I did it again!

I got another figure uploaded for selling at Etsy! Come take a look...
We had another hockey session again tonight. They both enjoyed themselves and I guess that's all that matters. Still working on getting the hang of skating. Maybe we'll try some skating lessons. Carrick needs some so he can do Hockey Start in the next session.

I Finally Did it!

Today I finally got my act together and opened up my Etsy shop! I only have one item there currently, but I have two more to finish up in the next two days. They are two chick boxes, one for Valentine's Day and one for Easter.

Here are my little hockey players. They had their first time at hockey school this week. Even though they aren't the best skaters yet, they still loved it. It is so funny to see all those little kids out there skating. Some are expert skaters, while others had issues with letting go of the wall (luckily mine can skate on their own).

And here is a photo of my kitchen right after a bomb went off. No, no bomb...but it does look like it. I was cleaning out cabinets and moving around the dishes. I also got my grandmother's Depression glass out of storage. She had a lot of it, mostly in the American Sweetheart pattern. There are a few dishes of other patterns, just one here, one there, so I may sell those ones. Some of the prices of that stuff is crazy!

I also put away all of these Christmas ornaments. I hate this task! It's just such a pain and so sad to take the tree down. I still have one more to do in the "Man Cave" upstairs. That one is not as big, but I still am not looking forward to it!

Have good weekend!

I'd Like Your Opinion!

I have been thinking about opening an Etsy shop for a while and finally got my act together.
I have started making these:
Paper machè figures from vintage candy molds. It took me awhile to get the molding correctly for these, but now I think I have it. I hand-paint each one and then it is glittered. This one measures 7" tall by 4" across. I have others like a larger rabbit with a back basket and little chicks to do too. This one I made for my sister-in-law's birthday.I also added some handmade details with the collar. Those are little rusty bells sewn on a velvet ribbon with vintage silk thread and topped with vintage-y tinsel.
So what do you think? Do you think they would sell on Etsy? Would $25.00 be too much? Please leave a comment below and let me know! Thank you so much for your help. It really means a lot!

Here's What We'll Be Doing Every Tuesday ...

...for the next ten weeks.


We picked up all their gear tonight for the start of hockey next week. Cole and Cade are excited to learn to play hockey. This program is awesome. Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and other sponsors pay for all the equipment and we just had to pay a fee for them to play. All brand-new equipment! The kids in the program are ages 4-7. And you had to sign up online and it sold out quickly.
I've been taking them skating for the past couple of weeks since they found out they made it in. They had never skated before, but now they can skate all by themselves. It took about three sessions at 2 hours each, but they never gave up. I am not a great skater by any means, but we did it together!

I will post photos when we open the boxes tomorrow. It was too late tonight since we had to wait for Mark to get home since my car is on the fritz. Good thing, too, since it had really started snowing and the local roads were bad. After getting the huge boxes, we ate supper at Buffalo Wild Wings and then headed home. By the time we got home it was 9:15, and they went to bed.

So thanks, Sidney, for this awesome opportunity.

Half Bath Redo

I thought that I'd share with you my downstairs 1/2 bath redo. I finished this right before Christmas. This is a "new" space we added on to the house when we remodeled. It was formerly the site of the old back porch that fell in on the old owner's wife!

The only thing I really did was repaint all the walls and paint the trim. I saw in November's Country Living magazine this paint color and loved it. It is Ralph Lauren in Mercer. The paint went on really nice and had a very good coverage. The color of the room was a Sage green that I had mixed myself (two mis-tinted cans of Mystic paint I bought in Chicago long ago). It was nice, but not what I was looking for. I had to do a lot of patching on the walls because for some reason there were many screwpops. I couldn't use the original paint color to repaint because there wasn't enough left.

Anyway, here is the finished product. This in the view looking into the bath.

The floors are travertine, like we have in the kitchen and master bath. I used frosted vinyl window cling from the Home Depot on the bottom of the window for privacy. Only need it for those occasions when someone else is in the back yard or hot tub. I hated covering the window because of the light and view. I think this was a good alternative.

Here's the sink. It was a Pegasus from Home Depot that I think is now discontinued. The faucet and light fixture were from the Expo and I got them on clearance when the store was closing. I bought a lot of stuff there. The mirror is from IKEA and about $20.
(Ignore that tape on the sink inlet!)

This is my collection of old children's school photos over the lav. I started collecting them a couple of years ago and recently added a few more. Just need one more! They are so cute. The first one on the left has all the kids in their Halloween costumes.

This is the corner opposite the toilet. There are two of these prints in here. They are from the same artist and have matching frames. My mom bought these for me.

The next photo is of one of my most treasured items. I bought this when I was still working in Chicago. It is a Chickering square grand piano made in 1855. I bought it through a piano broker and it came from Canada. It was quite a process to get it through customs because the keys are actual ivory. I love it and the history that goes with it. It was a beautiful tone. I have played piano since I was 5 and all through college. After having a family, it has sat neglected. This is going to change. I am going to start back at it.


I love all the light at my house. The old timers knew how to site a house to get the best light. Now if they could have only built straight walls and square rooms!

The Christmas That Was...

Well, the fireplace mantle didn't get done (as you can see), but we at least got the fireplace and mantle installed. This was a shot I took Christmas Eve after putting together a basketball hoop (note: do not try to put kids' toys together at home…they couldn't sleep and ruined the surprise).

Here they are in the mad scramble to open all their gifts! I think that everyone got what they wanted.

And finally here is a shot of the house with a beautiful covering of snow. This was a week ago. I no longer think the snow is beautiful and wish it would go away. It has snowed here and been very cold. Hasn't been over 30° here in over a week I think. Ignore the unpainted trim on the eves of the house. We'll get to it ­— I promise!

I haven't posted in a while because I have been working on something new that hopefully will be a successful venture. I'll give you a hint and say it has something to do with candy molds, but it's not edible.
I also changed up the blog a little and added a design. Like it?