Heart Hair Pin

In honor of the month of love which will be upon us soon enough, I made a cute little heart hairpin. I made it out of things I had around the house so it didn’t cost me a thing.
I whipped this little cutie up the other night while I was watching tv.  I have a tonne of red felt from left over from a bunch of felt tree skirts I bought on clearance a while back for about a quarter each. So I cut our two heart shapes, sewed them together and stuffed the heart with some fiber fill. The white daisy is from vintage dress trim my mother had given me. I cut off one of the flowers and sewed it to the heart. Then I hit up my button horde stash and found two buttons that I liked and sewed them in the middle of the daisy.  Then I finished it off by sewing it to a hair clip I had kicking around.
I think it is so adorable and can’t wait to wear it in my hair. Would be perfect as a pin as well.
Hugs and Kisses from the Madhouse

Domestic Goddess????

Anyone that knows me, knows how much I despise cleaning. Just the thought of cleaning makes me cringe. I am forever looking for the easiest way to clean something to get it done faster. This loathing stems from growing up as Cinderella. I had a list of chores as long as my arm and they had to be done specific way on specific days while my brother got to play video games and have fun. I once asked my mother why he never had to do dishes or cleaning of any sort and was informed that “he is a boy” O.o This is why I made the decision that “the teen” will be learning how to clean because I don’t believe just because you are a boy means you shouldn’t know how to clean, but I digress.


I used to imagine myself as Cinderella waiting for my fairy godmother to come and whisk me away to the ball and my Prince Charming, just to make chores bearable. Sometimes it helped, most of the time it didn’t *lol*


Well I have been on my own since I was 19 and I have never been what you would call obsessive when it comes to housework. If I could put it off for a bit. To me, some dust bunnies weren’t the end of the world and clutter was constant because we had 2 adults and a child who has 4 sets of grandparents buying stuff for him in a small 600 sq foot apt.


Well over the last couple of months I have discovered a new love of cleaning and dreaming of my fairy godmother and my Prince Charming hasn’t happened at all while doing housework. I have actually been pretty surprised with myself. Since “the husband” hasn’t been in the house I actually enjoy cleaning. I have cleared out my backyard and winterized it. I have been keeping up with wiping stuff down and picking things up and putting them back in their place instead of saying “I’ll do that later”


The biggest thing to change for me is discovering my love of vacuuming. I noticed a small stand up was on sale and I thought “for that price, why not” I had several vacuums at my old apartment because it was wall to wall carpet and you needed one with all that. Our current home is wood floors because of “the teen’s” asthma, so I never bothered to replace the vacuum we left at our old place because it was broken. After 6 years of dealing with sweeping and the floors not being completely dust free I finally had a vacuum again and I am LOVING IT!!!!! I find myself looking for things to vacuum.


I have vacuumed out my couch for the first time in ages. I used to take a small brush and dustpan to clean it before but that was killer on my back and patience. I have been able to get into places with the attachments where I couldn’t reach with a broom so there is less dust bunnies hiding behind heavy objects. “The teen” has watched me in confusion at how happy I am to be cleaning, seeing as normally he sees me cringing the entire time. I feel so domestic lately. Everything I look at I want to clean and I am not even pregnant. =P


I am liking this new me and my new, cleaner house. I have also changed from using harsh cleaning products to using water and vinegar in a spray bottle. I was skeptical at first and didn’t think it was as good as store bought cleaners but I did some research and discovered that vinegar is a natural disinfectant so I have been using that and have discovered I am not having so much health issues from breathing in harsh chemicals, which also makes me more willing to wipe down things since I can breathe. Vinegar is also a helluva lot cheaper than other cleaning products so win for the wallet as well as my nasal passages *happyface*


Domestic Goddess? Not exactly but I am on my way and feeling great about it, with no fairy godmothers or Prince Charmings in sight. Now I am off to go find something else to clean =)




Hugs and Kisses from the Madhouse

365 Fail…

Sorry for being MIA as of late. Life has gotten pretty hectic and full of madness. I have several ideas for posts and projects but getting them executed has proven a little difficult when life gets in the way *lol*
I sadly need to report that my 365 Project had to be pushed aside. I think I made it 11 days. I might have bitten off a little more than I could chew with that project, and time just got away from me most days. So I have postponed it for now. I apologize to those that looked forward to my photos. I will continue to share photos I have taken so definitely check back often.


I have been pretty busy lately, I had my company New Year’s Party, which was a lot of fun. I had my SIL come with me and we tore up the dance floor and had a great time. I had a lot of compliments about how great I looked and even was stopped by a lady and was asked if she could photograph my necklace because she loves Cameos (as do I) and she is a photographer (as am I) so how could I say no. I was actually flattered to be asked.


I am so glad I decided to go even though I hadn’t been feeling all that well that weekend. I had actually been thinking about not going but after pep talks from both my parents and some friends I was talked into going. They all said I deserved a night out to have fun.  I also didn’t want to be one of those people that say they are going to show and don’t and the company still has to pay for the meal. Emergencies happen of course but it seems there were a lot of people that don’t show each year after saying they will be there. Kind of like a wedding I guess, you always have people that don’t show and you still have to pay for them, but I digress. It was nice to get out and chat with some friends and I got to spend time with my SIL which, whom I hadn’t seen in a while so it was nice.



I had a few co-workers not even recognize me. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing *lol* I wasn’t feeling all that well that day so I did put on a lot of makeup to try and cover up that fact. I don’t usually wear much makeup to work so maybe that was it. It was cute. My SIL and I ended up wearing similar colours and we both had flowers in our hair. Great minds think alike ^.~


Other happenings in my madhouse of a life. I got a tattoo. Back in April I had sat doodling at the table the night my baby would have been due had I not miscarried. I ended up with a doodle that I absolutely loved. It was 4 stars, 1 larger one and three smaller ones, surrounded with curly cues and little star dust looking things. As soon as it was finished and I had coloured it in I knew I had to get it as a tattoo, close to my heart. I coloured the larger star green because that is “the teen’s” favorite colour and then the three smaller stars I coloured, blue, pink and purple.


The tattoo is in honour of all my pregnancies. The larger green star is for “the teen” and the three smaller stars are for the pregnancies that didn’t make it. I surrounded the larger star with the smaller ones because I am sure they are looking out for their brother in some form, where ever they may be. Even though I didn’t give birth to them they are always in my heart which is why I wanted the tattoo close to my heart as I could.
I have had mixed reviews about my new tattoo but I love it and it is special to me so I just let the negative comments go. I had a friend tell me that it was poorly done, but it is not meant to be perfect. The guy that did it for me asked me if I had wanted it done exactly how I drew it,. He liked it as I drew it and said he could have perfected the stars for me and could make it perfect but then it wouldn’t be the drawing I did and he believes that sometimes perfect is “too perfect” and I agreed with that. I loved how I drew it, it is special and unique to me and that is all that matters at the end of the day. He did a really good job and doing exactly how I wanted it done. It suits me, after all, nothing in my life is perfect. *lol*





Well I am off to make some pasta for me and “the teen” and get to some more purging. It has been so nice to get rid of stuff. Make me feel lighter. Have a good weekend all <3

Hugs and Smocchies from the Madhouse

Better late than never…

I took my day 5 photo but wasn’t able to get it up yesterday, for several reasons. I have decided I will be making the 365 project a weekly thing. I will still take a photo a day but will only post them on the weekend. Finding the time to take photos, edit and write and post while life happens just doesn’t seem to be feasible, at this point in time anyway. So I will upload all the photos on the weekend when I had more time. A week in review, so to speak.


Been feeling a little under the weather so I am going to keep this short, so I can go medicate and crawl back to bed.


I couldn’t decide which picture I liked more for Photo 5 so I am posting two photos. The first one is the sun as I was coming out of work on Thursday. I think sunset is one of the most magical times of day. The colours are so amazing.





The second photo for Photo 5 is of the fur demon. She loves curling up in front of my monitor as I work at my computer. I went to make a cup of tea Thursday evening and came back to my desk and found this…





It would seem “the teen” thought she was cold and covered her up in one of his t-shirts. Normally she would protest this but she just laid there chillin at the computer snug as a kitty can be.


For photo 6 I have one of my favorite things, a Cameo choker. I am such a lover of Victorian style and dress. I have been collecting cameos since I was a child. I found this Cameo pendant back in October while I was shopping for a birthday gift for a friend. I just had to buy it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it but I knew I adored it so I bought it. It helped it was on sale for 40% off, how can you say no to that? *lol*


I finally figured out what I was going to wear to my company party but didn’t know how to accessorize my outfit and I thought of this Cameo. I had tried putting it on a silver chain but found the chain was too dainty and looked odd with such a large piece so I started digging through my massive stash of necklaces and found a choker I had already that I loved. It had a key pendant on it so I removed the key and placed the cameo on it instead and now I have a pretty Cameo choker to wear with my outfit.



and for comparison sake here is the choker originally.



Hugs and Kisses from the Madhouse.

Ever have one of those days?

I seem to be having a lot of them lately. >.>


What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, they say anyway.  This trying to stay on the positive side of things has certainly been trying *lol*  The week is almost over and the weekend is almost upon us. Time seems to be going so quickly these days. I remember when I was a child and thinking time couldn’t go fast enough and now I am wishing for it to slow down. Funny how things like that work *lol*


Been trying to decide what I am going to wear to my company party coming up soon. I have really wanted to make something  to wear because being a newly single mom, money is tight and I can’t justify going out and buying something new. I just can’t seem to get over my fear of making something. It looks so easy for the ladies that are average size but for those of us that are curvy it seems to be more of a challenge. At least I find it is a challenge *lol* I have a beautiful blue velvet coat that doesn’t fit me right and I think it would make an amazing dress. Just not really sure of my sewing skills to reconstruct it. *sigh*
 
“The Teen” and I went for a walk this evening and I took along my pocket camera in case I was inspired along the way. It had started snowing earlier in the day which seemed to warm things up temperature-wise. Which was absolutely wonderful. The walk was amazing as well. I love how winter can refresh you. The cool, crisp air (that isn’t too cold or crisp of course) just breathes a new life into you.
 
I did manage to snap some photos though, must keep to my 365 project. So here is photo 4 of 365.



I wanted to capture the snow at night and I am trying out taking photos at different angles to see what I like better. When I am not having to be on a time schedule it is nice to just play with different settings and angles to experiment. I have taken some amazing pictures this way.


Photography also makes me feel good about myself. My therapist did say I needed to do things I enjoy to lift my spirits so spending time with “the teen” and photography are big on that list. I got to do both on this trip. I think next time I will encourage “the teen” to bring along his camera as well. He has seen the photos I have taken of out of focus lights and he thinks they are so cool like *lol*  and he kept pointing at lights and asking me to take a picture of them like I did with the Christmas tree and bannister lights.


I am grateful that I have been blessed with the gift of looking at the world in terms of photography. It really makes me appreciate how beautiful the world is and see things from a different perspective. I see things I would otherwise miss. Something so ordinary to people can be something absolutely breathtaking when photographed. It would be amazing if everyone could take the time to see the world from a different perspective. It really does open up your eyes to the world right in front of you.


Hugs and Kisses from the Madhouse.

Just 5 more minutes…

That is what I was asking for this morning when it was time to get up for work. Managed to drag my tired behind out of bed and get dressed and making it outside to discover it was colder than the Artic. OMG it was crazy cold this morning and I had forgotten my hat inside (not really figuring I would need it since the day before wasn’t too bad) and of course because I had taken that extra 5 minutes on the snooze button I didn’t have time to run back inside to get my hat, another jacket and a fur coat and whatever else I could manage to find to stay warm in subzero temps or else risk missing my bus.


So off I ran to the stop, praying that my ears didn’t fall off on the walk. Thankfully the buses were running on almost normal schedule today unlike yesterday. But man, oh man were the sidewalks slippery. I must have been quite the site trying to run to make sure I didn’t miss my bus, while holding my hood in place and trying to keep my balance. Soooooo happy I didn’t end up slipping on the large sheets of ice. You can definitely count on getting some morning exercise when things like this morning happy.


One thing I find with the extreme cold is that it makes me unbelievably tired. Cold just seems to sap all your energy. It wasn’t so bad at work even with having little sleep. It was still a fairly long day though so I am going to be heading out as well. Just wanted to get in my Photo for today and wish all those that are in the freezer atm to stay warm and safe. Remember to bundle up to avoid frostbite. Not a fun feeling.


So for Photo 3  I decided to play with manual focus and my camera again. I managed to snap the following picture while swirling the camera. I absolutely LOVE IT. and “the teen” gave his seal of approval. so that is good too *lol*





Well I think I am going to call it a night now and make it and early night. I have a feeling morning will be here before you know it.


Hugs and Smoochies from the Madhouse.

Back to the grind after a week off, Yuck!

I bet you thought I forgot about taking a photo and on day two Tsk Tsk. I am a little late posting Photo #2 because it was the first day back to work after a week off and it was…let’s say…an adjustment.
I forgot about it being Sunday bus schedule due to New Year’s Day being on a Sunday and the Monday automatically because a holiday for those working in the government and whatnot. My work decided to give us Friday Dec 29 in lieu of New Year’s Day so off to work I trudged Monday morning and stood 40 min waiting for a bus that never showed. Needless to say my mood was not the greatest upon arriving to work thirty minutes late. I wasn’t the only one that had issues getting to work because their bus wasn’t running due to the holiday and Sunday scheduling.
Normally it wouldn’t be an issue but this great city of our decided to change a tonne of the bus routes and combine some routes while cancelling others. Every other year I had the choice to take one of two buses too work, both of which run on Sunday schedule in the early mornings., so for mornings like Monday it was never an issue because my bus was always running. However, since the change I have started taking a different bus which only runs every hour on Sundays and only starts at 9am. I realized after two buses should have gone by and didn’t that Sunday was New Year’s so the buses were on Sunday schedule and mentally swore to myself and trudged off to catch another bus.
Of course by this time it had started to hail. I have no idea where it came from. One second it was beautiful, albeit cold and then out of no where this wind picked up and a cloud of hard snow pellets started. I thought to myself “Great, just what I need” Seriously it is hard enough going back to work after the holidays and having a week off then to miss your bus and then get hailed on. If I didn’t know any better I would say the universe was out to get me *lol*  I am trying a new thing though and trying to think positively so I am glad that I am fortunate enough to have a job to trudge off to after the holidays and that there was less people on the bus this morning than usually, making it easier to find a seat. =]
So anyway, work was interesting. Everyone seemed to be having the same problem as me and being fuzzy from the holidays. So it was nice not to be the only one not seeming to be with it. The day seemed to go by pretty slow, which is normal for a Monday. Thanks to the once an hour bus I decided to walk to get another bus. I ended up stopping off and visiting my FIL briefly since his work is on the way to the bus stop I was heading to. Had a chat with him and headed back out to brave the walk over the highway. OMG the cold. It is amazing how cold it is walking where there is nothing to block the wind, but then I remind myself that I am glad I am cold because it means my body is working properly. It would be bad if I couldn’t feel the cold.
So I ended up having a good long walk after work, which I wouldn’t normally have had if the buses were running normally. I felt pretty good and refreshed by the time I got home. I had to pick up some groceries on the way home as well so I had that to help give me resistance to work my body. So all in all today I got in a lot of walking for the bus and exercise which is good for my health. See what I did there? Turning a negative into a positive. It actually made me feel better to think this way. Who knew? *lol*
Anyway, I ended up getting distracted when I got home with cooking dinner and chatting with my mother and other things I needed to do so I didn’t get a chance to post my picture but I did manage to take it. =]
It isn’t the greatest picture, not one of my better ones but I thought it was too cute not to share. I caught the little fur demon in my tree again. I was sitting at my computer and out of the corner of my eye I saw the tree moving and then turned and it stopped. I looked at the tree and all I saw was the fur demon staring at me through the branches in the middle of the tree. Normally I would tell her to get out of the tree but she just looked too darn cute for words so I had to snap a pic. I didn’t have much time so I only managed to get this one before she high-tailed it out of the tree “Since she KNOWS she isn’t supposed to be in there”
I still think it is a pretty cute photo of her, even if she was caught doing something bad *lol*


So day one after the holidays is down and onto day two. Counting down the days till the next long weekend, which is in February. “The teen” cackled maniacally when I was getting ready to leave since he isn’t back to school for another week. Why wasn’t I a teach again? Oh yea because I groups of children make me nervous. Who wouldn’t be afraid when they are outnumbered? =P
Hugs and Kisses from the Madhouse

365 Project…

Happy New Year all. I hope you are all recovering well from last night’s celebrations.
I have been meaning to start a 365 project for years now but never seem to actually get around to doing it and well with this new year and all the changes going on in my life atm. I thought I am actually going to do it this year. Part of my looking on the positive side of things for a change.
So I will be planning on taking a photo each day for the coming year and posting it on my blog along with whatever else is on my mind. These pictures are not going to be on any topic specifically, just whatever seems to capture my attention that day and I want to share. I hope that blogging this journey of mine will make me more accountable to actually completing this little project of mine. I have done a project on a smaller scale a couple of years ago, during one month but found that by the end of the month I was just not able to stick it out. I am hoping to keep with this one throughout the year. It is a pretty big challenge but I am up for it. Wish me luck *lol*
So after the ball hit in Times Square last night and the new year was rung in, I was wide awake and feeling crafty while I sat watching Mean Girls with “the teen”. My brother gave it to me for Christmas and he knows I could use the laugh right now. “The Teen” had not seen it yet and I put it on originally to watch alone while he played on the computer but he ended up coming over and joining me while I crafted on the couch.
I had seen a craft tutorial while perusing Pinterest earlier this week and thought I would give it a try. I had a bunch of red felt in the basement that I had set aside for crafting, although at the time I had no idea what I would use it for. Now it seemed to have a purpose. The tutorial seemed simple enough and something I could do while watching a movie so I got everything together and made myself comfy and pressed play.
It was great making something with my hands again. I miss crafting so much and I am getting back into it. It is amazing the accomplishment you get when you finish something. It is a little rough looking but I like it. I took permanent black marker and darkened up the edges to make it more grudge looking. I love it and can’t wait to wear it in my hair. I made it in a way that I can remove the clip  and slip in on a headband if I choose. Making it more versatile. I want to make dozens more in different colors and materials.
Without further ado, here is my first photo of 2012. It kind of reminds me of a Poppy so I could wear it in November as a pin for Rememberance Day.

I finally found a use for my millions of buttons and felt in my craft stash.
Well I am off to craft some more and be domestic.
Hugs and Smoochies from the Madhouse.

As the old year passes…

…it is time to reflect and look forward to the coming year with anticipation of what is to come.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

It was a pretty quiet New Year’s in our household this year. “The Teen” and I rung in the new year with pizza and The Emperor’s New Groove, old school style in a VCR. Yes, they still exist. I have a tonne of VHS and still love to watch on occasion. I have been cleaning out my basement and came across the tape and just had to watch it. Such a fun movie and it seemed fitting to ring in the New Year with a New Groove ^.~

My mother called close to midnight to play the countdown for us since we are without cable atm. She didn’t want us to miss it and we all counted down to midnight together and shouted Happy New Year. It was gloriously fun. A simple night with the people I love. It was the first New Year’s in 16 years that I was not with “the husband” and it was weird. Not that we ever really did anything special but it was weird not having him here to ring in the New Year. The New Year came though, all the same.

After “the teen” went to bed I had time to myself to think. Sometimes that is a good thing or sometimes it can be a bad thing. I started thinking back to when we moved into our current home. We moved in on New Year’s Eve six years ago. It is hard to believe that it has been six years already. I remember that New Year’s like it was yesterday.

We had to move and New Year’s was the night we had to move and at midnight we were in a big moving truck, just the three of us, leaving our old place for a new place and a new year. So much hope ahead of us. A new adventure for us. Sitting in that truck that night, as stressed as I was about the move I was happy. Happy to be with my husband and my son Happy to be together and falling asleep, utterly exhausted from the move, in the arms of my husband. Little did I know the heartbreak that would follow.

They say many marriages can’t survive the loss of a child, I suffered the loss of two children in the last six years and not once did he say he was sorry. In fact he never says he is sorry. I know men grieve differently but it would  have been nice to at least have him show some empathy and support for what I was going through. Instead he abandoned me emotionally and left me twisting in the wind.

So here I sit at my computer, wondering how everything went so horribly wrong. I can wonder forever and never determine what exactly caused this. So I figure what better time then New Year’s to put the past behind me and move forward with the future. I still have hopes and dreams. Some of the same one’s I had sitting in that truck six years ago, but I realized things have changed. I may achieve my dreams, just in a different way, and I am ok with that. Life is about the journey. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Right now I am living in the moment and taking it day by day. Working on getting myself to a good place and decide what I want with my life and who I want in my life and “the teen’s”. I don’t expect this to happen overnight but life is too short to spend forever wishing and waiting.  So I am going to live my life and see where it takes me. I have a lot of love and life and I am going to start living again and not dwell on the past so much. The past is the past for a reason. We learn from it and move on.

I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the best to you and yours in the coming year. May 2012 bring you much love, luck and happiness. Heaven knows we can all use a little more of it.

Hugs and Smoochies from the Madhouse