The King of Green - Lawn-Boy

Every spring for as long as I've been alive my Dad has a sacred ritual of starting his Lawn-Boy.  

Step 1.  Roll it out of shed

Step 2. Quick wipe down

Step 3. Push gas button

Step 4. Pull the cord. Wait. Starts!

Every year, one after the other it starts after the first or second start.  

Without fail his lime and kelly green Lawn-Boy fires into action and another season of lawn maintenance takes place.  

You may be thinking "Well, duh, isn't that what a lawn mower should do?" 

And to that I say "Well, Yes young chap." 

But what makes this so extraordinary is that my Dad's Lawn-Boy has just turned 40!!!

That's right the old boy is 40 this spring.  

The only thing my Dad has had to replace is his belt about 15 years ago.  

What a piece of machinery, Lawn-Boy sure knocks it out of the park on superior design and reliability.  

Not sure how Lawn-Boy measures up today as we've never had to purchase another lawn mower.

Here's to another 40 years, eh Dad?

Lawn-Boy gets my Clever&Lovely stamp of approval.

Marcia

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's...Super Sassy!

What a fun summertime picture to do.  Draw a city scape on the road have child lay sideways a la super hero flying and voila really sweet picture.  I found this fun idea on Pinterest.  When I started on Pinterest a few weeks ago I vowed to myself I wasn't just going to "PIN" ideas and never do them.  So...so far I've done this art with Sass, my niece and a couple of neighbourhood girlies and it was a lot of fun,  I've done 4 recipes that I "Pinned"  and I ordered 2 really great lunchboxes for the kids that I "Pinned".  Safe to say I am a "Pinspert" (Pinning expert) now.  If you have trouble with any type of addiction I strongly suggest you stay away.  It is that good.  Every "hit" of Pintesest is just as potent as the first.  You know what?  It is just good clean fun.  When my hubby is on Night shift it is a nice way to spend a couple of hours. It has everything from Homeschooling ideas, to travel, to tattoos, wardrobe...it has EVERYTHING all rolled up into one great site. I love it.  So check it woulda already.  Follow me and I will follow you.

Have a Pinteresting Weekend,

Love

Marcia

Hello My Name is Marcia and...

...I am addicted to MLS and HOUZZ.  I cannot look away.  It is starting to feel really dirty with every click drawing me in more and more,  oh just one more image of kitchen tiles, click, click, that floor is stunning, click, click,click, I wonder if Dalton could make that, click, click...oh my word it's 2:00 a.m. 

marseeya's ideas

Houzz- Kitchen Remodels, Bathroom Remodels and More»

Browse Furniture on Houzz- For Example:

Rocking Chairs · Chairs · Sofas · Ottomans And Cubes · Side Tables And Accent Tables · Benches · Armchairs · Love Seats ·

Click on the tiny dots to see the kitchen porn I've bean jonesing after. 

Have a great day,
Love
Marcia

I am not a handy person...and that's okay.

Our main bathroom...is ugly. We have done a couple of things to make her feel pretty but when I go in there is just no covering up the ugly. One of her biggest flaws is the bath tiles. No matter how much I clean them the grout is still nasty looking and really warn down. So me being the brainiack I am thought I would re grout the "mutha ucker". Well holy hell I did a terrible job. Luckily I only did one wall before my hubby got home and the look of pity said it all. He felt so bad for me, wasting 2 hours on it when now I have to spend even more time scraping the grout off. He then shows me and "voila" easy, neat, tidy, no mess. This is one of those moments when you learn from your mistakes...I guess. But now I totally don't feel like doing the rest. ugh. These delicate hands were not made for grouting.

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On a completely off topic note. The board is talking about CLOSING our over populated Elgin Market Public School and busing ALL our Children to KTTPS. There will be a meeting of concerned parents/guardians January 26th at 7pm, in the multi media room at Huron Heights, in collaboration with the Home & School.

We will be working together to make a proposal to present to ARC on March 3rd (it needs to be well researched and will not be ready by the 7th, March 3rd is the ONLY other date they are taking ideas).

We need everyone's input!!
See you then, bring a friend.


Bye for now
Marcia

Happy New Year...First Day of The Rest of Your Life. Rejoice!

My first entry into the new year. Why the wait? Well the end of 2010 was a bit glum and I really wanted to start out this fresh new year on a bright, cheery and healthy note and while I feel like I am moving forward and on the mend, today seemed a good day to write...I'M Still Here! woopie! yahoo! Life is GOOD.

I will ever so quickly touch on the subject of the glum. I got really ill with menegitis and was hospitalized for a week before Christmas. A few of those days I was in hospital I thought they may have been my last on earth. (hence the glum part) But through the power of love, family, friends, prayers, meditations, nurses and Doctors. I have pulled through. And let me tell you this "Reset button" in my life has not been lost on me. I am grateful for the many 'gifts' I recieved through this time. So much love to the people around me.

I have had a lot of time to sit with my thoughts and my dreams these past few weeks and I have some fun plans for my blog and my life in the next few weeks so please check back at your leisure or even a little sooner than that. One thing that came up is my son has asked that I not share anymore stories to do with him, especially when they are about behaviour stuff. I must respect his wishes and have decided to switch up the content a little. Both of my kids are a bit older now and I do not want there privacy disturbed so if anything is posted about them I will ask there permission.

My true passion is anything to do with home design, home decorating, home staging, furniture, wallpaper, colours, repurposing. Walking through the doors of Homesense and likes of gives me such a sense of peace it can only be discribed as home to me. I can stay up until the wee hours going through my design magazines, tearing and making notes and drawing. I lay awake in bed coming up with house plans big and small...mostly small to medium homes. I drive by homes and think up curb appeal changes for the homes I drive by, I love going on mls.ca and dream about going into the homes for sale and staging and rephotographing them for the agents. (come on people take the knicknacks down off the shelves, and would it kill you to strip the 1980's boarders off your walls or have someone do it for you. Many buyers cannot see past the decor)

Don't worry i'll still be writing about a bunch of other stuff I love and purhaps you do too, like food, health, kids, family etc.

I'm just so happy my heart was ready to start writing again and my fingers were thrilled too.

See you soon,
Marcia
xoxoxo

Project Driveway

I am so mad at myself...I just finished writing a post about an hour ago and for some reason I erased it. Bugger, shit, damn, darnit, cuss, blinking, flip. I won't do that again, I'm still stewing from it...and...now...I'm done.

Remember Me?....

Ya? No? Well I'm the dining room set that has been in the family for 30 odd years, that Marcia absolutely loves and was in the middle of redoing when....
VOILA! This curvy legged, sturdy, comfy seats dining set entered the picture. What ever happened to me? I'm sanded, repaired (by Rick) cleaned and ready for a fresh coat. Maybe one day she'll love me again.

I'm thinking of painting the hutch a glossy white...what do you think?

It's true Dalton and I fell in love with this new set, how could we resist. She was 50% off and we really liked her. We were so seduced by the "Business closing 50% off" But when we saw her we knew we had to have her.

Lovely Peonies in celebration of our 8th Anniversary. Merci Mama et Papa, they are gorgeous and smell delightful. They will always remind me of my Wedding Day.


I am smitten and have been bitten with inspiration from Holly at White Berry in Western Canada. I have never been into Shabby Chic, but her take on it is so lovely I am going to incorporate it into my Contemporary Glamorous Minimalist style. So I believe that would read "Shabby Glam with a side of Contemporary Minimalism" Yes, that is my style and I like it. If you like something make it work. So the other day I found this beauty on kijiji, I swooped down and bought it, today I sanded, cleaned and primed it, tomorrow I paint it. Oh and I bought lovely new pewter drawer pulls I think will work just nice.


Finished project updates soon.

A family picture gallery I have been wanting to do FOREVER but have not gotten around to it because of my Major disease...Procrastination. Don't worry it is not contagious but it is terminal and I live everyday with it, it's who I am and I'm not going to fight it anymore. Some days are better than others, those would be the days I actually get stuff done and most people wouldn't even know I have it.
Anyway, I really like the way it turned out, I love seeing these pictures everyday, each one of them brings a smile to my face.




So, what have you been working on lately. I'd love to know. Don't be a strange and drop me a line.

All my love
Marcia

Remember me?....

Ya, I'm the dining room set Marcia was going to refinish because she LOVED me so much. Well, apparently not enough cause...
Voila, I've been replaced by this curvy number. She liked the curvy legs and the sturdy comfy seats. Nice. She even got me all taken apart, sanded and repaired (by Rick) She is so flighty.

It's true. I was in the middle of redoing the dining room set when Dalton and I walked into a furniture store going out of business and we saw this set for 50% off and absolutely love it. It is the first dining set we have bought...ever...we are officially grown ups buying dining room sets. What next...driving a mini van. (not that there's anything wrong with that)


This lovely bouquet of Peonies in celebration of mine and Daltons 8th Anniversary. Merci Mama et Papa. They are gorgeous, and always remind me of my wedding day.


New project, I bought this solid wood, Canadian made (in Quebec) dresser and Mirror off of Kijiji. I love it. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect first piece to redo. I have been officially inspired up one side and down the other by this lovely lady Holly from White Berry out in Western Canada. I was never into Shabby Chic but I have been bitten by this bug and I love her take on it, and I think I can incorporate it with my contemporary/Glam/minimalist style. So that would read "Shabby Glam Contemporary Mini". I like it. That's my style fo'shizzle.

Sanded, cleaned, now primed. I bought lovely new pewter drawer pulls. And I will be painting a very light grey/white.

finished project to follow shortly.
Family picture wall. It only took 3 years of wanting to get organized and up on the wall.

I really like the way it turned out.

What are you working on these days?

Have a lovely day
Marcia

Shopping in my Parents Basement

Popped by my mom and dads after work/kids school day for a cuppa Joe and a chat. While dad and I were chatting I had mentioned I wanted to give Sasha one of my Cabbage Patch dolls for Christmas and would he mind digging "Nicholas Albert Adams" out of one of our many boxes of dolls and stuffies. No problem. Then I remembered seeing these funky green glasses ages ago on their "Garage Sale" (btw the "Garage Sale Table has been around for about 12 years...my parents are not garage sale people so looks like I will have my own personal Eco shop for a while)table that I thought I would like. So I ended up having a wee shop. I have been wanting some good solid mixing bowls as well and lo and behold there was a perfectly good set in hues of avocado green. Fun. I remember loathing this colour as a child, possibly because it was the colour of everything in the 70s/early 80's, tub, toilet, sink, home decor, glasses, clothing...but now...I LOVE it, it just feels so retro yet earthy and goes great with pink or red. Next we found the glasses I had spotted, and there ended up being 2 types of glasses in 2 shades of green. Wow wow wee wow! Now I think the stubby glasses would be great for 'egg de nog' with fresh grated nutmeg and the mini wine glass shaped ones would be great for sherry and for the kids drinks at Christmas dinner, lovely for 'cheerzing'. oh oh then I found a box marked "Barbies". I opened the box and saw all these wonderful dolls and a flood of childhood memories went through my head. I saw my Brook Shields doll, with her luscious brown locks cropped to her head, a couple of other Barbies with their hair cut too, a couple with brown marker coloured on their crotch and underarm area...nice. (that one was compliments of my cousin Karen) All these beautiful gowns that I remember so vividly, the funky green and pink furniture, oh and the Cindy doll with the huge head, she was always the "bad" one. The ken dolls were wearing knitted outfits my Grandma from B.C. would make and send us. We closed up the box before I ended up tearing the whole box.
Me - "I can't believe you still have these."
Dad - "We have everything, the box is clearly marked "Barbies"
Me - "I know you have everything I just assumed these got lost"
Dad - "You and your sister need to come and take a day and go through all this stuff, I keep telling you guys"
Me - "I know"

My parents are not pack rats per say. They are the neatest, cleanest most organized people EVER. But I know why they keep everything...memories. You would never know they had a treasure trove of knickknacks, home decor, lamps, clothing, all of our toys and a mountain of high school and college stuff. And with a bunch of this stuff my sister and I have reused, re purposed for our homes and our kids. Watching Roland, Sasha, Lucy and Molly playing with our Strawberry Short Cakes, and Fischer Price Record players, ovens and little people is so much fun. Getting to relive our Childhoods through our kids...absolutely priceless. So this I say "Thank you" to my mom and dad. Just know it is truly appreciated that you have kept these treasures and one day soon Amy and I will help go through it all, and as you mentioned today "You're going to have to do it one day or another" I think it will be great fun, I can already hear the laughter and tears.