A Weekend of self discovery...

This past weekend my daughter and I attended a local Alternative Wellness Fair in our town.  This is something I have been drawn to for quite some time. Although I am not religious I am very spiritual and have very strong values and beliefs.

At the A.W.F I had a Chakra Balancing done by Fran from www.Bearelements.ca, followed by an Angel Card reading and lastly a reading done by Shanel from http://fourweeangels.weebly.com. I am not going to go into a lot of detail, but it has reinforced my beliefs and encouraged me to begin training and learning about Reki and to further my understanding of Angel Card Readings. I am so excited, I am going to be doing my first Reki training THIS weekend.

I have felt what some might say is a calling. I simply believe that I am being drawn to a simpler life. I want to strengthen my connection to others and to the world around me. I guess that is where my wanting to find a small hobby farm has come from.

I believe we need to go back to a simpler time when communities took care of each other. A time when money was a by product, not the be all and end all. I hope to make a farm, a home, a welcoming place for friends old and new to come together and share in good times and love. Through this place I want to help provide fresh produce, eggs, chicken and perhaps some other wellness inducing products and services to help people to heal themselves, to honor themselves and to love themselves.

I have heard older people speak of the ""rough patches" in their relationships and their lives before. Well, last night I was watching Oprah's new show and she was talking to Tony Robbins. They were talking about how he called those times when things were not going your way, when things seemed all bad and even hopeless as "Winter". This is not something that can be prayed or wished away. It's something that you must go through. You must live through it, learn from it and evolve from it's lessons. Wow, isn't that interesting.

So the the "rough patches" are our Winters which we have to go through, but why?

We all know what follows Winter is..... Spring and Spring is a time of renewal. A time when we review what we learned from the Winter. So we can then better our lives.

I have had my fair share of Winters in my life. I am not bitter. I am not angry. I am not disheartened. I have been blessed with lessons that have brought me back to my inner peace. I believe we all have gifts to share and I am grateful that I am being blessed with a new Spring in my life. I can't wait to begin sharing my blessings with my family and friends, new and old.

I hope that you may see your way to your new Spring and feel free to share your lessons, it's beauty and blessings.

Our country house dream...

People who know us know we are not afraid of a challenge. we have done Reno's both small and large. We have even taken on a renovation that the real estate agent and even the home inspector said to run from.

We are in the process of finding our next home. Will it be a project? Of course! Will it need a little work or a lot of work? That is yet to be seen since we haven't decided on a home yet.

We have a laundry list of must haves, likes, wants and needs to put out to the universe to deliver at it's discretion. Starting with but not limited to good bones, solid structure and lots of land. I tend to love my privacy.

Imagine a two storey farm house with either a wrap around or many porches. White trim surrounds the house and porches, some screened areas and some open. A place to sit in the late afternoon/evening and read a book or engage in conversation with someone or just relaxing enjoying the clean country air and tranquility.


The white farmhouse family kitchen will be a gathering place, a baking place, a canning place and a loving space. It will nourish and comfort you.

Maybe something like these..

The family room and dining room allow for multi- generational family gatherings at all the holidays. These are welcoming spaces. Warm and cosy, with lots of natural light and wood floors.

There are 3 or 4 bedrooms upstairs and even though our family is getting older, almost ready to leave home, we want space for them and their children to have a bed to sleep in when they visit. Our youngest will be with us for some time yet, it will be a while before the house becomes too quiet. Oh, who am I trying to kid. Our house will never be quiet, never mind too quiet.

There have been requests for multiple garages, a barn or outbuildings, lots of storage, beautiful views and my own personal request... a place for chickens.

That's right I want some really cool layers like these.

Self sustainability is my dream. I believe we should go back to a system less reliant on consumerism and more self reliance. Grow what you can, use what you have, trade, barter and buy only what you can't get otherwise.

Possibilities for gardens

My husband and I are looking for somewhere to start our furniture refinishing/repurposing business. We plan on working together from home in the years to come.

The process of selling our house...

Well, the hubby and I have decided to list our house for sale and begin the process of looking for our next home.
It's been a difficult week clearing out all the projects we haven't gotten to yet and putting them in a storage unit. We decided it was wise to go ahead and rent a unit to give us, and when I say "us" I mean me some peace of mind.
We have had showings almost every day and we may be getting an offer on our house tomorrow. Here's keeping the positive mojo flowing! I have said all along, even before we listed that it would be sold in the first month.
I thought I would add a few pictures of the inside of the house and show you what everyone else is seeing.

I guess we can start with the renovated kitchen.
We removed the wall where the peninsula is. We then put in all new cabinets, counter top, lighting, flooring and painted. Well might be easier to say it was a gut to the studs, re- insulated and rebuilt.

This is a picture of our renovated laundry room.
Everything you see in here from the floor up is new too.

Our renovated basement/family room.

Basement was a gut and redo also, we love how it feels now.

Here is hoping the people who have looked at it can appreciate all the work that has been done and that they love it as much as we have.

A blogging I will go...

I have followed many blogs in an attempt to build up my courage before diving in with both feet on my own. Well, I have worked up the courage and I am now diving in without any reservations.

Wow, why does it feel like pudding in here? OK, maybe oatmeal. I crack me up. ;-)
Man tough crowd!

My hubby and I have a couple house Reno`s under our belts and we are now looking at buying yet another fixer upper. Perhaps our biggest one to date. I will be posting our renovation`s  room by room once we acquire our new property.

For now I will begin by wetting your appetite by sharing some pictures of our last two projects. I will call them simply country house and city house.

COUNTRY HOUSE

Front Yard - Before and After

We replaced all the windows and resided the house, but we opted to keep the angel stone on the front. Everyone seemed so distressed at the mention of our covering it up and I was glad we did.

We poured a new sidewalk and landscaped around it with low maintenance perennials and shrubs.

Family Room- Before and After

I couldn't say good-by fast enough to the disconnected wood stove, fake beams and panelling.

Living Room - Before and After

Need I say anything.

Laundry Room - Before and Peak of After

This was a gut and re-do. We found mould around the sink walls...gone!
We decided to go with stacking washer and dryer.That allowed for a corner shower instead of the small closet shower that was originally there. The floor we decided to keep. YA SURE! We replaced that fast, fast, fast!

CITY HOUSE

Front of House- Before and After

We did some minor landscaping, new windows, new roof and changed the paint from green to black on the shutters. The front door colour is now a grey with a slight green undertone. Classic!

Back Yard, Side Yard and Driveway- Before and then the After


 Say Good bye to the grapevine! Making room for the shed.

Need a little more privacy, maybe a fence to match the accent panels in the back yard.

Shrubs gone! Just too big for this area. Also removed the English ivy vines that not only covered the chimney area, but also started to eat away at the pointing around the bricks.

Shed - before trim

 Shed - Complete

 Back Patio - In Progress

 Then Patio After

Looking through the gazebo to the fire pit area.

 Side Yard - After

As much as I love an English garden in the right location,this area was emptied of every plant and piece of bind weed we could find. We replaced the soil and put down weed barrier then added low maintenance grasses, Hostas ornamental tree`s and black mulch.