Luckybeans

One of the things I do when things get challenging for me is clean. I pull out a basket, load it up with cleaning supplies, and bury myself in scrubbing and tidying. Maybe it is because I can bring things under my control, make them behave how I want to, give a space tidiness and order and hopefully a bit of beauty.

In any case, our bedroom and bathroom (not, as would undoubtedly be more appropriate, my essays) have been the subject of a lot of attention lately. So I decided to take some photos of them as I went. It feels like some sort of reward to have things documented as clean and tidy. Even if it doesn’t last. And I like being able to look back and see how things were.

This was our bathroom before we moved in (it’s all in the green coyote):

And now:

 We re-tiled, replaced the sink and toilet, repainted, put in new hardware and a new mirror/medicine cabinet. I know it's not from the same angle, but the real estate agent must have been up on a ladder, which I most certainly was not.

I like clean, simple bathrooms, with a few things to focus on. We have a simple bird painting on the wall and a necklace given to me by my father when we left Kenya, and hand made pots with natuer finds on the back of the loo and windowsill (why yes, that is a hippo vertebrae).

I also wanted to share this ingenious solution (ahem) to wet bath mats:

We put our cotton rug (from Malawi) on top of a slatted wooden mat so that it dries nicely between showers. No soggy mess.

And also, in case you are incurably curious like I am, here is the inside of our medicine cabinet:

Simon also keeps things in the drawers under the sink. The big cupboard over the toilet holds bulk supplies, but is mostly empty. Out house has a ton of storage. I never thought I would say this, but I think it has too much storage. We have empty cupboards and drawers, and ones filled with things I would rather not hold on to.

Anyway. Exciting as my bathroom is (blogs can be so weird), on to the bedroom.

The bedroom before (it was actially one of the nicest rooms in the house, to be honest):

And after:

We didn't do too much in here. Again with the lack of wide-angle lens and ladder climbing. But I'm sure you can get the idea. We repainted, replaced the fan with a light fixture, and added two windows on either side of the bed. The room actually looks smaller now because we have a California King sized bed. This is where we keep the tv, too, so we don't keep it front and center, so to speak. We don't watch a lot of television, but snuggling up in bed to do so makes it special and fun. We don't have tv or cable, just netflix. At some point, I would like to add more art (photos?) to that blank tv wall. Bit by bit.

Okay. That's all I've got. Isn't it nice and clean, though?

Not too much to say today. School has been busy, I have been battling a cold. It is grey today,and the leaves are pouring down from the trees.

Some days I just want to linger in the quiet. Many days, truth be told. I find myself thinking long, slow thoughts that spiral into deep, seldom-lit places. Nothing perturbing, merely different. Maybe it comes with fighting off illness, maybe with the darkening of the days, this gazing out of the windows for long periods of time, wanting to spend time drinking tea and in the garden. But that is not the pace of my life these days. So I catch the moments when I can: slow down, llinger, dwell in a fleeting stillness. 

Also? There will be 18 people at my house for Thanksgiving. Now what do I make of that?

 

Filling our days

 baseboards

 boxes and Ikea assembly (yes, the six year old built our couch)

 tea parties

 fishing and rocketships to the clouds

 apples to applesauce

 and escapes to the woods where we can enjoy ferns and trees, moss and berries, egg shells, feathers, owl pellets and a thousand other treasures...

Phew

 Well. We are now in our new house. No furniture for quite some time to come yet, and a lot of work to be done, but we are getting there. For example, we now have floors and internets. 

 (I love how the dust mask matches so well)

Simon finally arrived to join us, and that is always a huge relief. We seem to spend a lot of time apart, but I never get used to it or enjoy it. Which is probably good, right? We are mostly focusing on the house right now, but try to get out too. Or else the children go a bit mad.

 

Ok, I lied. We do have a chair. And it is perfect for curling up to read in. Especially with Auntie April (who now lives five minutes away. Walking!)

Before & After

It's very nice to have a Simon about the house. If ever you see one wandering in the street, you ought to take him home. If you feed him well, he can do Useful Things such as making a cedar box to cover the circuit board, perfect for displaying your spoons from the market

The Girls' Room

Hello there. I hope those of you celebrating Christmas and Hannukah had a wonderful, warm, love-filled holiday. We spent Christmas day playing in a stream on Michiru with friends-- a very good day.

Here is a long overdue peek into the girls' bedroom. They wanted a "nature"  room. Their room is quite small (their beds are literally less than a foot apart), so the built-in cupboards along one wall were a real boon.  Especially as one of them is entirely filled with books! 

A lot of their toys (Waldorf dolls and clothes, playmobile) are stored under their beds in soft bins, and they each get a "special place" to keep their own treasures. Bella's drawers are currently filled with a random collection of small boxes and toilet paper tubes for building things. I try not to open them if I can help it.

This is their nature shelf which reaches along one side of the room. I framed pages from vintage science books that were in complete disrepair, and a few prints I found on Etsy. It's great-- everything from planetary orbits to wee witches to eggs to the parts of a cell to botany. They also keep their best finds up here: hedgehog and porcupine quills, feathers, luckybeans, interesting stones, a nest, a snakeskin, even a hippo bone. There are a few more posters under the shelves as well-- gemstones and the Care and Keeping of Sprites.

I also scanned in this cover from an old Cricket magazine to hang by Bella's bed. She is a huge Cricket fan, reading all my old back-issues from 1983-95. Hilary Knight is a great artist-- what can I say?

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of their paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A few of them were ones my own Grandfather brought back with him from his time in Japan. He fell in love with the culture, and brought back many lovely things, and it is so sweet to me that my girls play and sleep underneath them.

Oh yes. Just a wanted to let you know that Zinc is doing well-- no more pooping in the drive and much more well behaved in the jumping department.

The Bedroom

Sometimes I wish I could be bothered to take artful, beautiful photos of our home and arrange them in inspired collages for your viewing pleasure.

But then life kicks in and you will have take what you can get. Sorry, my dears.

So this is the children's bedroom. It is quite small, and it (as well as the playroom) are very much the children's own sense of style and arrangement. They chose the colours, etc.

Right inside the door is this large blank wall. We put up some eeBoo bird cards, and the dolls sleep in their bed here (the doll quilt was made for me by my Auntie when I was quite small).

This is Asher's bed and shelf. Our Baha'i children's books, some of his favourite books, and some of his toys reside here. I swear his doll has a head in real life.

He usually keeps his log cabin pillow on the bed, too. It was in the wash.

I sat at the head of Asher's bed to get this shot of the girls' bunk bed and shelf. The three bins under the bed hold playmobile. The girls each keep their "special things" on one shelf each, then there's hair accessories (I have the system-- what will it take to get them to use it?) and jumpers (sweaters). The door to the left leads into the bathroom.

Ana hangs a pocket watch from the top bunk so she can check the time. You also can't see this, and it was too dark to get a phot, but she has stuck pictures (mostly fairies and dragons she has drawn herself) all over the bottom of the top bunk so she can see them when she is lying down.

Bella, however, sticks with polar bears. For some reason only half of them were present for this shot. I hate to think what they must have been up to...

And here is your special weekend bonus:

Because I just knew you were dying to see the kids' toothbrushes.

Have a wonderful weekend.

You asked for it.

I've received multiple emails for photos of the inside of our house. I thought we could start with the children's playroom as I've also received requests regarding what types of toys we have, how they are organised, etc.

It is a bear to photograph as it is quite dark. I did try, but gave up after results like this, and you get an amalgam of individual shots instead.

I should also point out that the playroom and bedroom are connected, and all three children share both.
Here we go:

A basket of maple blocks that my brother and I played with, and were hand-me-downs then (Mr. Puppet Man resides there. I don't know why-- he just does). Also, all of the softies currently not on bed duty, and the chapter books. Although you can't really see this,most books are stacked two deep.

The walls of the play room are cream, and we hung up lots of the children's art as well as self-adhesive wall paper dots that they each drew pictures on. That wee cupboard holds the dress-up, doll clothes, and much used baby blankets and quilts.

These vintage animals and little trees (and felt chameleon) reside on the window sill. I am not sure why I like them so much, but I do.  The buntings from the old playroom are up, too, but I couldn't manage a decently lit photo and am too lazy to find the link. Sorry.

Simon and Bella built this "kitchen" during his lunch hour on her fifth birthday. It is still going strong. So is the pin board that was a gift at least six years ago... And every good chef needs a dump truck to deliver the goods, but I suppose you know that already.

Over the kitchen is Ana's shelf: favourite books, a nest, some dragon models. You know.

To the left, a basket of silk scarves. Magnets and gyroscopes and other science toys are in the suitcases on top. The first shelves hold: musical instruments (most out and in use elsewhere at the moment), legos, and finger puppets. The next row: wooden train set and games. Finally, picture books divided by reading level (read aloud, beginner, intermediate), with a few cool things thrown in there, too.

On top: a locally made noah's ark set, the piggy bank, a Zambian made airplane and Bella made caterpillar. Next shelves: more games, some of Bella's treasures, comic books and readers with Popo's dominoes and a tiger. Followed by a mixed assortment of games, puzzles and Haba wooden blocks. And finished off with poetry and small sized books, Simon's egg toy from when he was a wee babby, cars, small animals, sand toys and kites.

And I forgot to take a picture of the balls and Asher's "fishing rod" and net.

Do you really want me to continue on to the bedroom? Really?

Patterns

Today at our house the following things were scheduled:
Installation of hot water for our theoretical shower
Installation of door to the room with theoretical shower
Installation of sink in children's bathroom (for the third time please-God-let-them-get-it-right)
Installation of four tiles missing from the middle of children's bathroom floor
Installation of carpet on stairs

Today at our house the following things occurred:
Installation of sink in children's bathroom (thank-God-they-got-it-right-enough)
Complete removal of all countertops in kitchen with highly toxic solvent
Complete removal of water in upstairs bathroom (home of theoretical shower)
Commencement of children's half term holiday right as afore-mentioned toxic solvent is wafted about by the bucketful

Patterns.

Other patterns, however, are far more amusing.

Meggie once had a cat named "Underfoot". Apt.

Little By Little, Bit By Bit

Simon says I am the only one who can tell the difference between the various shades of blue I bring home. But I can tell the difference, and it bothers me if the colour isn't quite right.

Most of the walls are cream. All of the walls are cream. But we will change a few-- the palest robin's egg blue for the living room walls and dining room ceiling. And I am going to paint the dining room walls white. Yes, I repaint in white. I love white. Soft grey in my office/ sewing room that is still a jumble of boxes. In this tropical climate, grey is soothing and calm to me. A medium, gentler form of aqua for the master bedroom, and a quiet green for the children's bedroom.

It is funny to me that the house still feels half finished, as if it were still in a box itself, until the colours go on the walls. "Environmentally challenged", Simon calls me. Ah well.