Sunday, November 07, 2010

Deep Thoughts and The Usual Weekend Round Up

I've been a bit off my game the last few weeks. There have been lots of changes and pressures at home and work and it's been hard to keep up. I've been spending some time reflecting on life's big questions, as we all do from time to time.  Where am I ? Who am I?  Where do I really want to be? What isn't working in my life and how do I change it?  Wow -I'm deep. I'm an untapped well of deep. I don't have the answers, but I'll let you know when I do. I think this deep thought has been spurred on by constant change over the last month or so , with more unfamiliar territory to be charted this week and more stressful events than usual to be faced.

So this post was going to be all about that but when I read back what I'd written it was too much. I'd rather mostly keep this blog about the fun and bizarre and mundane stuff in my life not for diatribes or too much introspection.
That being said...onto my weekend.

After the grocery shopping, washing, trip to the library for more books , the jaunt to the hardware store, cleaning out my  wardrobe and my jewellery drawer, (OMG I have too many clothes and jewellery to go with every conceivable outfit -who knew ?)  and lots of furniture re-shuffling this weekend in preparation for our annual carpet cleaning I still managed to do a few other things that were actually enjoyable. 

I baked lemon coconut cupcakes. Delicious. And some coffee kisses which were not delicious so I'm not wasting bandwidth showing them here. Blerk. 

I spray painted the wicker chair one last time. Next stop-  conquering my fear of zips so I can re-do the cushion.



The desk got it's first top coat after two coats of primer.  One or two top coats to go folks. Then a few layers of poly. I'm going to throw a party when we finally put away all those paint cans that have been cluttering up our patio since July and you're all invited.


I did some Christmas crafting/sewing/creating . More about that on Tuesday.

Since I managed to  kill all the agapanthas I planted in the filing cabinet planter in February- how many times must I confess I'm a plant murderess?- I decided to plant some new green things to kill. Including herbs. So for all of you that suggested I grow my own vegies, here is my compromise.  I've already had to re-pot the mint since Moo the cat decided it was a good place to take a dump 10 minutes after I'd finished.   The neighbours learned new swear words, and Moo spoke angrily at me in cat speak when I yelled at her.  I'm assuming she knew what "*^!# you, you *!%#*. I'm going to kill you" meant.




My hydrangeas look like they're going to have a crazy amount of blooms  this year. (See..I talk the lingo) They got fertilised and mulched. And admired. I've managed to keep these alive now for over two years and grew them from brown sticks of nothing to this.


I re-fashioned a bag I found while op shopping with Miss P...

Before

After...Yep I bought it because it matches this shirt. The bag makeover took about 60 seconds.

Mr. P and I got up early and hit the Growers Market for some fruit, herbs  and vegies. It all looks pretty but I wish it tasted like donuts or salt and vinegar chips.


Miss P cooked tea Saturday (I had to check to make sure the sky wasn't falling). Sorry I didn't take pictures but it was too awesomely wonderful to wait to eat while pictures got taken. 

So a pretty quiet weekend. I sat on my patootie at the computer a lot surfing blogs and the internet in general ooohing and ahhhing over people's projects and general craftiness. I hope your weekend was exactly what you were hoping for.

P.S.  This is Little P's dismantled cot , in the computer room. Nothing is where it should be at the moment which is giving me flashbacks about the all too recent kitchen renovation. Ugh...







22 comments:

  1. Well looks like you've been really busy even though you're doing a lot of thinking. I admire people who think over their live. I just live...maybe I should think mine over too...:-)

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  2. Shay, I don't think I've come across anyone as busy as you. You must go, go, go all the time! The amount of work/ renovating / craft / home running you pack in is truely amazing. No wonder your life is stressful.
    Are you one of those people who is happy when they are busy or do you push yourself all the time to achieve all the things you do? I take my hat off to you.
    Remember women are clever . They support eachother when it's needed so if you need to rant or offload sometimes we're all here to listen and we won't mind if now and again you're not your usual self. We've probably all felt the same frustrations and pressures so you are not alone.
    Hope your week turns out better than you anticipate my friend.
    Cheers
    Helen

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  3. A bit of introspection can be a good thing, I've been deep with the navel gazing over the last few weeks.
    What with family stuff and my course which is covering lots about our self development and awareness of our values and prejudices etc.
    What makes me laugh is your idea of a quite weekend seems to be one where I've achieved loads! Put your feet up in front of the telly with chocolate for hours, that is really doing nothing!

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  4. What a productive weekend! Those lemon cupcakes look delicious. I need to be more brave and transform things with paint like I see so many crafty gals doing. I haven't tackled this yet!

    Hope you get your thoughts worked out and find peace.

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  5. Because I know you're probably the one other person on this planet that has a sense of humour similar to mine, here's something to ponder...Don't worry about life, you're not going to survive it anyway. ;o)

    (((HUGS))) my very busy friend. Whew! If I could accomplish what you did in a weekend, I'd never be behind in any of my tasks.

    PS...I found some fabulous Thrifty's this weekend. Darn that Maple & Magnolia! All I was looking for was wood stuff to paint. :o) Happy Sunday almost Monday!

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  6. For someone who sat on their patootie and contemplated their navel you got a whole lot more done thaan me :-)

    Your Hydrangeas are lovely, I can grow those as well. I have all jade plants at my place because they are virtually impossible to kill!

    Let me know if you find a good zip tutorial, I need to conquer that fear also :-)

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  7. Life happens -- as much as I try and control it, it does it's own thing... truly .... (and I'm a control freak)..

    skip the zipper and make an envelope flap on the bottom ! cheaper than a zipper anyway...

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  8. You really do get so much done! I had a Shay moment at my house this week. I re-oiled an outdoor chair. Yup. That's it. Just one coat. I thought, "Hey! I'm Mrs P." I love your wicker chair. It is gorgeous! Oh. I also know how to do zips.

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  9. I'm a plant murderess too. My husband left me in charge of his prime pepper plant when he spent 2 weeks in Australia last year. I did exactly what he told me in terms of care and feeding. It was down to one leaf when he got home. Two weeks later after he'd looked after it, it was all lush again!

    I love the purse remake. Very stylish.

    Wish I had some of those answers too and that I had magic words of wisdom that would make things better. Hoping that next week gets less stressful and that the rate of change in your life slows down soon. In the meantime, eat lots of chocolate, it's good for your brain chemistry!

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  10. you are a deep, still lake. well, maybe not still. That's hard to imagine. But certainly, deep.

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  11. You're making quite the progress on your home renovations and beautifications...I'm nosy, too, and would love to see a picture of the entire outside of your home and where you live...it's so intriguing to think about how opposite your seasons are from ours at this time of year! Sounds like you're one super busy chick - makes up for those times when you feel like you've done nothing, right! :)

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  12. I think you've got the right to do some navel gazing and be introspective, with all you've been doing lately. I am constantly amazed by what I see painted, planted, nurtured, etc. (File cabinets as planters? Brilliant.)

    Oh, the weekend always goes too fast and I never achieve all I intended to. I did buy some fabric on sale today and managed to avoid the thrifts, so that's something.

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  13. Hahahaha - I wish it tasted like donuts and chips - I second that for sure!!! Hope you're hanging in there with all of the introspection, etc. The other day, I was contemplating a bit and I thought "Is my most important, meaningful work done already?" - basically raising my five kids. But then I thought about all of the people who have helped me in my life - uplifted me too, and I just pray I can be useful still - I've got quite a few years left, I think. Things are looking happy and cheerful - paintwise at your house - I LOVE your new quilt cabinet from the last post - perfection!!! You have the vision!

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  14. Sometimes we all go through a bit of introspective thought, it must be in the air, cos ive been doing a bit the same, but you have been doing a lot, so think like that silly song- dont worry, be happy, ooo,ooo,oooh!

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  15. Mrs. P., glad you have a lovely, relaxing weekend.

    I have one bit of advice -- zippers are NOT your enemy. The invisible zippers (although they may pretend otherwise) are way easier and cooler than regular ones. If you decide to go that route, I have one tip for you, so let me know.

    Your hydrangea is gorgeous. Maybe I can send you mine. The past two years it has been looking more and more like dead brown sticks and didn't even bloom at all.

    Oh, and Lemon Coconut Cupcakes? YUM! Do share the recipe.

    xo -E

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  16. Must say over the last couple of months there has been a lot of rewriting over on the Seabreeze Blog as well. Sometimes you just have to write it down to clarify things in your head. Hopefully the reason for my deep and meaningfuls are over for now, and hopefully the same will be true for you. You have been busy though I don't think I could get that much achieved in a weekend though if I manage to get a stall in this market in february we might have to.

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  17. Zippers are not too bad, but for cushions I whip stitch them closed and then when I want to wash them, I rip the seam and sew them back together after it comes out of the wash. Cushion seams are way shorter than quilt bindings and I do those by hand, too.

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  18. That is one insanely busy weekend! I know exactly who you are. You're the woman who's going to move across the world to live in the house next door where we will spend all our time together trying to get each other to spit milk out our noses.
    It's really quite simple when you think about it isn't it?

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  19. Shay -
    I hope you found some clarification in your writing even if you didn't publish.
    Love all of your progress on the projects! I so wish we could all be there to celebrate the end of painting with you...especially because by the time you're finished it will be snowy here in Pennsylvania.
    Love the hydrangeas!! They are my second favorite (next to tulips).
    Is Little P transitioning to a big bed?
    So proud of you for all of those yummy fruits and veggies! But, you are so right...they taste nothing like chips!

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  20. Hmmm. You look like you're in your 30's but I'm going to guess 40's cause that's when I did the introspect thing. It must just be one of the stages of life. Now at 59 I'm running around arranging my affairs, putting names on things I want to go to certain people when I die. I'm not being morbid, just going through another phase I think.

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  21. One tip for zippers...do the seam with the zipper first...when it is open...then you can turn to wrong side...open zipper and stitch outer seams...makes it alot easier than trying to tackle it once the others are sewn!

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  22. Hey Mrs. P. a little introspection never hurt anyone. You just want to make sure you don't go so deep you end up crawling through a wormhole.

    Very productive week! Herbs are a good choice. Plant murderess or not, they tend to be harder to kill. :-)

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