Belated Resolutions

My 2010 resolutions include:

• Reading all of the unread books on my bookshelf, even if it means not using my library card very often.  By my count there are exactly 20 books, but a couple of them are doozies.  Les Miserables and The Brothers Karamazov are both on the shelf.  I can do it, though, and I believe I will be better for it.  This resolution is brought to you by Kerry, who resolved it first, and who is my inspriation.
• Finding a better way to deal with coffee beans at home.  Most of my coffee is consumed out, so whenever I buy a bag of beans, it inevitably goes stale on the counter or ends up smelling like my freezer.  Ew.  I am considering buying tiny amounts in bulk.  Another option is stealing small amounts from my parents when I am over there.  They always have nice fair trade coffee and I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing a wee bit with their youngest darling daughter.  Secondary coffee resolution: go back to ordering tall drinks at starbucks.  I snuck over to the grande side in 2009 for no particular reason.
• Not buying clothes unless I LOVE them.  I have too many clothes and work too close to the mall.  I don't have any lunch buddies at work, so I end up shopping way more than I need to.  I don't want to squash the fun, but I do want to evaluate my purchases a little more.  Secondary reslution: make a lunch buddy at work?  Ha.
• And lastly, "Love much.  Earth has enough of bitter in it" - Ella Wheeler-Wilcox.
  

Bell Jars on Design*Sponge!

This is surely old news to my handful of regular readers, but too fun not to post here anyways!  I submitted the bell jars of the previous post to my most favourite blog, Design*Sponge, and she posted them on her weekly "Before & After" round up yesterday.  It was so fun to see my little bell jars up there.  If you want to take a look, go check out the post on D*S right here.

It's worth checking out the rest of the blog, because it is completely and utterly delightful if you are at all interested in design, decor, creativity, or anything of the sort.

Thanks for the 15 minutes of pseudo-fame, D*S!

Love,

Bethany

Old people clocks...transformed!

The Clock Transformation is complete!

If you recall from a few weeks ago, I went thrifting on Saturday with Megan and Trixie.  My biggest score of the day was three hideous glass dome clocks.  I left the picture below for speculation, but as you can see above, they are fully transformed.  The backstory is that I'd had my eye on bell jars online for months, and saw one recently at a sweet store in Edmonton called "The Artworks", but it was 450 freaking dollars and was more modern than I would have liked anyways.  I'm sorry, but for $450 it had better come with a free lifetime supply of milkshakes or some other such incentive.  It didn't, so I was left to my own devices.

1. The first step was to take the dome off and assess the situation.

 

2. Second step was to unscrew the clock mechanism from the base of each one.  This wasn't too hard, except that the plastic columns were actually part of the base on the smallest of the three clocks, and being impatient to get this project rolling, I opted for ripping them off with pliers instead of tracking down a hacksaw or something that might have made a smoother cut.  I was planning to cover the base anyways, so I wasn't too worried.

3. Next, I spray painted the bases of the clocks with white spray paint, to remove all trace of and likeness to the old people clocks.

4. Once the paint was dry, I traced circles of paper to affix to the bases, both for extra cuteness points and to cover up the screw holes in the bases.

5. Cut out the paper circles with an exacto knife and scissors.  I had to cut an extra hole in the paper for a stubborn protrusion on one of the bases.

6. Base covered in paper.

7. Completed domes from above!  The figurines in order are a bear, a bird cage, and a birch tree with paper flags in it.  I later removed the flags because even thought I liked them they somehow looked awkward on the little tree and competed with its cuteness.  We'll see.

 

The clocks were $1.99, 4.99, and 6.99, respectively, and the paper and spray paint I had on hand.  I purchased the little birch tree from Rona's Christmas village decorations for $8, so all in all it cost me just over $20 for all three bell jars.  Instead of $450.  Also it was way more satisfying and entertaining.  Hey-O! 

This kind of winter

I love this kind of winter.

A massive winter storm rolled in over night and hasn't let up all day.  I don't have to worry about driving to work, so I enjoyed the snowy-but-warm walk to the station and hopped on the train and made it to work early.  Then I watched the river valley turn completely white from my office window until 2:57, when they sent out an email telling us all to go home.

The train was totally running smoothly, and the driver even made announcements about the treacherous conditions on the platforms telling us to watch our step and have a great evening.  I love it when LRT drivers talk like they are flight pilots.  Makes my day every time.  The platforms have piles of snow that were almost as big as the ones I remember from my childhood.

After trudging (literally) through the deep snow, I arrived home and decided to shovel my car out, the driveway, the sidewalks, etc.  The entire time, my iPod chose songs on shuffle that were totally rocking my face off.  M. Ward, Wilco, Stars, Sufjan Stevens.  It took about an hour and when I got into the house the bottoms of my pants WEREN'T EVEN WET.  That is how fluffy this snow is, my friends.

Let's do a quick recap: snow day, fluffy snow, lrt, awesome!

Enjoy it.

My brother sewed a stuffed penguin on his own initiative.

Last weekend, my sis came to town for a crafting weekend with me, my mom, and my sister in law. it ended up with the kidlets as well as scott and my dad, and it was such a great weekend.

We busted out Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album", and ate dessert for breakfast while we worked on various projects and hung out. Kaeli sewed stuffed birds out of fabric from Italy. I worked on flags for the Royal Bison. Francis made some a gingerbread house and train set with Heidi. Geneva was adorable. Mom knit. Dad teased us and read the paper. And our brother, Scott, sewed a stuffed penguin, with a little help from us.

Ingenuity

Although I sometimes get teased for my 'methods', sometimes I just have to risk the teasing and share the genius.

My most recent stroke of brilliance came when - after weeks of hunting for wool tights so that I could extend the dress wearing season late into the fall (thus putting off the inevitable evil of winter that is wearing DRESS PANTS to work) - I wore my new tights once and busted a hole through the toes. Darn toenails.

Soooo, I pulled out my tiniest pair of ankle socks and slid them on first next time I wore my tights. Not only are my feet totally warmer when I walk to work in the morning, but you would NEVER KNOW that I have socks on under my tights. Seriously people.

And, in summary, that is how much I hate dress pants.

Rolodex Love

Growing up I often asked for very...utilitarian...Christmas and birthday gifts.  Dustbusters, rolodexes.  So, I've had (and loved) this rolodex for many years, but because I just can't leave stuff alone once I get in in my head that it might be spray-paintable I did a little rolodex makeover this weekend.  All it involved was spraying the dividers with my favourite blue paint and affixing cork letters.  Easy and so much cuter now.