Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mellow Yellow Monday...

Posted by PicasaSunflowers are one of my favorite flowers.  They look so cheery and friendly!!   Some of us are in the middle of very wintery weather, so I thought this collage may cheer us up!   I am linking this to Mellow Yellow Monday and Mosaic Monday  I am also linking to a "newbie" site at Debbie Doos

Today, I am very thankful for small answers to prayer....God answered and I am resting in Him to continue to work out the details for some of the steps my son, Ben, has to take in deciding what he wants to do after graduation this year.  Sometimes being a mom and letting your kids go is a tough one, but it is teaching me that I have to  pray more and trust God to work in my boys lives.

Thats what I am thankful for today on this wintery Sunday afternoon.  Thanks for checkin in :)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Motion Thursday ...


 These pictures were taken of Ben at the Medicine Hat Motocross track.  He was patient enough to keep rippin up the course until I got some good shots of him in motion......




 Flying high...



I like this shot of the prairies behind him, and the dust on his trail.  I am linking this to Motion Thursday

Something for all you photography lovers out there..



I enjoy the the vast, open skies of the prairies.  The clouds, the different colors, a storm brewing in the distance, old buildings, barns, daisies and sunflowers are just a few of my favorite things.  I hope you enjoy taking a back road with me and seeing what is in my backyard.  Proud to be prairie born :)



I actually can't take credit for this picture!  My husband just held up the camera and shot through the window as he was driving!  It actually turned out pretty good.  Our corner of the prairies was blessed with lots of rain this past summer and the canola crops looked beautiful!


I found this helpful list of  places to link some photography posts to. (when you get to this page, just hit the memes tab at top)  I am new to blogging, and many of you know about some of these sites.  I found the Mosaic Monday link from Lorrie and she was most helpful in giving me some starter tips.  I enjoy photography and am trying to capture some shots and learn as I go.  Its great finding other photography enthusiasts as well.
Linking to Barn Charm

Monday, January 24, 2011

Between the buildings



These are the two buildings that I park in front of each day.....




 I work part time at the Royal Bank in our little town...




It was a beautiful snowy day, and I liked how the darker, almost alley like feel of the buildings were...




I am trying to remember to have my camera along because you never know when you might see an interesting shot and try to capture it.  I had some fun editing it a few different ways.  Hope you enjoy the snowy day.

Have a great evening, and thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Things you may find on the prairies...




This interesting granary is on the way to Calgary.  Sitting all alone in the field, it has become a place for people to tag their name in time....I did notice that it has been painted over and names have started to appear again.  I thought it was kinda cool and so on a trip into the city made sure I had my camera along.

I will be linking this to Mosaic Monday at The Little Red House

Saturday, January 22, 2011

These floors were a real PAIN!!

Well, we have made some more (slow) progress!  The old floors are out and what a job that was....I am so glad that I have a strong hubby cause I would have never been able to get these floors torn out.  I am just the clean up girl once the dust has settled a little bit.

Great progress on ordering the kitchen cabinets . We are so glad that the quote from a business here in our little town came in way better than anywhere we priced out in the city!!   Once all the number crunching is done I may be able to get granite countertops!



 I think we found the range hood design we want to use .... really like some of the elements of this kitchen above



 These old floors really wanted to stay!!





Have a great Saturday everyone and thanks for checkin in on our progress.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Boys just wanna have fun...

Posted by PicasaWell Ben finally had a chance to get some sledding in today.....it was pretty awesome I am told!  The farm is the best place to raise kids sometimes.  As I am typing there is another "boy" out tearin up the snow as well....Darrell is getting a turn too.  We are off to Calgary in a bit to meet with Bre, who has been awesome and very helpful in regards to our kitchen cupboards.  Hope her "quote" isn't too shocking!

Thanks for checkin in and have a great evening.  I am also linking this to Thursdays Challenge and Motion Thursday

Monday, January 17, 2011

Mosaic Monday

Posted by PicasaThese pictures were taken during a sledding trip to Fernie in 2008.  It was a beautiful, sunny, winter day with the best blue skies ever!  Darrell and our youngest son, Ben, had a great time in the mountains.

Linking to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

The DIYers are at it again!...would be nice if Sarah Richardson would show up though :)

Our little kitchen has seen a few changes through the years .  When we first moved in, the plywood doors were a dark mahogony color.  Darrell did router a bit of a panel in them and we re stained them ...re do #1!     Of course, in the early 90's we  repainted the doors to white and I had that wonderful color scheme of "country blue" with lots of geese/cow accessories!   YIKES!  what was I thinking!!   Sometimes, it takes a little while to get it right!!!




  We have been planning this remodel for about 2 years!! and have finally decided to get at it!  Our little house dates back to the 1950's and it has seen many changes over the past 25 years that we have called it home.  We refer to our boys ( who are now young adults) as "reno babies" because it seemed we were always tearing out a wall, changing this or that and making improvements to our little house.    So, I hope you will enjoy the ride,,,,and lucky for you all, it will be minus the dust!




We wanted to take out the chimney along this wall in the kitchen to allow a little bit more room for new stainless steel appliances.  The chimney is no longer used as we have a different set up, so it made sense to tear it out!!  I wish I had some better before pics of the breakfast bar,,,you can see it in the background.  That actually use to be a full wall, a few years ago, we took down the wall, opening up the space basically eliminated the hallway feel in the house. I have not tired of the yellow walls, so the paint color will stay the same.  Phewww...thats going to save alot of time in itself.





We decided since we haven't placed our order for cupboards yet, to use the old bank of cupboards and set up the "island" layout that we want to go with.  This has given us a good idea of how the kitchen will work for us set up this way and I think we like it!!  We have decided as of today, that we may make it a little bit shorter though???  The patio doors in the background go into the office.  The office was once the boys bedroom which you orginally got to through the little hallway to your right....we relocated the doorway,  and the boys relocated downstairs!!


The chimney is gone!
The clean up crew....


Flooring through the years!  We will be continuing with the hardwood through out the kitchen and dining room now.




We decided to put the fridge on the opposite end of the wall.  This set of French doors leads into our living room.  You can see a bit of the door to a small broom closet to the left of french door.  Once the chimney wall was gone and this area opened more, the little door kinda looked funny.  So it is coming out and we will do some open shelving there instead.




This bank of cupboards and the dishwasher will basically stay the same.  We have changed out the doors on our old cupboards, the bases and boxes are still from the original house.  Hard to open, different heights...so they will all be coming out and new ones installed.  :)




We put in a new kitchen window this past summer, along with 2 new ones in our entry.  The 1950's shelves will be coming out.  I don't know if we will just leave the area on both sides of the window empty????  Its not a very big space,,,,any suggestions from anyone out there....




This piece of drywall will be coming out so Darrell can do some new wiring, and plumbing.  I will have a pot filler above the new slide in stove, a range hood, 2 upper cabinets, and some nice tile work.  We decided that the microwave will go in the island ...this allows us to do a bit more of a feature wall above the stove.  This wall is the first wall you see when you come into the kitchen, so I hope it turns out like I am envisioning.

Thanks for checkin in ...


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Prairie Playground






This Prairie Playground is a mile west of our place.  At one time, Meadowlands School, was a busier place in time.  When I take the back roads to town and drive by the playground that is long forgotten, it makes me wonder what would have been going on in the school yard many years ago.

I am taking a break from our renovation project (stayed tuned for more on the kitchen reno), Darrell is outside doing chores.  I thought I would take a few minutes to figure out more details on posting onto my blog.  

A very special thank you to Lorrie from Fabric, Paper, Thread, for helping me with questions about posting, mosaic pictures, linking, and for sharing my name on her blog so I can meet more other great people out in blogland.  :)

Ok, I think I did all the steps to place a link on my blog.....so here goes, will hit "publish post", and see what happens!!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Another day of snow and more snow for Alberta

We have not had this much snow for a very long time!   The front yard of the BnB was completely piled high with snow!  As you can see alot of the gardening items are a little snow covered to say the least!  Thankfully we have a tractor to clear out the yard!   but it would be nice to have a snow day tomorrow and not make it out of the yard!!



Posted by PicasaJust a little bit of wishful summertime thinking.....

I have to be honest though, I love the different seasons.  It just wouldn't feel the same without them.   God did a great job don't you think!  Which is your favorite season and why?  Let me know and thanks for stopping by on this very wintery night.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Welcome to my Scrapbook Nook.. a place to create

I have just a little space under the stairwell for my scrapbooking area.  I got organized January of 2009 and am pleased that I now have a place where I can scrap and leave the mess behind until I get at it again.
My handy husband, Darrell, made the L shaped desk for me and from there I set out getting organized
Having 2 boys in the house, our basement has kind of an industrial feel to it, so I continued with the "metal " theme in my area too.  A sheet of metal screwed to the wall is great for magnetic clips to hold some of my stamping supplies.  A little curtain rod that has metal ends on it works well for a ribbon holder and display.
Posted by PicasaRed Ikea curtains can be drawn back and the whole area just disappears. The metal culvert cover hides a support post at the end of the stairs.

Winter has come to the prairies.....brrrr

Here are a few pictures of what mother nature left behind after a week end of snow, wind and cold temperatures!  Ben is anxious to get the snowmobile out to break through the drifts  :)
I went for a quick walk around the yard today, the snow was crunchin under my big warm boots, and the air was so still that the traffic on the hway sounded like it was coming right through the yard.
The front of the BnB is completely snowed in and with guests coming on Thurs night we will have to get busy shovelling out the front entrance.  Its cold outside with -25 temperatures and it looks like it is suppose to stay this way, with more snow in the forecast, for most of the week.   So glad for a warm house, vehicles that run, and a hubby and son who are great at clearing snow!!
Posted by Picasa
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...