the floor - continued.......

I posted a few weeks ago about the big job that was ahead of us in that we were going to be tiling several areas in our house. Something that we have never done, but Kelly took the workshop at Home Depot and read books and she was good to go. Oh, and I should mention that her dad was only a phone call away on the west coast and he had tiled an entire home before! I read over that post again and could feel the excitement that I was experiencing with all of this and how "ready, set, go!!" we were with it all. My excitement remains but it is tempered with the fact that it is taking us much longer than we had anticipated and are so ready for it to be done. We have worked tirelessly at this project and it has turned out to be so much more than we thought it would be. Although maybe it is a good thing that we were naive in what we were undertaking because if we had known we might have given up on the whole project which would not have been good. We wanted to save some money by doing the work ourselves and that is a good thing, but we have had to make sure that the cost of our physical and mental health is not impacted too. Kelly also loves doing reno work so she was just itching to get at it.
Oh gosh, we have each had our 'moments', but we have been supportive of each other and spurred each other on as needed. Our 2 weeks off seemed to go quickly and now finishing the work is left to our weekends off which are very precious to the both of us. Kelly is off every weekend but I do work every other one and this makes it a bit harder since it is easier to do the job when we can both help out. We have learned so much from this renovation experience and I'm sure there will be more to learn before we complete the job. We are already so proud of what we have accomplished and can only imagine how awesome it will look when we are all done!

Here is a photo of the dining room in it's almost complete state. We are leaving all  the grout work until the end so still more to do with this room.

Here's hoping my next blog will show you just how much farther we have come!! 

Maggie

the floor we walk on.......

Kelly and I have been working on renovations to the house for over a year now. It has taken us this long because there has been so much to do. I have lived here for 20 years and over time the house has become dated and some things that needed attention just didn't take priority. When Kelly and I decided to live together it was a perfect opportunity for us redecorate and renovate and renew! I was thrilled in that Kelly is very handy and can do a lot of the work herself. I don't have those kind of skills but am able to help out with whatever else might be needed. Once the renovations are completed the house will only resemble itself from its basic structure. Pretty much everything else has been transformed with paint, carpeting, light fixtures, vanity, counters, window coverings and even a new garden bed in the front yard. The next and biggest project for us to undertake is the tile flooring that we are going to be putting in this week. This is seriously a big job and it makes me a bit nervous when I think about the enormity of it! It's ironic that we both admit that we are becoming a bit weary of all the renovations and here we are now with the biggest job of all. Did we save the best for last?? Well, it could be that we did! It has been a challenge right from the start of making the decision to having tile flooring. The colour choice ended up being so different from what we thought we wanted but we feel now we have made the right choice. We had a lot to take into account as the tile will be in three rooms and the hallway so it had to look right everywhere. Then the measure and the ordering. When we signed on the dotted line it was a done deal and there was no turning back! It was ordered and the call came in that it was ready for pick up..... all 475 sq. feet of it! My back will never forget the day we unloaded all those boxes from the truck and stacked them in the garage. It was the heaviest lifting I have ever done, but we did it together and after it was all done I said that it was now coming in the house just one tile at a time! lol!! It took all of yesterday for my back to feel normal again. So now the fun begins and we start with our biggest project ever! I will post photos as we move along in the process!

Here is a pic of all the tiles on the skids at the hardware store ready to be loaded into the truck. It was a back breaking job but we managed to get it all stacked in the garage and now it's ready for the floors!  

And here's a picture of the small bathroom downstairs that will be for my Reiki clients when they come for treatment. It has been completely transformed and I think looks beautiful! 

More pictures will follow to let you see how the tile floor turns out. I can't wait to get started! 

Maggie

abstract 'doing' .....

My weekends off start on Fridays. I have the day to myself as my partner has taken Micah to daycare for the day and that means I am free to go about as I please. I have had my tea and  now my mind begins to roll infinitely with all the things that I could possibly do today. I am forever one who fills the day with tasks and then, and only then, will I be able to feel that I have accomplished anything. It's not really a good thing for me to do because I have filled my plate far too full, far too often only to have less than optimal results. I end up exhausted and spent both physically and mentally. I have always struggled with this concept of doing. But even as I write about this I can understand that if I sit quietly and relax with a cup of tea or read a book, that I am in fact 'doing' something. There may not necessarily be anything to hand to you at the end of that time and say....'here, look at what I did', but I will have done something. So my accomplishment is an abstract one as opposed to something that is physical in existence. It can't be held, touched, seen or felt. But it's there. And more importantly I did it for myself. 

I only truly have one commitment today and anything else that comes about will be by choice. So I will look at what my choices might allow and move ahead from there with my day. 

It fascinates me that I continue to learn and grow in spite of the fact that I might have thought that I learned a certain lesson before. I can know what to do but the actual carrying out of this can be my hurdle. But I keep on learning and the choices come quicker and quicker knowing that I must keep myself happy and not look back at the end of the day and wish that my choices had been different. 

Aah......life is so interesting. 

That is all for now. I must move on with my day.

Blessings to all,

Maggie

our small harvest......

I have a community garden plot with my partner Kelly and we tend to it lovingly and watch it grow daily. We have had our challenges with the rabbit and the deer that like to come and visit and nibble on our lettuce, beans, beets and peas. We have decided that these plants won't be able to be a part of our garden next year as they are food for the animals and we never get to have much of a taste. The lettuce are the only plants that we have been able to harvest from. Our tomatoes are fine as are our carrots and radishes. It's been a learning curve for us but that hasn't kept us from enjoying a tasty salad!

I am also on the committee for the community garden and we held our meeting at the garden site last evening. After the meeting I picked some lettuce and basil and took it home to share on our table. It's just the best thing to be able to pick your own food and have it fresh to eat. From garden to table is the best way. I do wish I had a larger garden and I wish it was at my home, but since I live in the city my yard doesn't allow for that. Next year we will have some containers on the deck that we will use to grow the plants in that the deer seem to love. We will simply work around the deer problem.

Here is a pic of my harvest from last night.....I just love it!

Red leaf & oak leaf lettuce as well as basil...

And I just couldn't resist sharing this pic! I just think this cabbage is a thing of beauty!!! It's not from our plot, but it's awesome looking!!

I hope your garden is growing and that you are enjoying yours as much as we are. Ours is only a small 10 x10 plot but we love watching it grow our own food! 

Blessings to all,

Maggie 

Garlic scapes.....pickled!

Garlic scapes are relatively new to me. It was only a couple of years ago that I was introduced to them at our local farmers market. I love how they curl themselves into a spiral and then it ends with the flower bud wrapped in what looks like tissue paper. Nature has such an interesting way of presenting itself! I love it! So, I have sautéed garlic scapes, but apart from that I really didn't know what to do with them. We have a huge plot of garlic at our community garden plot and I managed to get my hands on some scapes this year. I was looking in my new canning book, Food In Jars, and I found this garlic scape pickle recipe! I just had to try it and so yesterday I set out to pickle my garlic scapes. I think that they look great just in the jars, let alone how great they will taste when we open the first jar! Once I open them up and have a taste I will let you know how good they are! 

 I hope that you might be inspired to look for some garlic scapes in your local area. Please shop locally. It's really important for your local economy and keeps the world healthier in a lot of ways. 

It's my last post of the week and I need to shut things down now. The morning hours come early and I have to work one more day before having a few days off. 

Good night all.......

Maggie

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simple pleasures.....

I have decided that in my quest to eat for my wellness, that I will make my own dressings for our salads. It is easy enough to whisk together a mix of oil and vinegar and add some herbs from my small kitchen garden that I have on my deck and voila!! ..... I have a delicious dressing that has only real ingredients in it! It is usually just enough for our dinner serving of salad and so there is nothing to keep that would require all the preservatives that manufacturers put in them. Given that I make my own dressings I love to have different vinegars on hand and there is a gal at our local market who makes them! I love to see what she is going to have on hand for my pantry each time I go to the market. I have had garlic vinegar, herb vinegar and recently she had chive vinegar. I had access to organic chives and I thought I would try to make my own. I happily plucked the chive flowers from the tops of the tall chives and began my journey into vinegar flavouring. It was truly an easy thing to do and I love being able to make my own. There is great satisfaction for me in making my own food and ingredients to cook or bake with. I love looking into my root cellar and seeing all that lines the shelves. Funny to think that this is something that brings me such joy. It is a simple pleasure for me! So this morning I realized the final product and bottled my first batch of chive vinegar. I was proud and pleased to say the least!

Here's what it looked like as I made it and the final product!

I started with the chive blossoms and an organic white wine vinegar.

After it was bottled in a mason jar and stored in my root cellar for a couple of weeks I strained it and it was ready to bottle. 

And here it is folks! My finished product! I just love the pink color that it came out as....so pretty! I can't wait to make some delicious vinaigrettes  to drizzle over our salads this summer and the seasons to follow although I don't think it will last into the winter ;)

My Instagram photo !

So I think my first attempt at a flavoured vinegar was a success! I think lemon verbena might be next on the list of flavours to come! 

Blessings to all,

Maggie

P.S. if you want to follow me on Instagram my user name is 'maggjoy'....have a great day all!

Two things......

Two things...... "life is short" and "am I making a difference?". The first quote came up for me yesterday after hearing from a friend that a life had been unexpectedly lost in a car accident. A partner of 18 yrs now sadly gone. It conjures up this all too familiar statement of 'life is short' and yet I wonder if we ever really hear ourselves when we say it. It rolls off our tongue so easy and then more than likely minutes later we have forgotten the real meaning of those three words and we are back to living life outside of the moment. Yes, outside of the moment because if we are living in the moment then we are aware of just how precious life is. Life needs to be lived fully and in the present moment. The next time you hear someone say those 3 words listen to them carefully and reflect on how you are choosing to live your life. I pray that it is a life that enjoys each and every moment as best possible.

The second quote was noted today in a conversation on FB and a friend wrote and said  "am I making a difference?. In our world today we applaud so much that is on a grand scale. Everything is about 'big' and 'global' and in the world of accomplishments. These accomplishments are not to be disregarded but  neither are those that are any less. We can all make a difference whether it is big or small. I believe that every time you make an effort you are making a difference. Your energy goes out to the universe and it's vibration is felt globally. So never underestimate the power of your small efforts because they all contribute to the differences that are happening in the world today. Yes, you do make a difference!.....and I am grateful for your effort.

Those are just a few words for today.......

Blessings to all,

Maggie