour blue. My husband's eyes are a deep gorgeous blue, I chose the colour for my wedding china, my bedding is currently blue and usually has been throughout the years and even my living room furniture is blue. Even Jack loves blue - it's also the colour of his car - and the BMW logo! So I was thrilled when I popped into my Benjamin Moore retailer and found a quart-sized mistint in the most delightful grey-blue called Iced Slate (2130-60) for $4. You heard me. Four bucks.
I decided the first thing I would paint was the feature wall above the kitchen island/wall.

Notice I gathered all necessary equipment before I started - this includes a flattened fish box and suntan lotion.


Ooh - it's a pretty blue. And it took all of 10 minutes to paint it. Now what to hang there?

How about this tile hand-painted in Rincon de Guayabitos, Mexico? We watched the artist paint it with his fingers, and it's also the view from our hotel.


maybe add a blue plate?


Go for a contrasting colour scheme and hang the only thing I have from my great-grandmother, Jennie?

Hmmm, none of these options is really big enough to "hold" the wall. I'm going to need a combination of things....time to go shopping!


I'm also planning on painting the island cupboards in grey. And I love how the countertop looks black in this photo. It's actually stainless steel ( a brilliant idea from Jack) but I will eventually
get black granite in the kitchen.

Hope you have a great weekend- you know where I'll be - cha ching!!!!


Nadine