Let it snow!...

I don't know why, but this year I've been itching to decorate my office for the holidays. Early.
BUT I made myself hold off and kept saying "wait till it at least snows!". Of course, as if on purpose, we enjoyed a warmer than usual autumn, and the average temperature in November was +10 C!!! Anyhow, we got our first real snow on November 23, which is when I busted out the scissors, and the cutting of paper began.

I always loved making snowflakes so I never thought of it as a special skill on anything, but after many oooohs and aaaahs from my coworkers and one suggestion that I should teach a class, I figured that maybe a blog post is in order :)

My office door window
(it's a pretty narrow hallway, so the photo came out a bit crooked)

Here are some of the snowflakes up close:

Now... Are you wondering how to do them? I will show you.

Nursery Closet project 2011

My daughter's room has been finished for a while now; however, there was one thing left - her closet doors. They are quite wide and tall as well = expensive to replace... But they really were an eyesore and totally didn't flow with the rest of the room.

A while back we were at Home Depot I forget for what, but while I was waiting for hubby to get his stuff, I noticed this Martha Stewart raised wallpaper stand. I was intrigued! Turns out all you really need to install them is glue. So... I bought a container of ready-to-use wallpaper glue and a roll of wallpaper.

Many weeks later, I got my sister to help glue them onto the nursery closet doors :)

Our supplies:

Before and after:

The pattern:

Now we just have to decide whether or not to paint it...

Baby's first foods

 When my little Miss V turned 4 months old (2 weeks ago) I started contemplating whether I wanted to start giving her the first tastes of solid foods. I decided to start with homemade apple puree. It actually went well - although she made a face at her first "bite", she was grabbing my hand and is starting to realize that she has to open her mouth when the spoon come at her, he-he : )))

So since it's been almost 2 weeks, I figured she's ready for her next fruit/vegetable. My next choice? Carrots. But I choose baby carrots because I find them to be sweeter than "regular" carrots. I also decided to mix the carrot puree with the apple to make the mix sweeter and tastier (steamed, pureed and no sugar added!). Personally, I think it tastes GREAT! And look how much puree 1 apple and 80 g of carrots made! 2 weeks worth!

Besides the fact that it's natural and homemade (gives me control over the preparation method and I know that nothing else was added), it's also cheap. Love it!

80 g of baby carrots + 1 "Red & Delicious" apple

Made purees ready to be mixed

apple + carrots (about 1:1)

2-week supply!

To Kill a Dandelion

Here's how it goes: after a few fruitless attempts to fight the explosion of dandelions on our lawn, my husband went and bought a weed eliminator for $30. I gotta say - it's worth EVERY PENNY!

Although not all of the weeds come out that great, this one here had a root of almost 100 cm (or 39 inches, we measured)! Must be all our good Canadian soil... BUT finally, the dandelions have met their maker, he-he...

{ click on image to enlarge }