DEAR LIFE...

I have a problem. Everything I like turns out to be expensive. Please fix this.

Loving this beautiful green tile. Yours for $77/sf.

I WANT

Oh Wacom and your geniusness. The Inkling.

10 SHORT YEARS

Today has been a bad day. Today I was told my dog has cancer.


Jasper has been my best friend for the past 10 years. He has been my friend when it felt like I had no others. He has been by my side from Canada, to Oregon, to Utah and back to Canada again. He was born a Canadian dog and he will pass away a Canadian dog.


My eyes are swollen from the pain of loving "just a dog" too much. But it's worth it, these dogs give us so much more than we give them.


To Jasper...may the last of your days be filled with lots of swimming, walks, good food and joy; but most of all, love.

VACATION HOMES

Mike and I just got back from our first "family" vacation in Whitefish. Of course while we were there we looked through the free real estate books while we ate lunch. I just want to know where the money comes from. Where????

But at least lots of money can create cool houses. This one is impressive and only 4.4 million dollars. I'm pretty sure that doesn't include the boat. OH! I lied, I just read that the boat is included, and a water trampoline. I don't know what that is, but I want one.








And here comes the boat on my favorite feature; rails right into the garage from the lake.




Does the real estate agent hire the helicopter to take the pictures of the house?

HOOKING

Remember the hooked rug you did as a kid? I want to do one as an adult. I'm not sure when I'll fit it in my list of things to do, but now it's added and there it sits.

Maybe argyle?



Maybe one made out of old t-shirts? Found here.

Graphic?




Off to bed to dream about rugs, when I should be dreaming about finishing painting my kitchen cupboards.

STITCHING

I'm not the only one who is loving stitchery. Anna Maria Horner has a new needle works kit out.


It's like she pulled it right out of my brain.


I can't wait until house stuff is done so I can start stitching on a new quilt idea I have going.


I wonder if house stuff is ever done . . . technically . . .

RANGE HOODS

I love these range hoods and priced out a custom option at a local sheet metal shop...Folks, you can have one for at least $2000, I will be looking elsewhere. Why do prices always come in thousands?

TO A FUTURE MOTHER

Years ago, my sweet niece Jackie gave me a homemade card that had written on the front, "To A Future Mother". I thought of that card every Mother's Day and I can't tell you the number of times it made me tear up because I knew deep down in my heart I would never be a mother.

Well, what can I say. I was wrong. And today my eyes would well up every time someone talked about their mothers on TV because...I am one. And now I get to worry about things like, how do you cut the hair of a 5 month old and how much does it cost?

Oh the times, they are a-changin'.

Untitled from onbelay11 on Vimeo.

WHEN IS IT TOO MUCH?

Does liking and wanting good design make you spend more than you should? Should you always spend less, invest your money, travel or give to those more in need?

Let's use the bathroom faucet as a test subject. Should I get cheapest bathroom faucet out there? The same one that I lived with for the last 7 years in my little brick house? The one that worked just fine? The one that grew a lovely green sludge I couldn't clean underneath the plastic diamond? The one that costs $49.99?


Or keep the $380.88 faucet I got for $100?


Because truly, the function is the same.

How much is too much? I can't tell you how often I question my wants in life lately. Do you really need more than a warm dry house, clean clothes, good food and friends and family?

As Mike and I are remodeling his family house on the farm, I am amazed at the cost and all the purchases required. And that brings up the question a lot. Do we need it? Should we get it? Are we being extravagant? This is partly brought on by Mike not really caring what we get, just as long as I am happy, and will I stop asking him if he thinks it's pretty.

I've been trying to cut costs to lessen my guilt, like going with Ikea for the kitchen (still not cheap!), finding fixtures on Ebay, and generally spending all my spare time online trying to get deals. But it is still expensive and it shocks me. But here is my confession...I don't get the cheapest faucets out there, (see above). Nope, I want the prettier ones and I work like crazy to find it cheaper than retail.

But why am I spending so much time finding and buying this stuff. To paraphrase Tom Shadyac, "Does taking care of stuff make you happy? We don't need to take more than we need." (Well, we do need a faucet, but is my life better because I got the prettier one?)

But what can I say, I do love a well thought out design. Here is a very beautiful kitchen I have in my inspiration folder, found over at for the love of a house.





I think this will be an eternal struggle, but would love to know your thoughts.

LED LOVE

I was talking to some family last night about how much I dislike the fluorescent bulbs. The light is harsh and they are toxic to throw away. So I went on a search to see if they made LED lights in the shape of regular bulbs and I came across this beauty at C. Crane.


It creates a warm light closer to an incandescent bulb, lasts about 10 years of average use and doesn't have any mercury or lead. Not cheap, but not as expensive as it used to be either! And it's quite pretty.

Just thought you should know.

VOTE...VOTE...VOTE

Now that the wedding is over it's time to vote over renovation items.

I think the choice of bathtubs is a hard one because 1. buying online is less expensive, but you can't sit in them and give them a test drive 2. They aren't cheap, even online 3. They are hard to return if you don't like them.

I am a big advocate of buyers remorse. I have it all the time. In fact, Mike and I went down to the states to order kitchen cabinets. The next day I canceled the order. Mike thinks I'm nutso. Between hunger and a crying baby, I just don't feel like I was able to evaluate the cupboards well enough. And they are a LOT more expensive than a tub, and harder to return as a matter of fact. So, we are going with the $3000 cheaper Ikea cabinets and I'll just paint them. Eventually. Probably by the time Casey it 10.

What was I talking about...voting. Here are the contestants.

1. Classic pedestal cast iron tub. Beautiful, sit at either end, classic.


2. Ignore the ugliness the tub is inset into. Most affordable option. Notice where the overflow valve is set. Nice deep tub. Good sloping back.


3. Beautiful modern freestanding tub.


4. I didn't like this tub at first, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. I don't know why. Will dog hair get stuck under the slope at the bottom?


Not a tub, but a sink I WANT SO BAD!! I will give a dollar to anyone who can find it for me. I think it is a salvage school sink. Lethbridge doesn't have much for awesome flea market finds. When you do find a great item, you fall all over yourself trying to get it before someone does.


So VOTE!

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

This song title ranks as Mike's third worst song out of five.

Tonight we are looking for antiques online to use in our kitchen island. That's right, we have started work on the house at the family farm. He is in a house gutting frenzy and is pretty happy about it.

While searching for inspiration we came across this gorgeous island created by b-arch studio sabrina bignami. I think she/he/it/they are in Italy, so they won't care if I try and steal part of their idea for our kitchen.

I wonder how much it would cost to have someone build it...I wonder if I could build it...probably would take quite a while with a new baby in tow. Anyway, here it is in all of it's glory.

GOODBYE 2010...YOU WERE THE BEST

Well, this is it. We ended 2010 off with a bang by having a baby. Our best moment yet. He is beautiful and perfect and a complete time waster because all we want to do is hold him or stare at him. He came with masses of dark hair and it's only gotten longer in five weeks. Here he is fresh from the bath.





It's amazing how a person's perspective instantly changes. I'm so in love with this kid it still makes me cry. I've become a real crybaby; but only about happy stuff. I'm so lucky.

Oh, and for the record, all those people who said kidney stones were worse than giving birth, lied...

STORMS

My friend and old car pool sidekick Casey Hyer took this time lapse video of a storm passing over the Wasatch Front over 3 1/2 days. Gorgeous. I love seeing how the direction of the clouds shift. You should check out his other photography stuff here. I really wanted to fly him up to take pictures of our wedding, but...that didn't happen.

As a side note, you have to see his little girl, you have never seen bigger cheeks.

Time Lapse Storm in Utah's Wasatch, Nov 2011 from Casey Hyer on Vimeo.

LANDFILL

So, lately I've been reading blogs of people who produce very little garbage. I love the idea but it's a really hard task. Everything you buy is packaged, double packaged or triple packaged. Even if it doesn't need to be. Every time I go to the grocery store and buy a head of lettuce, I think, "Do I need to put this lettuce in the plastic produce bag?" The answer is no, but I do it anyway. AND I can never remember my shopping bags. So I have a drawer filled to the gills with plastic bags. I'm a creature of habit and laziness.


And then there is the subject of diapers... It's really what started my whole pattern of thinking. How do I keep from contributing excessive amounts to our landfills. Some people, especially family, will think I'm a tree hugger, but... I like trees. Is this a bad thing?


This morning I was reminded of my seemingly impossible desire when I came across these extremely cool bags. They are almost entirely upcycled from old materials. I want one. They would make a great but expensive diaper bag.

You can buy them at peace4you.


They remind me of these dresses made from old canvas tents Mike and I saw at an art gallery in Nelson, BC. Angelika Werth is the artist behind them. They fascinated me. I couldn't stop looking at every detail. This is where Mike and I went our different ways in the museum. He went in search of the History of Beer and I stayed put.


They make me think of an old rocking chair I bought. I was going to go and buy some canvas fabric to recover it, but maybe I'll go in search of something a bit more interesting at Goodwill and upcycle it.

We'll see. Only two more weeks until this baby makes his debut. supposedly.