Month: February 2013 (page 1 of 3)

A Ballet Kinda Week

Well, this must have been my ballet week. I got to see Sleeping Beauty on Tuesday and last night we watched the very last episode of Bunheads.

Oh Bunheads, you have made me laugh, cry, smile, contemplate…I hope that you are coming back for another season, because I need you! The cast is just outstanding. My parent’s had the opportunity to see Sutton Foster when she was on Broadway performing in Thoroughly Modern Millie and they enjoyed every moment of it.

And, to have “The Great” Kelly Bishop, I mean come on! Film mom of Baby, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner!” These wonderfully talented women, who can sing, who can dance, who can act, it is just stellar! This show is funny, sweet, intelligent, if you are listening TV Gods I would like you to keep this show running, because TV is a better place with it!

Letters

Getting a letter in the post is just about the most happiest thing, EVER!

Especially if it includes pictures of a little tiny someone.

The Ending of the Week

As it seems is always the way, we have come to the end of our week off and I am now finally starting to wind down and fully relax and tomorrow we go back to work, you just have to have a sense of humor about these things.

It was snowing when I woke up yesterday morning and after getting showered and dressed we walked the long way round to the grocery store. We bundled up and just took our time. It was beautiful and quiet as the snow fell around us. We even got to see a train rumble along below us as we stood on the bridge. I love trains.

We made homemade macaroni and cheese for lunch yesterday and just stayed cozy with blankets, copious amounts of tea and candles lit here and there. We each read and did a little work.  I decided on the first tiny stuffed animal I am going to make for a special little person and so I washed my fabric in preparation for that.

It was just a nice mellow day. We ate leftover homemade pizza from dinner on Friday night. I made that wonderful crust again from Annie’s Eats and Mr. Michie made his wonderful pesto again (the one he made for me on Valentine’s) and he smeared that on our crust, with diced tomatoes and cheese, it was delicious. We also watched Star Wars, so Mr. Michie was very happy!

Our Day

Yesterday we finished our major overhaul of the room we chose to attack during 1/2 term. There are still a few more things to sort though, and to be put back in their rightful place, but it feels so wonderful to be rid of anything we don’t need.

We recycled, donated, organized, made two bags of items to take to school that will live in the cupboard as still life objects, dusted, vacuumed, mopped and sat for a five minute break to catch our breaths.

We decided to have a big lunch yesterday since Mr. Michie had an online meeting last night. I made a fresh spinach and artichoke dip, with a couple of pieces of crusty bread and carrot and red pepper sticks to dip into it. It was wonderful.

We cheated and watched something while we ate, an episode of “Bunheads”. I will be sad when this show finishes for the season!

For dessert I had a chocolate chip cookie and it was actually smiling at me.

It reminded me of one of my all-time favorite “Bewitched” episodes, when Tabitha turns herself into an oatmeal raisin cookie and then smiles at her mom, with the raisins forming the smile, too cute! (It starts about 5 minutes in)

It must have been the day for things looking like other things to me, because I had a handful of popcorn last night and this piece looked like a little alien creature waving at me, I thought it looked cute and couldn’t eat it, but Mr. Michie grabbed it and ate it instead.

Purging

The past two days we have done some serious purging in our house. This has been our second major clean out of the year since we attacked the attic.

This time we attacked the kitchen and pantry. You can now clearly see the floor in our pantry and actually walk in without having to hold on to the door jam to get what you need or balance mixing bowls on your knee to get the bowl you are really after. It is AMAZING!

All of our cookbooks are now lined up on one shelf, well almost one shelf, we ran out of room and had to move to the next shelf. I have a thing about cookbooks, they just kind of jump into my hands.

We had 2 big trips to the recycling center and 3 big trips to the Charity shop (it sounds scarier then it is, we walk, so it would have been one round trip in a car). It feels good to purge, to clean, to simplify. Everything just feels brighter and refreshened.

I think that removing the clutter, removes some of the stress from day to day living. We have made a pledge to simplify this year and to make sure that we can eat at our dinner table at night, which is not always easy as Mr. Michie normally has a lot of papers to grade and that is his easiest place to work. But, we are working with that to make our lives easier, more enjoyable and our home life a little more stress free.

After working all day it is nice to come home to a house that is organized (at least semi-organized) and things are easier to get to, so you can enjoy them more and enjoy your house more. As Martha Stewart says, “Its a good thing!”

Getting Crafty

As soon as we finish the mammoth task of organizing our pantry, I have a few projects up my sleeves for this half term. But, I have to clean up one mess before I make a new one.  If you are in the mood to do a little crafting this week, check out my “Getting Crafty” board on Pinterest.

Here are just a few things I have pinned {click the images for the tutorials}:

As always Molly’s Sketchbook on the Purl Bee site is filled with sweet ideas. A bunny just in time for Spring:

Liberty fabric lap blankets to keep you cozy in the still gray days of winter:

Send mail the old-fashioned way, but jazz up your envelopes with beautiful paper:

Any paper leftover? Use it to make these cute pinwheels:

Not Martha offers a cute and stylish brooch to brighten up your coat:

Have fun!

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