Power Outage and Cowboy Coffee

This past Thursday we had a big snow storm come through, and while the amount of snow wasn't too bad it was HEAVY snow.

Unfortunately, this caused a power line or transformer to fail and our power was out for almost 24 hours. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but during Winter it is always tough losing power. It is tougher when all your appliances are electric and you are unable to cook or bake!

Our furnace is gas, but electrically powered, so of course that was out too. Yes, it got pretty cold (down to 55 degrees F) but remember how I converted the fireplace into wood-burning? It sure came in handy! We were able to keep nice and toasty

I even made cowboy coffee... well almost. True cowboy coffee is basically just boiled water with grounds thrown in. I made more of a "coffee tea bag" where I tied up the coffee in a filter to make a bundle and steeped in the mugs. It was a bit weak, but hey, it was coffee.

Lunch and dinner were also heated up in the fireplace. Thank goodness for a stocked freezer and canned goods.

Dessert was also served over the fire, but roasted marshmallows and open fire just go together!

Thankfully, before the lights went out I got one small project done.


A friend was looking for some donations for a silent auction and as long as I was making birthday cards, I thought I would make up some stationary to donate.

To the right is a set of 5 cards with a spring theme. I put on a cute little tag and stamped a fern leaf and a dragonfly on each of the envelopes.





Here is a set of 8 cards that could be used for anything from invitations, to thank you notes, to personal correspondence.
A simple strawberry is printed and embossed on the card, while a watermelon decorates the envelopes.




This last set of 6 is a favorite of the guys. (I guess the other ones were too girly for them.) They have an "antiqued" look with a golden key stamp at the top combined with some faux travel stamps to finish the look.

Hopefully they will raise a little bit for the preschool which is the beneficiary of the silent auction.

Blank Baby Scrapbook

You may have noticed a lull in my posts...
This is because I have been focusing my efforts on two labor intensive projects. You already know about the Wallpaper Paste Removal Frustration. I have to scrub every inch of the wall, three times! Time consuming, but not very interesting for a blog post, huh?

The other project took over a month, but I haven't been able to reveal it because it was a gift.
I made a baby scrapbook for our new niece's first year!

(Sorry in advance for all the pictures.)

I filled out the first few pages that I actually had pictures for, but all the other pages have blank areas to place pictures or write notes/text.

The first page is the sonogram with the introduction of "It's a Girl!"

The next are some beautiful maternity photos she had taken.

Then of course a very busy page for the baby shower:

From here on, the new mom can now fill in her favorite photos as she takes them. This page is for hospital photos and details:

"Tiny eyes, tiny nose, tiny fingers, tiny toes!"

Some pages aren't for anything specific, just pictures of any kind.

Here is a page just for Mom and baby:

And of course one for Dad and baby: "Daddy's Little Girl"

So then we must have one for Grandmas:

Then naturally Grandpas:

This one is for her monthly photos... you know, her at One Month, Two Months, etc.

I'm sure she will be dressed up cute for Halloween!

And there will be family photos at Thanksgiving.

Couple more extra pages.

Then of course we have Christmas photos...

"A girl and her dog! ... and cat"

Baby smiles! (or was that just gas?)

Bath Time!

Extra page...

Page for months 7-12.

More bonus pages...

And the final page is for her 1st birthday.

I hope this is a sweet keepsake for years to come for our sweet niece.









Speaking of our niece, Dear Husband (DH) did great with her and held her for over an hour while she napped.
Eva was curious but respectful and did very well with her.







I also got to take her One Month photos and family photos while I was there. I think they turned out pretty good!

Reuse, Recover

A few months ago, SisX and I got to spend an afternoon wandering through an antique mall.
We saw lots of interesting items, and even picked up a couple to take home.

One of my finds was a vanity bench. I took a risk because I wasn't sure if it would quite fit, but I lucked out and it turned out being perfect.

The seller had already painted the wood black and re-upholstered the seat with a striped fabric.
The black worked with our decorating scheme, the stripes... not so much.

I knew it would be easy enough to re-cover, but I didn't expect it would be THIS easy!

First, with the help of Dear Husband (DH) we picked out a new fabric to use. We opted for a sturdy home-decorating fabric. Usually it can run $25-$30 per yard. We needed less than a yard, and I had a coupon that I intended to use, but home decor fabric was on sale, and we got enough fabric to re-cover this mini bench for just under $6. Score!

It took me a while to get around to the project, but once I started it only took 30-45 min.

Sometimes you want to remove the previous fabric, but in this case I didn't need to. The new fabric was thick enough so you couldn't see the old pattern through, and it wasn't too bulky so I could still staple through it.


The key here was trying to center the pattern of the fabric on the seat. While not perfect, I got it pretty close.

After stapling it on, I just had to screw it back into the base, and it was done!

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.















I also finished another, much smaller project that had been on my mind lately.
I have been wanting to create a "mini-memorial" for my childhood dog, Pete.

Pete was our first family dog, and came into my life when I needed him most.
He was with us for 13 great years and taught us so much. Eventually he lost almost all hearing, most of his eyesight, and ached with arthritis. Once he started having more bad days than good, we knew it was time to peacefully let him go.

Pete was never a big fan of other dogs, but he was able to meet puppy-Eva twice and actually tolerated her quite well. That was more that acceptance, and it was as if Pete had approved of Eva and passed off the reins. Eva even has a small white patch of fur on her chest that is a little softer than the rest of her fur... I like to think of it as her "Pete-approved" patch.

Eva was looking pretty shaggy, so I slowly got her used to a pair of clippers to trim her fur. I trained her slowly, so she looked pretty silly for a few days while I only had her hindquarters trimmed.

Today she was lamenting about the hail and rain outside, but she is looking pretty cute with her Spring trim!

Wedding Scrapbook Album

I did it. I didn't think it would ever be done, but I did it. I completed our wedding scrapbook album!

Just in time for our three year anniversary!

I'm sure it will sit on the shelf collecting dust for a few years, but years from now I know I will be glad I took the time to do this.

I tried to make it pretty much chronological to walk through our special day.

I usually "free-form" scrapbook where I just play with the pictures until they look good. Then I add layers of paper behind the photos, and add stickers/notes/ribbon on top.

Sorry for the insane amount of pictures... It turned out a lot longer than I was expecting! (I also tried to cover up all the personal information.)

Invitations and Save-the-Dates made by SisX.

I had forgotten my veil, so I had to call Dad who came to the rescue and brought it to the hairdresser! 

Bolero was hand-knit by Mom.

Something old: Mom's pearls in my bouquet. Something new: garter hand knit by friend. Something borrowed: Mom's earrings. Something blue: ... none of your business!

Programs also designed by SisX. (Note: standard paper is NOT acid free, so I had to spray all programs and invitations with an acid-free spray, making them archival safe.)

Our Mom's lighting the unity candle. The aisle was so long, FIL (father in law) counted it out to be 82 steps!

AMAZING stained glass windows over 6 stories high. 

Our pastor often writes some articles for the local paper, and just happened to include part of his sermon from our ceremony in an article! 

Dear Husband (DH) composed a song for my birthday when we were dating. He played the same song when he proposed, so we had it played when we lit the unity candle.

The kiss!

Signing, making it legal.

Family photos!

For a January wedding, we had BEAUTIFUL weather in the mid 40's!

One of our first date sites: The Chocolate Cafe.
We also stopped at home to get some pictures with Pete. My childhood dog who I owe everything to, since he made DH a dog person!

FIL brewed three different beers for the downtime before the reception: "Amberaceable You" amber beer, "Rings of Gold" golden ale, and "Stout-Hearted Love" oatmeal stout.
The half-keg was originally tied to FIL and MIL's (Mother in Law) car at their wedding!

Our cake toppers were made by an artist friend. We requested our Chinese zodiac animals! I'm a tiger and DH is a dragon. 

Our song: "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat

Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dance.

Dancing the night away... one of the few "oops" of the day is that I had put my maiden name on my place card! 

The guest book (also made by SisX) was decorative pages for people to sign, then put their fingerprint and embellish. (There are six more pages of fingerprints, but covering up the names would cover the entire page!)

Whew! It took me at least three straight months, but I think it was worth it. 

Next up: albums for both my sisters' weddings!