Paisley Pillows & Wild Sunflowers

Well my last post was about my messy house. I ought to redeem myself. We had an open house on Sunday, as the landlords are trying to sell it still. The combination of the looming open house, and the fact that my house was messy, and the fact that I am starting to jump into 'nesting' gear, created a crazy women out of me. I wasn't just cleaning, I was decluttering, sorting, and, well, getting hot and mad. It was 33 degrees yesterday afternoon, and I ran around cleaning and sorting like crazy for 5 hours straight.

I sorted through a bunch of kitchen cupboards, threw away a whole bunch of stuff, organized and moved all my baking ingredients and removed junk off my counters. It always seems we have at least one basket or drawer full of things that have no home. It's so hard to sort through this, because simple put, these items have no where to go!! Very annoying.

After David got home from work (another working Sunday, sigh) we left to get out of the house before people arrived to see it. We got pillows. Paisley pillows. David hates them, but there were others he hated more, so it's basically a compromise.

Standing in the pillow aisle I had picked out two sets of different pillows. He said they were ugly. I said he didn't know what he was talking about. I said that between the two of us, who reads all the house decorating magazines? He said he didn't know. I asked him if he ever read any. He said no. Which leaves the obvious answer.

Then we drove around the outbacks of Lumsden and came across a gazillion wild sunflowers. I begged David to stop, and he indulged me, pulled out his handy knife (my resourceful husband!) and cut me a big bouquet. Aren't they beauties?

My Messy House

Do you ever feel like you're in competition with your housework? I do. And right now, it's winning! But I thought I'd put up some pictures of in and around my little house. We celebrated David's 26th birthday this week (two weeks late since I was in Vic), I made a oreo cheesecake and about a million BBQ-ed kabobs. That was his birthday dinner request!
In other news this week, David got an axe. He wanted a $600 chainsaw. And since he couldn't have it, he didn't want any chainsaw at all. So he got an axe. He didn't feel complete without some sort of ability to chop stuff up if he needs to.

*Note, Amaris' shirt is inside out AND backwards. But she put it on herself! Way to go baby!
Now for the pictures of my messy, 100 year old creaker, I mean house.

My blue, blue bathroom.

The living room, and the den which is through the doorway. The huge window is my favorite part!


Our huge yard, bet you didn't know any town in Saskatchewan could be so green! Only problem, the more greenery, the more bugs!! Namely, mosquitoes. I don't know why but they love me. Amaris and David and I can go for a walk, I can spray myself with OFF, wear a long sleeve shirt and pants, and I come home with three or four bites. Meanwhile, David and Amaris are in shorts and T-shirts, no bug spray, and NO BITES. What the heck I say. Well, I guess I can be happy Amaris dosn't get bit very often. So far, her bite count is two for the summer!

As We Know It

Amaris last summer. 5 Months.

This summer is different from all other summers. Every summer is so amazingly different from others but as life is 'maturing' so rapidly, changes seem more noticable lately. Last summer, Amaris was 5-7 months old, this summer she's 17-19 months old. Huge difference. This summer, I'm pregnant. Last summer, I wasn't. This summer, I have a pool. Last summer I had a pool too, but it didn't go past my belly button. This summer I live in a house that is over 100 years old with no windows that open. Last summer I lived in a house that was 5 years old. This summer I live in Saskatchewan. Last summer, I lived in Alberta. This summer, my brother in law is staying with us. Last summer it was just the three of us. On that last note, this summer I am seeing food consumed in a whole new way.
My 16 year old brother in law eats like the scene out of the movie '17 Again', where the guy makes a baloney, cheese spray, chip, random stuff sandwhich. Example, I have seen him eat leftover two day old alfredo chicken pasta with BBQ rib flavoured chips crushed on top, hot sauce and ketchup. Nothing like an after dinner snack to settle the stomach.
Anyways, that's really all I have to say about that. My baby belly is getting bigger, and I'm getting hotter (def. just temperature wise). I'm not sick anymore thank goodness. I had my first Dr. appointment with the baby doctor, she was really nice! I liked her a lot, which is a good thing since we waited for an hour and half!
Have a swell day!

Hole in My House

Well I sat down on my couch a few mornings ago and got rained on. This isn't supposed to happen when you're inside. So I looked up. And this is what I saw, dripping away on my head, while I was trying to eat my morning rolled oats.

And this turned into........

this......

which turned into this.......

Which turned into my living room being torn up and wrapped up and me being fed up. Really it wasn't too bad, besides my furniture being moved all over the place, it actually kept Amaris amused for almost an hour and a half watching the contractor open up the ceiling. I got the whole kitchen cleaned this morning without interruption! Amazing.

We went into the pool tonight. And last night. And the night before. Well, Amaris went in for the first time tonight. She's slowly getting less scared of the boys jumping in.

Well, I hope you're day is less leaky then mine!

Bopping Around

This week has been pleasant, just bopping around the house doing the usual things, it was nice. Our pool is finally ready to go in! Amaris is a little scared of people swimming in it, I'm not sure why? She loves water though, at the beach and playing on the steps of the pool. She gets super scared when David and Jesurun actually go in though! David's brother Jesurun is out here from Victoria right now. It was 30 degrees today, nice and hot! The pool was 21, not super hot but it's not upper west coast ocean cold!

We juiced a bunch of veggies, which Amaris thought was great. I let her put all the veggies in, the problem is she didn't stop after I was done. So all the spinach ended up stuffed in the juicer. After we juiced it, I plopped a straw in the not as green portion of the juice, and she drank away. Yum for carrots, apples, lemons and cellery.

Nothing like fresh juice on a hot summer day!

Deer love Lumsden, the valley is beautiful, peaceful, and no hunting allowed in the 'suburban' areas, obviously. This is part of our yard, taking a rest! Amaris kept going 'Eee Awe', her donkey noise, and pointing.

Back Home

Home, wherever that may be! Basically home is a flexible thing, home is a place where I am with my husband and my daughter, home is a place where I can sleep soundly in my own bed, home is a kitchen where I know where the baking powder is. Home is the place where you don't run out of underwear every 5 days.

After being gone for the entire month of June, it feels nice to be home. Especially when you're greeted by this outside your kitchen window!

And this (below) inside your kitchen.

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home”

Summer Time

Well we had such a nice vacation on the Island! We went camping with the Konos group, a group of families who I did school with when I was homeschooled and who my little brother still does. They've been camping together for around 10 years. It was great to get out on the sandy, amazing beaches of Parksville!

The giant sand castle that is the yearly tradition. Amaris ready for fun in the sun. She adored the beach, and the 'wawa' (water).

Around 22 degrees, as warm as it got, which was warm for early June on the Island!


We went to pick strawberries at Oldfield Orchard, Amaris was so cute she would put about 10 berries inthe bucket, proclaim, 'Num Num!' and promptly eat one. The day started out overcast and then got very hot, fooled me into wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants, ugh! The above picture is my lovely mom and Amaris.

Inspecting for the good ones. She thought the green ones were the good ones.

Amaris and her cousins, Esther and Bethany, at the coolest park ever!