A year in pictures

Happy New Year!!  I will be back to blogging shortly, but in the meantime...here is our year in pictures, one photo for each month.  Well..plus a few others just because!



                                                 Our dog will do anything for a cookie!

 Devin's first time on a diving board

Boardwalk at the beach in March.

My first handmade prim bowl rack.

Sandy Cove Lighthouse

See that thing almost in the middle of the photo?  It is a golden eagle - a rare sight in Nova Scotia!  And it was HUGE!

A tea party.

Holding Peggy's Cove lighthouse in my hand..it is amazingly light!

Devin and Robyn having a photo shoot.

Pink lady slipper.

Nice garden gate

AAA!! It's the kraken!!

Rosy maple moth

USS Wasp, at the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy.

Lunenburg

Relaxing!

2 naughty sailors.

Hurricane Earl aftermath.

Sunset

A good day of sea glassing!

Surprise from my brother, sister in love and niece and nephew for Christmas! My guy, Jeremy and my nephew Dylan ( Jer is in the red check coat, Dylan is in front) were inseparable



Merry Christmas and my early Christmas gift!

Well, I was planning on posting more photos of my home and so on and so forth for Christmas..but something quite wonderfully unexpected happened to us this week, and I have not had time to blog or take pictures. Or get my baking done.  Or all my presents wrapped, and presents made.

But you know what?  It doesn't matter.. because I got the present and surprise of my life on Saturday!!  We were out collecting sea glass early Saturday afternoon, and when I got home, I walked in the door and bent down to put my bag of sea glass down and heard a male voice say, "Hello!".  I looked up, and standing there in front of me was my brother and his family!!  They drove all the way from Ontario to spend Christmas with us!!  Lots of crying tears of happiness and hugs and kisses ensued.  My sneaky family knew about this for a month, and I had no clue! 

I also got the awesome news that my brother accepted Jesus a few weeks ago!!  Thank You Lord!  He and I are both struggling through varying degrees of depression/panic and anxiety disorders, so I am taking him down to the seashore to let him just breathe in that sea air and see the power of the ocean which sort of makes you either ponder things or forget about them for a time.  It is so nice to be able to sit and talk with him and spend time with Sarah and get caught up.  I love hanging out with my niece and nephew..yesterday we took them to York Redoubt and let them roll down the embankments of the fort.  We have been geocaching and just having fun hanging around.  We are all so blessed to have each other!

I will not have much time to post before Christmas, but hope to be back at it next week.  Right now, it more important to spend time with the wonderful gifts God has blessed me with.

So I am wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas...may God bless each one of you as you spend time with your families and friends!

Joy Swap

I recently participated in a Christmas swap, and oh how I love to take part in swaps, and this time of year it is even more exciting!  Carrie and Monica always have such great ideas for swaps, and ask such perfect questions, and always seem to know just who to pair each person up with.  This year, I was paired up with Carrie at Reading to Know, and I think we were the perfect pair!!  If you check out her blog, you will see that she does a Lucy Maud Montgomery reading challenge, and sincee I live in Nova Scotia, Anne of Green Gables is very close to my heart.  In fact, the first blog post she read of mine was about the TV show "Road to Avonlea" which she also enjoys!  And we both really like things that are moose related!  And oh my gosh, does she love to read or what!!!  Her blog is so incredibly fun and interesting and if you like to read, it is book heaven!  As well as getting glimpses into her life and her family, which is wonderful.  I am so incredibly blessed to have her as my swap partner!

I was very angry at my mail man this week.  I actually met him down at the superboxes at the end of our road, and he politely said hello, and took off.  As I opened my mailbox, there was a delivery notice...and he hadn't even been to my house to knock on my door!!  I didn't have a vehicle that day....so that meant I had to wait until later in the evening when my dh could pick it up at the post office.  Plus we had a horrible storm that day, and power was out everywhere, and I just held my breath all day wondering how I would last until that box arrived.  As soon as Mike walked through the door we all huddled around the box, and oohed and ahhed as I pulled the things out of the tissue paper

She sent me an iron moose soap holder, which I am going to have to hide from a friend of mine, as she loves moose also.  And some moose themed potholders as well!  I love moose!  Since the theme was "JOY" she sent me some napkins and notecards with "joy" on them.  I love snowmen and she sent me some gift tags to include on the items I make for people.  I will have to make something for myself so I can keep one!  I love candles and anything primitive, so she sent me a really nice candle and star shaped holder, and also a picture frame which is perfect for a stitchery I am working on. 

There were also some peppermint chocolates which I shared with my daughter, Robyn.  Let me tell you..I wished I didn't share, they were really good!  And there is a really nice "Joy" ornament which is now hanging on the door of my hoosier.  That will serve as my reminder each day to pray for Carrie and think about her.

Wow, I am just so blessed and so thrilled to meet another "Anne" fan!  The other really cool thing is the fact that Carrie and her husband were both homeschooled, right through high school, and I so appreciate getting her opinion on things, since we are also home schooling through high school.  Thank you so much Carrie...I will be in touch soon and keeping my eyes out for anything Anne for you!  And yes...participating in the reading challenge!

Thank you so much Carrie and Monica for hosting this again! To see what other swappers recived and gave, please visit Carrie's blog

Hoosier cabinet rescue!

Back in July, while catching up on email, an email landed in my inbox from someone on Freecycle. The subject was "Offer: Antique Kitchen Cabinet".  I sat looking at the screen and debating this, thinking that of course, I would be too late to get in on this.  Not to mention the fact that I had no clue what they meant by "antique kitchen cabinet".  I mean, it could have been anything.  However, a voice inside my head told me to email that I was interested, so I sent off an email saying that I would take it and could pick it up the next day, if they would consider me. I didn't care about the condition of it.  I always like to chat a bit with other Freecyclers, and to let them know why I would like the item they are offering. 

I wasn't the first person who had emailed this lady about the cabinet, but I was the one who seemed to be most genuinely interested in it, and didn't set demands that it be delivered, etc.  She offered it to me right then and there.

So, the next morning I sent my darling husband off to work, and he picked up the cabinet on his way in.

Imagine my shock, my astonishment, my head over heels, cartwheeling joy to find out that the cabinet was indeed this:

A HOOSIER!!!!  A real genuine Hoosier!!  In rough shape, bashed up, old paint and grime all over it, mutiple layers of a gross crackle finish, pieces missing, and boards warping.  And then to find the original metal Knechtel's of Hanover (Ontario) metal label on it!  Pure joy!!  Plus it has the flour bin!!

I have wanted a Hoosier for as long as I can remember.  Going to antique markets and drooling over them, eyes popping at the over $1000.00 price tags.  Praying to come into some money that didn't have to go to repair a leaky roof, or leaky car!  Watching the Walton's and thinking how lucky they were to have a Hoosier.  And God blessed me...He blessed me with my very own...and it was for free!!!

Mike got it home, and boy, it smelled old and yucky.  There were cobwebs and hours of stripping and scraping and elbow grease.  We started in July, and we were interrupted many times, while the hoosier sat and I dreamt of it sitting in my kitchen.

It is finally done!  It is missing the roll top which should be on the front where the bread box is ( my tea box!) , and has a brand new back, and some of the wood cabinet fronts had bubbled up.  But it is done! I am not planning on using the flour sifter at this point, since I really don't know if there might be lead in it, or what it was used for before.  So it is there for the history of it.

 It is painted with Homestead House milk paint in cranberry.  And I used Tried and True Original Wood Finish to protect it.  I hand rubbed it on, as a brush made it too thick.  It is a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax, and it gives it such a nice finish and I love the smell of it.  It was nice to be able to use non toxic paint and finishes on it, especially since I had to do it in our school and computer area!

I love that the enamel top pulls right on out and then I can push it back in again when I am not using it.  I now have a nice spot to also keep all my cookbooks and have set this up as my baking area.

I can never say enough good things about Freecycle!  And I am so thankful that God placed me in the right place at the right time to be able to make one of my dreams come true!

Simplify..others make it look so easy!

Sorry no photos this time!  I am all tucked into bed and have a lot on my wee mind tonight.  Trying to stave off anxiety issues before they start seems to just make me anxious.You know, I just don't get it.  I read a wide variety of blogs. Living simply is something I really strive to do, but miss the mark most of the time.

 Right now my house is chaotic as we have containers of Christmas stuff waiting to be brought out.  I have boots and shoes clogging the entryway to our house.  I have a huge project ( finishing a large piece of antique furniture which is intimidating me!) set up throughout my entire school/office area.  There are crafts and sewing piles not to mention school papers everywhere, waiting for me to shift somewhere else so I can continue working away at them.  I have photos to select and print out for Christmas gifts.  Christmas gifts to make, cards to write, baking, etc.

  I am overwhelmed to the point where I do not know where to begin or how to go about doing it.  I am stuck and burned out!  That doesn't include trying to get homeschooling done ( not too thrilled with myself in this department!) and church activities.  I am so tired  and getting frustrated that I have to get things done for others first, that it is affecting my whole family.  At this time of year why can I not put my family and the things we enjoy first?  Especially spending time with God?  It seems that the more we try to switch to a simpler lifestyle  the more overwhelmed I feel.  Though there are steps we have taken that have made life a little more easy to manage, I have a lot more to learn.  Others make it seem so..well...simple!!  I guess this is a work in progress.

Next prim project

I just deleted some of the photos I was going to post here today, but now am left with only one!  Oh well!  Today has been a mixed bag sort of day.  I am under the weather and not feeling well, and outside the weather seems to be echoing how I am feeling.  It is sunny one minute, rainy the next, cold and windy.  This morning as I dragged my weary self in to take my dh to work, we saw a rainbow.  That was a great blessing to me today, and a sure fire, honest to goodness symbol to me that God is here, He is in control and He is not going anywhere.  I am so thankful for that! 

I have been working away, ever so slowly on some Christmas gifts.  This is the latest, last night these guys got stuffed, sewn back up, and today they had a dip in my coffee/cinammon/vanilla bath to age them a bit.  Betcha think they are going to be gingerbread men..but you will just have to wait and see!  The old windows in the background are another project waiting patiently for me to have the time.  They sure need a good clean!  As I was carrying the clothes dryer to set up, a wooden bar broke off, so I am left with a topsy turvy place to dry these guys for now!

A Bird in the Hand

The following is something I wrote for our weekly church email/reminder notice which is my responsibilty to send out.  I usually write a little something to go along with weekly event updates.  I was reminded of this email as I was outside this morning, the chickadees were all eating out of my hand today, it was amazing!  I am going to try and get photos of this, but it is awfully hard when you are having to pretend you are a tree!  Today was such a warm sunny day, it was hard to get my head around the fact that it is fall and not early spring!  All photos are taken by my daughter, Robyn.

 The other day when I was feeling really down, I decided that enough was enough, and I got to work and went outside to fill the bird feeders.  Those blue jays are going to bankrupt me, they eat everything in sight!  As I filled one of the feeders I had a chickadee flitting around me, landing on the feeder on and off and just sort of looking at me, trying to figure me out ( don't even try, Mr. Chickadee!)  So I scooped out a handful of seeds,  held my hand out, and stood there, ever so still, until my arm just about dropped off, and throbbed and ached.  And this tiny little chickadee flew down, landed on the branch beside me, and even though the full feeder was right there, he hopped on my hand and took the seeds out of it, instead of from the safety of the feeder.  Wow, it was really not much more than holding air, it was so fragile, but it was so trusting of me!

It just sort of made me think ( and I am always thinking of how to relate things to my Christian walk) about how God is holding His hand out to me, when I need Him, or when He has something for me to do.  I flit about and hop from spot to spot, wondering, and often times worrying, and feeling not too sure about things.  And there are so many other things that distract me that it would be much easier  to give in to and take my time up with ( like the full bird feeder).  But the sweetest and the best things are right in God's strong hand.  The other day, even though my arm ached and my hand cramped, I was not giving up on that tiny bird.  And God doesn't give up on us either.  He patiently waits until we have the faith to trust Him and do what He asks.   And then He gives us a big smile and a hug as we take off again, knowing that we have found that trust and that faith that will bring us back to hang out with Him, just because we want to snuggle and talk with Him.

Matthew 6:26 (GOD’S WORD Translation)

 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

Many moods of the ocean

Today is such a gorgeous sunny day!  After the many dark days of rain and fog, it is so nice to see the world seem to come back to life again! Last night when I was outside, I could hear this rather odd roaring sound, like a jet fighter in the distance.  I realized it was the waves out on the ocean crashing and rolling in on the rocks!  Quite amazing!  So I thought I would shares some of the photos we have taken of the many moods of the Atlantic Ocean.  And of course, just realized that many of my photos are on a memory stick at my husband's work right now, so I don't have a lot of the really stormy seas.


Tall ship coming into Halifax last summer.

 A nice day for a sail, lots of wind, but the seas are calm.

Tide pool at Peggy's Cove.

Crystal Crescent beach in early spring ( 10 minutes from our house)

Waves off Duncan's Cove.  The day we were here, a friend of ours was coming over the rocks and a wave came in and knocked him off his feet.  Luckily he was in a protected cove!

Our beach after Hurricane Earl.

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, on a terribly cold and windy day.  There are signs like this everywhere.  Last week, a 27 year old man was washed off the rocks there and is now presumed dead, they have not found any trace of him.  Two police officers also fell in trying to save him.  People do not respect the power of the ocean.  A rogue wave can hit at any time.  During Hurricane Bill last year, the waves were over the top of Peggy's Cove lighthouse, yet still people stood too close to the edge and some were washed off, but luckily they were pushed back in again. 

Peggy's Cove on a calm day, where you can see the endless blue of the ocean, fading into the sky.

A view from the end of our driveway,  taken last winter, with Sambro Island Lighthouse in the far distance.

Swimming after the hurricane left, our first summer here.

Looks tropical, doesn't it?  Truth be told, it is so cold it hurts to get in!!

Ahhh, missing summer already!

This is the second tallest ship in the world, from Russia.  I cannot spell the name to save my life, but trust me..it is very Russian!  The mast at the front of the ship broke off during a storm in the Caribbean.  Such a wonderful day to set sail, the seas were so calm, despite the breeze.

Blue skies at Crystal Crescent.

Road to Avonlea

I love Road to Avonlea, and I am so excited that it is on every single day of the week here in Nova Scotia.  I recently signed out An Avonlea Christmas ( also titled "Merry Christmas, Miss. King) http://www.roadtoavonlea.com/anne-of-green-gables/an-avonlea-christmas and have watched it almost everyday ( shhh..sometimes even twice a day!) since I have had it out! It is heart warming and wonderfully done.  I am also excited now to see that they have a new DVD out about the filming of the series, most of which was filmed in Ontario, and not far from where we lived. http://www.roadtoavonlea.com/blogs/category-travel/item/303-behind-the-scenes-video-of-avonlea-village .  Every time the series on TV comes up to the last show of the series, I always cross my fingers that they will start back from the beginning again, and so far, they have!  I think I have seen every episode now about 4 times, but it never grows old.  ( Although I am sure the boys in this house would argue with that statement!)

Finally the rain has stopped!

Oh my goodness, it has rained steadily here for 7 days!  Not passing showers or the odd cloud burst...I mean drenching, torrential rain! In fact, some parts of Nova Scotia have been flooded and bridges have been washed away.  Thankfully, we have been okay here, thanks to the french drains we have dug around our house and under parts of our long driveway. After such a dry, hot summer, this rain has been very welcome!  It certainly looks as if autumn is indeed here to stay, and we have seen the last of our warmish temperatures for a while.  It depresses me actually, the thought of days and days of cold, damp weather, slush, tricky driving and colds and flu really outweigh the frosty, clear sparkly sunshiney days that winter brings.  I have generalized anxiety disorder, and I find winter is really hard to endure.  But God is good and He will be my Light in the long days ahead.  I will write about life with GAD sometime.

It has been extremely windy here today, wind gusts are up to 80 km an hour.  As we are only using one van for the time being, I thought I would walk down to get the mail this morning, after the rain finally stopped.  It was cold, damp and the wind just howled through the wires and the bare trees branches.  There are no leaves in sight any longer, and the larch are losing their needles and are a dreary shade of yellow.  Funny, how can yellow be dreary?  Trust me, when in your head everything should be sky blue and vibrant green, the colour of these larch are dreary at best!  I could actually see down the road to the lighthouse in the distance, it is the first time I have seen the lighthouse in a week!  I could see that the ocean was very rough and I could see the huge waves from here.  It will soon be lobster season, and I can't even imagine going to sea in some of the little boats they go out on on days like this.

The rest of the day was spent in school work, we are starting a study of Australia, which we are looking forward to.  We had candles lit all day, as it was so dark, and it really helped to cozy up the house.  After school was finished I made a raspberry apple crisp as well as roast chicken for supper. I decided to do my dishes by candlelight tonight which I read about on Katy's blog.  It is something I have only done when we have been camping, and it was nice and really peaceful.  I do need a couple more candles for around the sink though, it was a tad on the dark side, but fun just the same.  I looked forward to doing the dishes all day for the simple reason being that I was planning on washing the dishes by candlelight!

I am currently trying to figure out what I am making for my our families for Christmas, and I need to get a move on, as I need to get them out soon.  I am trying to make as much as I can, as it is so much more personal and original, but I have gotten myself overwhelmed with ideas, so I am hoping to make some lists tomorrow and get myself more co ordinated and not so stressed.  If anyone has any good sites for handmade gifts, I would love to see them! 

Primitive ladies in waiting and a makeover

I love primitives...I love anything old, distressed and well loved.  Something with a history, something that has been treasured and has a story to tell.  I find primitive decorating to be so warm, cozy and welcoming.  I have started to incorporate more primitive items and decor into our home, but need to be careful it doesn't become too cluttered, as that defeats the warm and welcoming purpose.

  I enjoy craft shows and have found that yes, indeed, I can make most of the items I have seen all by myself!  A magazine I enjoy is Create and Decorate, which has many patterns and instructions for making a variety of primitive and country themed crafts.  I cannot wait until it comes out every month, I literally beeline it and run for the magazine section!

I really love raggedy dolls, I have very fond memories of my own raggedy Anne dolls, and I thought I would try my hand at making some.  I actually started doing this last year, and now make them for friends and am hoping to get enough made to be able to sell them one day.  So the other day we started out like this....

And after coffee staining, painting, sanding, stitching, fitting them in dresses and 'loons, we have 4 dolls who each have their own personality.  One has quite a wonky nose...and lesson learned,  I need to start sewing the nose at the bottom and work up!

Devin loves the ones with the big noses, I really think they are sweet!  I don't like extreme prim dolls...you know, the ones where their eyes are popping off and they look like something from a Tim Burton movie.  These 4 are for dear friends of mine...and each is named after each friend, and on the back of the label I wrote a different Scripture.  I also made a sea glass  pendant for each of these, but they are not in this photo. 

And now for the makeover...  Mike found this desk at the side of the road and scooped it up for me. It was in rough shape, but I loved the look of it!

A couple of coats of black spray paint and it looked like this, but it was not as prim as I wanted it.

I sprayed an off white paint on top of this...disaster....the paint was not good and was very runny and drippy and did not cover properly.  This was a Krylon latex paint, and I have used it successfully before, but this time, 2 cans were more like silly string!  I envisioned a long visit with my sander and since the weather has gotten really cold, most of this type of work needs to wait until spring when I can get outside to do the sanding again.

So, I started sanding and really liked the look I was getting.  Once it was done, I stained it with Minwax antique walnut stain.  I bought some cast iron barn star drawer pulls, got my dh to tighten things up, and this is the final result.... 

I am using it as a kitchen island, something I have always wanted, and this fits the bill!  It really doesn't match the wood in my kitchen but I love it, and I can keep baking things in the drawers.  I plan on painting a scene on the back, which faces our table, when I have more time and have found the perfect picture for it.  The shortening container underneath is what I use to keep my newspapers in.

So there you have it, just a couple of projects that have been fun to do!  I have more dolls to make, I find them to be really relaxing to create, and I am just about to finish painting a hoosier cupboard which I found for free on freecycle....amazing!  My husband has been so busy working on it and I hope to get it completed in the next week or so.  Pictures to follow when it is finished!