Finished Room

I finally got the finishing touches put on the girls' room this week. That is, I got the curtains hemmed, cleaned it up again, and Hubby was home with his tools to help hang the artwork. Here is the before of their room.

Much brighter, filled with far more functional space. Table for crafts, writing, and more. Open space for games, building things, and a landing pad for jumping off the bed. Only one bookshelf now with edited items. A revamped dresser. A new quilt.

Here is The Triangle Quilt in its new home. See how it fits the bed perfectly? 90'' by 90'' is my new favourite queen quilt size. Perfect if you don't want a pillow tuck.

(On the right side there, behind the red curtain, lives my fabric stash.)

I still think this was needs more artwork, but Hubby and I are in negotiations about that. It is nice to have a bit of quiet space, but even thought the embroidery is large I'm not sure it fills the space.

My Baba was an incredible cross-stitcher. Her house and ours was filled with pillows, table toppers, and framed pieces of hers. She made enough of these bowls of poppies for all her family. To my Mom's dismay I reframed it last year. It used to have a very gold, very ornate frame. With this clean look I find the embroidery shines.

The cabinet, repurposed from my husband, is filled with games and extra quilts. Unfortunately, that damn Hungry Hippo game doesn't fit in it.

On The Monster's side of the bed she gets a tray to hold her favourite books and her water bottle. The tray also adds some colour in the darkest corner of the room.

The Evil Genius gets the cabinet holding the collections of figurines and the closest we get to toys that aren't blocks and games. Fairies, dinosaurs, and an airport. All together. Makes perfect sense in our house.

This bookshelf holds all their books, dress-up items, puzzles, arts and craft supplies, building blocks/Lego, and mementos. Not to mention the collections up top. The rocking chair is from Hubby's grandparents, passed down from his younger cousins that are now grown.

This is our collection of shells, rocks, and seaglass. All gathered on trips we've taken together as a family. Nova Scotia, Mexico, and camping this summer. I've got a dozen more of these jars in reserve for additional trips.

On top we house the piggy bank collection they seem to have amassed, including Hubby's from when he was a kid (the frog), and one of my favourite prints from Marisa Haedike at Creative Thursday.

Don't you love the rainbow book sorting? It appeals to my anal nature to have things sorted and helps the girls put things away cleanly.

The repainted dresser and the girls' bulletin board wall. I had other artwork here, but they asked for a place to display their stuff. Fair enough. So we picked up these squares of cork and some thumbtacks. I love how it echoes the bookshelf on the opposite side.

As you can see, I didn't change the colours on the dresser. I loved that green! But I did give it a fresh coat. And yes, that is a basket of dirty laundry on the side there. Hey, it's a room that is lived in.

Every time my girls ask me to draw a picture I can't help but think of that SNL skit about Simon who likes to draw drawings. As you can see, I can't draw! That's a family portrait done by yours truly. It gets a place above our engagement photo. And that rests on some crochet my Dad did for the girls. He picked up the needle shortly after his cancer diagnosis. This isn't the delicate work I remember him doing when I was a kid, but a brighter and more energized version.

And this is why I have to keep the thumbtacks hidden - there is a lot of climbing on furniture done by our resident monkey.

Details

The girls asked me to keep the walls red. I'll admit, I wanted to lighten it up but I was pretty happy I didn't have to spend a week painting. The red is what Hubby and I painted this room when it was ours. They told me they loved the colour. They are so my kids!

The only new purchases for this redo were the paint for the dresser, the sheer curtains, the bird tray, and the bulletin boards. Everything else was repurposed from their room, the basement, my mom's basement, or even my husband's no-longer-existent home office.

When the girls returned from their week at Camp Baba/Jojo/Grandma they were surprised by the room and for days would come up to me and hug me, telling me that it was so pretty. That made it worth it. But what has also made it worth it (aside from the crap I got to throw out) is that they are respecting the space in a new way. I don't have to tell them to put things away because they get that everything has a home. They want to keep it functional for themselves.

The other great feature is that we can spend hours in here and not run out of activities - crafts, practicing our writing, sorting shells, pretending we're tigers or skunks, pulling out the games, reading books, building things. If I let them eat in here we would be set.

Really?

My husband and I had another hot date basting a quilt the other day. This one is a wedding present for his best friend. So we're basting away, watching Machete (really?) and a Stephen Hawking documentary on alien life, when he says this:

You know, this quilt would have been even cooler if you've matched up all these grey circles on the background fabric.

Really?

Girls' Room - Before

Last week I had the most awesome pleasure of a week to myself at home. No kids, and mostly, no husband. I think it might have been the best week of my life. Well, at least of the last few years. We sent the kids to Camp Baba/JoJo/Grandma - our family out of town. Hubby was working, and I stayed home.

I quilted, I read, I worked a little, I cleaned up my house. It was all done at a leisurely pace and with very little stress. I ate nachos for dinner and went for long bike rides because I didn't have to report back to anyone. I mentioned that it was glorious, didn't I?

One of the things I did do that certainly felt like work, but was utterly necessary, was clean out and redo the girls' room. It was chaotic and crowded in there. And with only a two bedroom house and a husband who works at home it was high time I got it organized so the girls and I could actually function in there if Hubby is home working.

Our house is only two bedrooms and a few years ago we switched and gave the girls the bigger room. This means all their toys and activities can be in their room, instead of taking over the house. And that way my crap can take over the house instead! But the room was messy and full of stuff no one was using anymore. So, in between my little breaks of personal creativity and relaxation, I tackled the room.

This week I'll share the before pictures. Next week, after I finish hanging pictures, I'll share the after pictures.

Christmas decorations still on the wall, an old mattress for guests/trampoline, and crap everywhere!

Two dressers, yet clothes piled everywhere. This bookshelf creating a hallway and blocking off the room.

The bookshelf - the closest bit of order in the before pictures.

A dresser storing fabric, some of my clothes, the Monster's clothes, and dress-up stuff. The diaper genie still there when diapers disappeared from our lives 3 months ago.

The dresser I grabbed from my Mom's basement (minus the legs) to refinish for the girls. It might have been my brother's when he was a kid. It sat next to the deep freeze, filled with fabric scraps from home ec and family sewing projects in the 80s, as well as some baby clothes of my Mom's and some Ukrainian embroidery.

I'm pretty sure I drew on this as a kid. No one remembers, but it is most likely that I, the biggest brat in the family, did it.

Next week, the afters. Just wait! I can tell you that the girls love it and so do I.

A Pie for Mikey

You start out with an idea, a concept of where you want to take it. A taste, a feel, a look. A finished product to be savoured and enjoyed. Something to share, to show off, to take pride in.

You gather the things to make it, and you bring them close. You handle them, you edit, you cut, you taste. Add heat, maybe some sizzle, and quite often a long simmer. At many times will you season, highlighting the flavours and subsequent adventure.

Usually it gets messy. You are either the type of person who cleans as they go or the kind that has a third hand following them washing and wiping as you move. It doesn't matter, as long as you address the mess at some point.

Eventually you sit to enjoy. It isn't necessarily what you expected it to be. Sometimes it doesn't work and you have to start over tomorrow. Quite often it's better. Much better than expected.

One day it explodes. The pleasure is insatiable. The joy immeasurable. On another day it is more subtle, simple. It is good, but not great. The pleasure and peace, however, is there. It's lingering and comforting. Perfect.

At least, this is how my marriage feels.

My husband is my best friend and an incredible man. Kind, generous, a little bit wicked. Committed, driven, and horribly sarcastic. He owns his own business and used to race mountain bikes. But I always thought I'd marry a professor or snooty intellectual. We'd live in an old house filled with books and no kids. Obviously that isn't what I've got.

My man in my life and our marriage came about like a farmers' market dinner. One day you find something that looks fantastic and you go with it. And so we have, experimenting along the way. Some days it explodes with pleasure and some days it is lingering and comforting. Perfect.

Imagining a life without my husband nearly stops my breath. Cold.

And now there is a colleague, a friend I met through blogging, who is living this fresh hell right now. Her husband, the father of her two little girls, suddenly collapsed and died last week. She is feeling the immeasurable pain of loss, the unimaginable.

This pie is for Mikey, for her, for their girls. This pie was his favourite and it deserves a celebration. As does he, as does the love he and Jennie shared. Their recipe gave the world this pie. Let's celebrate.

The food blogging community - including those who live close to Jennie and are lucky enough to share a drink and pizza with her - are gathering around her right now. This is community. Today we are making pie. People the world over are taking Jennie and Mike's pie and making it for their own loved ones. They are adapting the pie for themselves, making the recipe for their own loves. In doing so we celebrate a man, relationships, and the spirit of adventure in love, cooking, and life.

A pie for Mikey.