Sylvia's Simple Shots

The first snow arrived this week.

It was not much but it is time if there will be snow to protect the plants and provide moisture in the spring.

The guy with the bike has been through.  With the snow he has left evidence of his passing.  I have seen him a couple of times but he goes by more often than I thought.

The Firebrand by Susan Wiggs is the book I finished this week. This novel is set in Chicago in the 1870s. The central historical event is the great fire of October 1871. 

Lucy Hathaway was at a party and decided to flirt with a married man. On her way home that night she could see a warm glow in the distance and as she gets closer she can see fire.  Chaos reigns as you can imagine. Many people died, buildings burned and countless people were left homeless.  As she passes at hotel, a baby is tossed from an upper window and Lucy catches it as it falls. The building those inside are lost.  When she approaches her home she sees that she has lost her home as well. 

Her mother, Lucy and the baby start over.  She sets up a bookstore and the child grows. The parents of the baby are distraught, the father is badly burned and hospitalized for a good while.  When he recovers his marriage has ended and his baby girl is gone! He must pick up the pieces and carry on.  

He does well in banking and five years later Lucy meets the man from the party as the bank manager who will decide about her bank loan. A photo on his desk of a baby girl makes her realize that this is the father of "her daughter".  The romantic plot is predictable.  Susan is a good author and it was a good read.

I did a lot of work on sorting out what neutrals I could use to paint furniture in my place.  I generally, prefer natural wood tones with clear finish or tung oil.  I have a bench that my Mom made for me which was painted pink for the place I had in the 1980s. Now I would like to change that color. 

These are the colors I have selected that would coordinate with the floor, the counter in the kitchen and the Queen Ann Lace paint on the walls. Love that color.

I have chosen Intellectual for the stool and will paint that when I have time in then next few months.  I have chosen BEHR brand because I can get it locally.

It was a good week at the thrift shops this week.  There are several I visit on a trip to the city.

I picked up this Stampin Up stamp set called Papillon Potpourri.  Papillon is butterfly in French.

With my commitment to butterfly cards for IWin this will add another piece to my options to make cards for this charity.

I do not have the butterfly punch that coordinates but stamping them on tags or circles or label punchies will work.

There also a good variety of sizes as well in the set.

I got rid of all my large plates from my turquoise dishes before I moved.  I knew I would have less space but I did not understand how small the lunch plates were.

I found this set of white glass dishes at MCC this week. Two of each dinner plate, luncheon plate and soup bowl and all stack nicely.  They fit nicely in the bit of space I had in the cupboard.

I have misplaced my timer for the grow light in the office to keep my plants alive in winter. 

In a bag of electrical things I found 2 Westinghouse timers which are way easier to use than the old push clip version.

I replaced both the one in the bedroom that turns on my Starry Night Light an hour in the evening.  The grow light comes on for 3 hours in the morning before it gets light outside.

I can leave my curtains open now that snow has accumulated next to the fence. We have snowbanks there now the the bike man is no longer going by.

The plants I hope will survive and eventually thrive.

I replaced the outlet extender in the living room which is designed to go behind furniture so the plugs can have a lower profile. 

With the new extender, I get 3 plugs, I can still plug something in the lower plugin, and I can use the front facing one for the vacuum. 

Very happy with these upgrades all for $5.

I found this cutting mat with something stuck to it. I was not sure I would be able to remove it but I took a chance.  It was likely white glue and with a bit of soaking it all came right off. 

Now I have a cutting mat for the craft room and I know where it goes back to.

I have been on the look out for a couple more cobalt blue water glasses and the fit the bill.

When I got them home though and washed them I see that they have some dishwasher damage on them. 

I will continue to look.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 
I was treated to seeing the kitchen cupboards painted on Dec 31st!   I am very happy with the color.

I picked up the 30 hinges I needed to replace the bronze ones that were on the brown cupboards.

These are chrome and will go much better with the grey color of the cabinets.

I managed to get a better price of $2.00 each at another supplier than the big box store.

Another great read from Patrick Taylor.  An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea.

This was a great book.  The story alternated with Dr. Fingal O'Reilly's earlier medical career and a more modern time where new doctors are joining the practice and Dr. Barry Laverty is a partner in the practice.

We finally find out what happened to his first wife. How they met, their love affair, their married life and how he loses her.  There have been vague mentions of her in past books and here we find out a lot more about Deirdre.

Donal is up to his antics as usual.

Loved the book!

New Year's Eve was a quiet night with the TV running the fireplace video.

My last glass of egg nog.

It was an early night as things have been hectic between the renovations and family celebrations.

Share Your Cup #202

I bought these molds this week because they were yellow and I did not have any of them in my Tupperware collection.  As you can see by the second photo I have been duped.  These are not Tupperware!! But very good copies.  The color is great so they will stay.

I thought I would post an update to my herb garden in a pot.  They are growing. The dill in the centre and the cilantro are doing well.  The very skinny chives in the back are going to be a long while before I see something I can eat.  The other on the left is basil which is quite a bit behind as well.  I don't have the natural talent my mother and sister have.  I will be patient.

I recently came across a large collection of these glass ornaments in red, blue, white, silver and glitter.  They are the same size as others I  had to I decided to keep a few to supplement my photos in future particularly during the holidays.  I will be sending the rest to the second hand store for the next person to think they are cool!

Peeling paint on the side of a sea container parked at a construction site during my walk this week.  I like to have a variety of textures to use as backgrounds in my projects and the color was just right.

I'm working on owls for one of my calendar projects so I have researched a lot of patterns on-line to see what I would like to make.  This is the closest I have found but it needs some changes to fit my idea so I will get the pencil out and start redrawing it.  Keep an eye for the project later on this year. 

Linking with Sharing Your Cup #202 hosted by Carol at Art & Sand.

How To: Printing Flowers with Pop Bottle

I did this activity at Easter during the girls get together with my Mom at Easter.  I see I had not blogged it so here it is.

Here is my original inspiration.

I wanted card sized flowers so I chose a smaller bottle.  I used recycled paper from a calendar so it was earthly friendly activity.  I dipped the end of the bottle in the pink paint and printed it on my white paper.  I used the bottle lid for the flower center. I painted the stems and leaves with a paint brush.  Once dry, I spattered them with silver paint.

You can check out my Card Club cards on Monday to see the final look.