Attempted Gardening.

I'm planting a vegetable garden this year. I haven't planted a vegetable garden since I was eight years old, so I was very excited to get my hands dirty again. I also like the idea of being more involved with the food I'm eating. Planting, caring for, picking, and preparing food all within a few metres. I don't have a large amount of land, so it really wont accomodate very much food, but it's a start. I've been waiting weeks for the weather to warm up, and for midterms to be over with to be able to start this project.

Most of the front and back yard had been cleaned up and weeded a few weeks ago, but the two plots I plan to use for my garden hadn't been touched yet. It was a glorious day today so when I got home from class I knew I had to spend it outside. The perfect time to prepare my little garden for planting! As soon as I started pulling, hundreds of tiny wasps swarmed around me. Eek! That was the end of the gardening plans. I'll give it another go once the wasp situation is dealt with. We think they're living in a wooden beam that outlines the little garden.

For now, I'm enjoying my Eggling, which has sprouted.

Wild Strawberry was a much better choice for someone who likes things to grow quickly. I did really like the cactus though. I had never seen a cactus grow from a tiny seed before, so it was neat seeing it happen. Maybe I will try again one day.

Right now I am excited to see the changes in this little guy.

Spring Sales.

There were a lot of sales this Saturday. Estate sales, church sales, garage sales, and even a rummage sale at a fancy private school (people started lining up at 5 am for that one!). I was going to prepare my garden beds this morning, but I decided to put that off for a morning of sales with my mom. We both did extremely well too.

This is just part of our haul. My mom also found 50+ children's books, a huge set of K'nex, some wonderful handmade dress-up costumes, math manipulatives, puppets, and vintage puzzles and blocks, for her grade one classroom. All for under $30. Some of the books were brand new, with the $18.99 price tags still on them.

It's probably not surprising that I kept my eye out for Pyrex while we were looking around. The blue and orange dishes came from an estate sale. The man who was running it had a great collection of vintage dishes and kitchen appliances. By the time we got there most of it was gone, but I managed to get these two dishes and a white Fiestaware pitcher. A guy who went in right before us grabbed a few great Pyrex dishes. Lucky him!

This chicken pot holder came from the same sale. I'm going to have to make some more of these! I'm adding that to my sewing queue.

One of the estate sales we visited was at the home of an interior decorator. She had an amazing antique collection she was selling off, and among all the furniture I found a box of fabric remnants. Can you believe I got all of this, plus some trim for $1? Most of the pieces are quite large, large enough to sew into a bag or a pillow. I have a lot of ideas for this pile of fabric!

I always have so much fun at these kinds of sales! This was a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.

Eggling - Take Two.

I started growing a cactus Eggling last September. That Eggling met a sour fate a little while ago when it was knocked off a table. I had so much fun watching it grow and change the first time that I decided to try again, this time with a Wild Strawberry one. I couldn't bare the thought of waiting another seven months to get back to this point, so another cactus was out. Strawberries grow much quicker!

Day 1 - Cracked and ready to grow! Today is actually day two, but of course nothing is growing yet. I hope to have many more updates about this one!

Sometimes We Get Lucky.

Tuesdays are usually my busiest days, which often makes them my least favourite. There's a lot of sitting in class (6 hours to be exact), and a lot of rushing around before, inbetween, and after. Today was busy as usual, but something very exciting happened. Well, maybe only if you get excited about vintage dishes.

Last night I came across an advertisement on Craigslist for some vintage Pyrex pieces. It turns out the ads were posted by a woman who was clearing out her amazing vintage glasswear collection. Her basement and some of her upstairs was filled with shelving units that were packed full of Pyrex and Fire King dishes. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces! I spent nearly an hour in her home and came out with quite a nice haul, and a phone number incase I can't control myself and decide to go back.

Can you believe that this was barely a fraction of her collection? Now these pieces make up most of mine!

This Tulip casserole dish is my new favourite piece. It needs a wash, but is in great condition. All her pieces were mint or very close.

I'm not sure why but I just love these refrigerator dishes. They're just so cute! I can't wait to use them.

A nice Spring Blossom collection. My uncle has casserole dishes in this pattern and I always wanted a set for myself.

I love these little 401 bowls. They're so useful! I only wish I had found out about this lady's de-stashing efforts earlier, by the time I got there most of her pink dishes were gone.

I already had this 441 cinderella bowl in the Turquoise Butterprint pattern, but it was very very faded. This was the perfect chance to replace it!

Black Snowflake dishes. The handles on these are so cute!

Pink and Turquoise plates and bowls. I hope to find more of these to add to the set.

I had been looking for these Fire King dishes in the Swiss Chalet pattern for a while. There's just something about this one that I love. I especially love the pattern in the bottoms of the bowls.

A very lucky day indeed!

Spring Holidays.

This has been a busy week! Mid-terms (my University was on strike for three months, so our second semester has been pushed far forward), a Spring haircut for a certain little pup, dog safety lessons for grade one students, Passover Seders with friends and family, a show played by a friend's band, and now Easter weekend. It seems that in the rush I completely forgot to carry my camera with me. During a quiet moment early this morning I brought it out for the first time since Monday, as I hung ornaments on our Easter tree. I guess I can't really call it a tree as it's really only a few branches in a vase. Most of the ornaments were thrifted last fall. They were originally attached to wires wrapped with coloured tape, which I did not like the look of at all. They were easy to remove, and I think they look great hanging from branches. They remind me of the Erzgebirge Easter ornaments, which I think attracted me to them. I love Erzgebirge ornaments!

As you can see, my dear Snowie likes to perch herself on the dining room table. She had to be included.

This little egg was thrifted along with the other ornaments. The bouquet was sent along with an Etsy order, and I thought it looked perfect tied around this vase.

I especially love the little painted eggs. I wouldn't mind having a whole tree of just these!

This bunny is actually from my childhood easter basket. It's a little larger than the rest of the ornaments, but I thought it still fit in quite well.

A row of rabbits ready to be hung! A couple are missing ears, but most are in very good condition. A lucky find!

I did a little rearranging of the dining room plant table, and here the tree will stay through the rest of the weekend (and probably a little longer too)!

My, what strange weather we're having!

Yesterday was a perfect Spring day! We spent the day under the warm sun, in Spring shoes and light shirts. The park was filled with children and dogs and parents chattering about, the tennis courts were packed, and the cyclists were out in full force - even some new ones giving it a first go. Lola had many doggie friends to run and play with, while I enjoyed the weather.

Today we trudged out in boots and hats and coats into a slushy, snowy, wintery world. The first signs of Spring covered in a sheet of ice. A last (maybe?) reminder of the winter season.


What strange weather we are having this week!

Goodbye Eggie.

I've grown attached to this little Eggling over the past seven months. It was fun to watch the changes in it take place, albiet very slooooow changes. It was so exciting when a tiny shoot popped up after weeks and weeks of nothing, just as I was about to give up on the endeavour altogether. Then more and more came up and it was fascinating to watch them grow and change.

I took this photo on Wednesday. I had been taking photos documenting the growth of the Eggling, but hadn't taken one in nearly a month. I'm glad I didn't wait.

I took this one the next day. I guess that's it for the Eggling!

Shelves.

These shelves are the Benno CD/DVD tower from Ikea. A while ago I moved my CD/DVD collection into little storage boxes and this tower became display shelves for my little nick-nacks. The tower takes up very little floor space and is very useful, which is why it has stuck around after the CDs all found new homes, but I never really liked the look of it. I preferred it to the wire CD towers I kept finding at the time, but it was just so sharp and white. I wanted to change things up a bit, and when I found these vintage wallpaper samples I knew exactly what I'd use them for.

Much better!

It's not perfect and at some point I may decide it's too busy, but for now I think it looks just right.

I love how a few dollars and a quick and simple project can completely change the look of something like this.