Container Gardening...

Well, my uber talented sister along with the ever creative Matthew Mead have created another beautiful magazine all about container gardening.  You can find this magazine at newstands everywhere!

Exteriors

As much as I love my cape cod, I don't love the wide colour lock siding from 1970!  We are pondering once again what colour to paint it and or to bite the bullet and go with new siding!  I won't be able to afford wooden siding which is what I really want, but I would chose the triple 3 siding which is more traditional than the new cove siding which I personally am not a fan of.

Here are some before and afters and some photos of cape cod colours that I like...



This is our cape cod.  Since this picture was taken, we have added new stairs and decks to the front and side entrance.

This photo and the two above is of the same house with before and after pictures.

I like this colour and this is the triple 3 siding I would go with.

This house is almost identical to ours with painted colour lock siding.

I love red!!!!  My husband, not so much!  I don't like the trim work on this house, but I do love the colour!

I doubt I'll do yellow. 

I like this colour, but I think it would date quickly.

Thankful

Like everyone, I'm sure you wake each morning & have certain rituals to start your day.  For me, it is opening the blinds, opening my livingroom curtains, throwing a load of laundry on, filling the cat bowls, patting my cat, usually unloading the dishwasher all before starting breakfast for the kids or my highlight....coffee!

In the evening, I close the curtains & blinds, I check the doors to make sure their locked, I load the dishwasher and try to leave the sink clean, put another load of laundry on and I putter away at the clutter from the day.

Of  late, I find myself pausing & truly acknowledging how blessed I am.  All over the world people are losing their homes to floods, mudslides, war, earthquakes, mortgage forclosures, job loss, the list goes on.

So in the mundane, give thanks for the small but precious rituals we all repeat on a daily basis in our homes, the homes we are sooo lucky to have!

"Arise, shine." Isaiah 60:1

Drudgery is one of the finest touchstones of character there is. Drudgery is work that is very far removed from anything to do with the ideal - the utterly mean grubby things; and when we come in contact with them we know instantly whether or not we are spiritually real. Read John 13. We see there the Incarnate God doing the most desperate piece of drudgery, washing fishermen's feet, and He says - "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet." It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different. When the Lord does a thing through us, He always transfigures it. Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Oswald Chambers ~ My Utmost For His Highest - February 19th

My Pretty Kitchen is being featured on Remodelaholic!!!

I was really surprised when I received an email tonight that my kitchen was going to be featured on one of my favourite sites Remodelaholic!!!  When I was getting the courage up to paint my cupboards I found this blog sooo helpful!  So many others have taken the plunge and painted their cupboards.  I got a lot of great advice on how to do it properly! 

So, thank you for including me on your blog!!! 

Wendy