jane's apron

control issues

I've shared how I feel about painting furniture.  I hate it...then love it when it's done. 

So, of course, I have specially ordered unfnished kithen cabinets (at a higher cost) so I can paint them.  In the colors I like.

As I was prepping everything this morning, I was thinking how do-it-yourself is probably just a more socially acceptable form of control issues.  Yes?

The garage conversion is moving along.  Whetstone Grey and Opal on the walls...Rattan (lower) and Glass of Milk (upper) on the cabinets...a few retired Martha Stewart colors. 

instagram

In case you didn't know, there's now an instagram for android...a few days old I think.  

So now I can take a random pic of my dream pet in a bowl in my kitchen window and it looks totally cool (even if I'm not...with a dream pet in my kitchen window and all).  You can find me at janesapron (because all of the 'julie thompson" combinations were taken).  

evergreen 5

I thought I had found everything hidden in my house...original floor plans, wire baskets, wooden rulers, enamelware buckets, etched mirrors.  This real estate sign must have been hidden pretty well but we found it during the garage conversion.  It's huge.  It's cool.  It has an old-school phone number.

I know this is "Evergreen 5" (385).  I remember the house I grew up in was "Sherwood 1".  Remember yours?

 

400 square feet

Doing something major to your house is easy if your brother-in-law is an architect and your sister is an architectural designer (with a connection to a guy that knows how to make the plans into a space).  

These are the almost befores just after work started.

The hard part is convincing my mother-in-law that the space will be lovely and less lonely.  And that letting go of a lifetime of possessions is exhilarating.  Very hard.

I am working on the lovely part with the help of a new pinterest board.

dramatic pause

I didn't mean to make a dramatic post...and then disappear for so long. 

Three of us took a Saturday morning to take a room from pink to green.   She picked the color but I've talked her in to using bright colors to go with it.  

We said goodbye to our dog Chubby on a snowy, crazy morning and welcomed a new puppy exactly two weeks later.  More crazyiness.

We started on a major project to turn our attached garage into a studio apartment for my mother-in-law. 

I was home sick today for the first time since I started teaching.  It is a completely weird experience to think of a substitute in my class.

And while I'm going through the list, I also owe a thanks for help with the necklace "how to"...with links and everything.  Thank you guys!

 

 

jigsaw heart

I hope your Christmas was a good one...seems like it is farther away than a few days ago doesn't it?  Ross got a new jigsaw and came up from the basement with this cute, rough, wooden heart.  I have no idea where he got the wood...hoping it didn't come from somewhere important.

I'm not always good about following through on blog lists but am making one anyway.  I've got a new calendar to share, a giveaway for you, thoughts on the handmade marketplace, a few recipes to post, and a very big house project that could be interesting to chronicle here.  Back soon.

solstice

I'm doing pretty much the same thing as you.  Baking, making shopping lists, stressing over packages getting delivered, eating too many sweets, loving the snowflakes the kids made...

...enjoying the first day of winter...

...and wishing each and every reader that visits me here a Happy Christmas.

 

 

prepared

I read an article recently that has been sticking with me.  It talked about the competitive nature of being "done" with Christmas tasks.  I know I'm a participant in the race but I'm choosing to look at everything in a different way this year...so instead of seeing everything as getting done, I'm looking at it more as being prepared.  Prepared to enjoy the change of pace of the next few weeks, prepared to host a few house guests and looking forward to cooking and eating, prepared to end the year in our clean (ish) and cozy house.  

The picture is me and my Mom in 1963.  I'm loving the blue velvet capri pants.

tiny pie

I had to share this tiny cherry-cranberry pie made yesterday by Ellen...Thanksgiving really is the best holiday of the year.  

Ellen told me that today is Black Friday and she was going to start her wish list.  I sat near her with my phone and my Amazon app; clicking off a few items...my kind of Black Friday shopping.  

atypical

My oldest turned 17 about two weeks ago.  I was thinking that it was hard not to have a typical day when we are busy and it seems like just another day in the week.  I rushed home from school to make a peach cobbler and then rushed out of the door to make it to his soccer game.   That's when things became a little more atypical...nothing magical or significant...just different. 

I got stuck trying to get on the highway, saw lots of people standing around, realized the President was in town, and somehow was one of the first cars back on the highway.  Just me...mostly all alone heading to the game.   The game was on a perfect fall day with a perfect sunset.  We headed back home through downtown and drove past the bright lights and buzz of Busch Stadium as a division series game was ending.  Made it home for peach cobbler and then ended the night by trying to coax a lost chihuahua to come in our house...while my daughter surveyed everyone about what we should name him (I've since started calling him skippy but still no luck getting him in the house).  Not so typical.  A good birthday day.

I'm off to 6th grade camp tomorrow and may share a few pictures this week and then it's down to business around here...new notecard designs to share, recipes for the new season, and a few thirfted goodies.