What's Going on in Your World?

It's November 16. It's sunny and cool outside, with a huge downpour in the forecast...must remember to clear basement floor in anticipation of the inevitable inches of water that will accumulate there.

I'm at the local library and my kids are playing happily for perhaps the first time today. Love the smell of this place...cleaning products and books...lots of them. I'm surrounded! Alternative medicine behind me, DVDs to my left, Automechanics and Farming to my right. The comfy easy chair by the fireplace is taken (boo!) so I'm sitting on a hard plastic chair.

I still haven't settled on what to have for dinner. We're completely and utterly broke (you know, when the mortgage comes out Friday, you don't get paid for another week, the needle on the fuel gauge is flirting with the "E", and you're out of milk, fruit, and bread?). Time to visit a financial advisor. What to do? Remortgage house to pay off all other little loans, then pay one big, predictable payment each month? Sell the homestead, move to the Arctic (the pay is great! isolation...not so much), and start anew? Continue living month to month in complete denial that being broke is actually the norm? So maybe just spaghetti for dinner, since I have all I need for this standby.

I'm excited that the library has Season 5 of Grey's Anatomy on DVD. I foresee an evening of finishing up my Advent crafts (exchange is on Thursday!), eating popcorn, and ogling Dr. Owen Hunt. Yes, he's my favourite. Dr. Sloan is just too...perfect, and slutty. And Dr. Shepherd? I can't forget him in "Can't Buy Me Love"...that, and he looks like a bad kisser (I don't give a damn how nice his hair is)!

My chickens are moulting. They look so pathetic and ugly! The number of eggs we're getting has dropped dramatically. Robin has renovated the duck barn to house both the ducks and the hens to save on heat in the winter...hopefully the number of bodies in there will keep them warm enough, in addition to a couple of heat lamps! Now we're trying to figure out how to round up the ducks, which are decidedly feral, aside from their hilarious sneak attacks on the hens' food. Ducks act subtle by waddling in an awkward herd, quacking in absolute terror. This happens daily.

That's today's update. I know your life isn't as thrilling as mine.

Thanks to the world wide web for the photos!

Livingroom Re-Do

In a fit of energy, one 13-hour burst, I painted our livingroom this past weekend. I can hear your envious thoughts: she is truly a super mom! She knits and sews AND singlehandedly paints her livingroom with her three kids around? Wow! I could never do that!

Let's be honest here. None of us is Super Mom. And all of us are. We're having a party this weekend, and I decided it was time to paint the livingroom that has sat untouched for 2 years, overrun with children and their messes (and wall scribbles), walls bare of pictures, bookshelves stuffed with any crap I found lying around. My dear husband entertained the kids in the attic (a picnic? in the attic? FUN!), made a fire outside for them to roast marshmallows, and sustained me with tea when the sky got dark and I couldn't move my arm anymore.

It was a daunting task, certainly not one for the faint-of-heart. But, having laboured and birthed three times, I face jobs like this with a "Pfft...I can do this!" attitude. It was exhausting, but it was worth it.

The playroom/front corner BEFORE:

And AFTER:

The livingroom/back corner BEFORE:

And AFTER:

We're now considering getting rid of the TV all together, as I find it doesn't fit in this newly freshened space. It feels like a place for knitting, reading, conversing, cuddling, listening to books on tape and music, and cozying up for the coming winter. It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it. Now, I just need a few months' rest, and I can tackle my kitchen!

The colour is Benjamin Moore's "Cedar Green"...if you're a local friend, I have an extra, unopened gallon up for sale (best offer!). It's high-quality paint, and does not require priming!

Please visit my sister's blog to read a loving tribute to our mother on her 65th birthday...see if you can pick me out in that photo from the 80s!