Didja Miss Me?

Huh.  It's been over two months since I last posted.  Imagine that.  Apparently I suck at blogging when my life goes nutso.

I've been a busy girl.  Selling an old house, building a new house - so much to do, so little time.  The last we spoke, I was hoping for the builder to rev up the digger machine to start excavating the foundation for the new house.  Since then, we have come a  long way baby!  I'll let the pictures do (most of) the talking:

March 29th:  Digging the foundation - woo hoo!

March 29th:  Framing for the basement footings - Hartley & I are super excited!

April 4th:  Molds for the basement walls - time to pour the concrete!

April 15th:  Basement walls done - let's get the first floor started.

April 22nd:  First floor all framed.

May 2nd:  Second floor all framed.

May 5th:  Here comes the roof.

May 10th:  The roof is shingled and the windows are going in.

May 31st:  The field stone is being applied.

June 9th:  The garage doors are in, the siding is started and some trim is in place.

Despite the outrageous amount of rain in southern Ontario this spring, we've made some decent progress in two months.  Of course this is just the front exterior of the house.  Inside the house, we have walls being clad in drywall and mudded, plumbing being installed, electrical and network cable being wired and a gas fireplace finding its new home.  As well, the cabinets for the kitchen, butler's pantry, bathrooms, sewing room and library are being built.  Soon the flooring, lighting, plumbing fixtures and inside trim will be installed.

In the mean time, we staged our existing home and put it up for sale.  Thankfully, the first couple (a pair of soon to be newlyweds) that came through the house, loved the place and put in an offer.  After a bit of negotiating, we sealed the deal.  The only hitch is that we close on the existing house and get the keys for the new house on the same day - July 29th.  That is going to be one seriously hectic moving day - yikes!

I'm hoping to get back to a more regular blogging schedule now that I have crossed a few things off my to-do list.  I just hope y'all don't mind if I blather about house stuff for the next while.

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Denise, of The Blue Gardenia blog, has posted a wee interview with moi.  So, go check me out if you please.

In other news, I wish I could tell you all that I have been sewing but not posting about it.  Alas, my every waking hour, and countless sleepless hours during the night, have been focused on picking out more "stuff" for the new house.  We have now officially settled on most of the exterior and interior items.  But, it seems that for every step forward (we picked out all the kitchen and bath fixtures yesterday), there is one step back (the islands in the kitchen were too big to allow for adequate traffic flow and had to be redesigned).  However, since spring has sprung in these parts, the builder hopes to start digging the foundation very, very soon.  I cannot wait to see those digger machines chugging along!

Kitchen of my Dreams

When choosing a house plan, I knew I needed a kitchen that was central in my home and open to the main living areas.  I love to cook, so creating a functional, beautiful kitchen was a priority.  A few months ago, I shared my happiness over the purchase of professional grade Viking appliances for the new house.  I can't tell you how much I look forward to using the 6 burner range.  Ooo, nelly!

Since then, we have decided upon flooring, cabinetry and all the incidentals.  It has been especially tricky to maintain a proper balance between desires and budget considerations.  There are plenty of things I want, but we can't afford them all.

 

We have decided upon shaker style cherry cabinets for both the main kitchen area and the butler's pantry.  We have found a business that will recreate the cabinets in our present house.  Several years back, when we remodeled our kitchen, I designed my cabinetry and my father-in-law built them.  It was a wonderful partnership that resulted in fabulous cabinets and I always loved them.  Below are a couple of pictures of my existing cabinets. 

In terms of flooring, we are pretty set on Jatoba (aka Brazilian cherry) hardwood from Mirage.  It's a very hard wood (so it can stand up to Hartley's nails) that has gorgeous variations of colours throughout the boards (see photo, scammed from the Mirage site, below).  As you can probably tell, we are big fans of reddish woods.

Countertops were a bit of a agonizing decision.  We want to use quartz or soapstone, but it is just not in the budget at this time.  So, we will likely install laminate for now and replace it in the next couple of years.  I love a dark countertop, so we will be going with Wilsonart laminate in a colour called Graphite Nebula.

My sinks will be Kindred stainless steel, single bowl, drop-in sinks - a large one on the biggest island, a small sink on the smaller island and another bar sink in the butler's pantry.  The large sink will be equipped with an American Standard semi-professional pull-down faucet and an instant hot water dispenser.

The house will have a central vacuum system, with a dust pan in the kitchen area - I can't wait to sweep all my dirt into the cute little opening!

I still need to decide whether I will do tile or a stainless steel panel behind my range and I also have to find  stools for seating at my large island.  So many decisions...

Any tips or advice from the crowd?

Elevator?

In response to my last post, I got many a question about the elevator and the "hers" closet expansion.  So, let me set the record straight.

Yes, the plans do call for an elevator.  However, for right now, we are having the elevator shaft roughed in, but it will be fully enclosed and used as pantry space on the first floor and extra linen closet space on the second floor.  If the day ever comes that hubby or I cannot manage the stairs, we will have the elevator actually installed.  We are trying to think ahead as to our needs with this house and the possibility of increased accessibility in the years to come was a factor in the choice of this plan.

As for the "hers" closet expansion.  It is a 20'8"x6' (ETA: the architect redesigned the closet space, so now it is 20'8"x8'4" - oh, yeah baby, I may actually sleep in there on occasion!) extension that runs the length of the garage beneath and it does have a window at the far end.  Isn't it splendid?  Surely you don't have enough clothing to fill a closet that big, you might be asking.  Well, not quite yet...but I have big plans for the future.  At some point, I'm planning on hosting a tea party for my dearest girlfriends in there.  Tea, surrounded by shoes...quelle magnifique, non?


P.S.  Nice job on yesterday's title source folks.  There are a lot of My Fair Lady fans out there!

All I Want is a Room Somewhere...

You may have noticed the downturn in posting frequency as of late.  I wish I could say my absence was because of my long hours in front of my machine.  Alas, not much sewing has been happening around Chez HZC.  Mainly because hubby and I are busy picking out "stuff" for the next Chez HZC. 

Who knew that building a house from scratch would be so time-consuming?

Oh...so you say everybody knows that do they?  Piss off.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of tile, hardwood, cabinetry, counter tops, doors, windows, mouldings, siding, roofing, trim work and lighting.  It's frickin' exhausting.  Yet, exhilarating, all at the same time.  But, mostly exhausting.

So, I hope you all don't mind if I scatter a few house posts into the mix for the next while.

In that vein, I wanted to show you one of the most important places in the new house.  The Sewing Room (notice I capitalize Sewing Room because it's so darned important) will be in the largest guest bedroom.  To change the original house plan to better fit my sewing needs, a smaller closet was removed and the bathroom was converted into a Fabric Closet (again, the capitals are intentional - a Fabric Closet is nothing to joke about people).

The smaller area near the laundry room (which will be linked to the Sewing Room by a pocket door) will hold a cutting table.  The larger area will have two wrap around desks for all my machines and a chair for Hartley to lounge in while I create.  I am positively dizzy over the windows in this room - all that natural light will be devastatingly gorgeous, I'm sure.  I often have daydreams of myself in the space - windows thrown open, birds singing, machines whirring...ah, it's just so loverly!


* Bonus points to anyone that can identify the origin of my post title.

Lacquer Lundi

Y'all know that I am not a pink girl, but for Valentine's Day I have made the ultimate sacrifice and I have (among other polishes) some pink polish for you all to ogle.  I truly am a trooper considering that I think Valentine's Day stuff is mainly puke-inducing.  Especially pink Valentine's Day stuff.  So, don't say that I don't love you. 


On to the pretties:

Sally Hansen Nail Foils - Pink Foil
- purchased at The Bargain Shop (chain discount store) for $1.08 CDN

Pink Foil is wicked!  It is a hot pink polish with a glowy metallic finish that is super cool on the nail.  This is what all pink polishes should look like - hot and fab and kick ass cool!  My only complaint with Pink Foil is that it shows every ridge and imperfection of the nail beneath, so apply carefully for the best finish.

Pink Foil required one coat (yep, one single coat) for complete opacity.  It dried extremely quickly.  It wore well, with only tip wear after two days. 


Sally Hansen Nail Foils - Scarlet Foil
- purchased at The Bargain Shop (chain discount store) for $1.08 CDN

I bet you're thinking that Scarlet Foil looks a heck of a lot like Pink Foil above.  Well, you would be right.  They look the same in the bottle and on the nail.  I'm not sure if Sally Hansen is just messing with us or what, but Pink Foil and Scarlet Foil are one in the same if you ask me.  Regardless, they are still super pretty polishes and I'm glad to have them in my collection.

I got these two Sally Hansen Nail Foils in a a packaged assortment with a bunch of other discontinued Sally Hansen polishes.  Prior to this, I didn't even know Nail Foils existed.  I sure would love to find some others though.  Assuming there are others that are actually different colours.


Zoya - Blair
- purchased at spaboutique.ca for $9.00 CDN

Blair is one of the most gorgeous red polishes that I have ever worn.  It has a rich depth to it that is positively captivating.  Not to mention it's stunning metallic shimmer.  I could not stop staring at my nails when I wore this polish.  Blair is the best red polish that I own - hands down - bar none.  It is destined to be one of my favourites for a very long time.

Blair applied nicely (like all my Zoya polishes) and covered perfectly in two coats.  It wore wonderfully, with only tip wear after three days.
 

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Lavender Envy & Strobe Light
 - purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $1.52 & $2.95 CDN, respectively

Lavender Envy is a very sheer light purple (lavender) polish with a turquoise flash that shows up in certain lights when viewed from the proper angle.  For the woman that prefers a subdued polish with a bit of a fun edge, I highly recommend Lavender Envy (photo at left).


Hoping to add a bit of bling to my mani, I layered on Strobe Light (photo at right).  It is a sparkly pink glitter polish that is fun and funky.

Both polishes applied nicely (due to the great formula and the excellent wide brush).  I used two coats of each polish and even with the four layers, the mani dried in a reasonably quick time period.  The wear was good, with only tip wear after two days.  Although the tip wear was not very visible due to the light colour of the polishes.

Lacquer Lundi

So, it's been a while since I posted a variety of varnish, a load of lacquer, a plethora of polish, ... um, yeah...I'm done now.

Last time I was at Sephora, I picked up the Sephora by OPI Havana Nights mini collection.  It contains four tiny litle bottles of polish in the prettiest shades.  From left to right, we have Teal We Meet Again, Read My Palm, Rumba Romance and Caliente Coral.  Although I am not a fan of the mini brush (it's small, so it's difficult to hold and it doesn't fan out across the nail very well), I am a fan of mini collections.  They allow me to try out a bunch of neat colours without having to store large bottles of polish that will never get used up.



On to the pretties:

Sephora by OPI - Teal We Meet Again
- part of the mini collection purchased at Sephora for $18 US

Teal We Meet Again is a polish right up my alley.  I love teal and this polish delivers with its deep greenish-blue base that catches light like a beetle's wings.  It is so pretty that the cashier at the mall told me she loved the polish I was wearing.  Of course she did - it's gorgeous.

Teal We Meet Again required two coats for complete coverage.  It wore okay with tip wear and a few tiny chips after three days.





Sephora by OPI - Read My Palm
- part of the mini collection purchased at Sephora for $18 US

Read My Palm is a lovely blue-green creme polish that leans toward the legendary Tiffany blue colour.

Read my palm applied well, as the polish formula is good.  However, it did take three coats for completely opaque coverage.  Two coats would have sufficed for the individual that is not as picky about small streaks as I am.  The wear was good, with only tip wear after two days.





Sephora by OPI - Rumba Romance
- part of the mini collection purchased at Sephora for $18 US

Rumba Romance is a coppery metallic polish that glows on the nail.  It is a warm, beautiful colour.  It caught the eyes of many of my colleagues that thought it was beautiful as well.

Rumba Romance required two coats for total opacity.  It wore well with only tip wear after two days.






Sephora by OPI - Caliente Coral
- part of the mini collection purchased at Sephora for $18 US

Calienta Coral is a juicy orange creme that is bright and sunny and delicious.  Pretty much everything the weather around here is not right now.  But, never fear, warmer days are coming to the northern hemisphere and Caliente Coral would be a perfect mani/pedi polish for a hot summer day by the pool.

Unfortunately, I needed four coats of Caliente Coral to render my nails completely streak-free and opaque.  This means that it took a fair while for the manicure to dry, which is not good for an impatient gal like myself.  The wear was okay - I had tip wear and a few small chips after two days.

Before I sign off, I wanted to gush about my new favourite hand cream, Dermalogica Mutivitamin Hand and Nail Treatment.  A while back I received a free sample of this product (when I placed an order through Spa Boutique, they tossed in a few tester freebies) and I really liked it.  This hand cream is rich and moisturizing, without being heavy.  Best of all, the cream absorbs quickly into my skin and doesn't leave me with greasy mitts.  In addition, it also has a wonderfully fresh light citrusy scent that I find very appealing.  Love it!

Now, this stuff is not cheap compared to drug store brands, but I think it's worth the extra dough that I have to shell out for it.

Exams - Blech!

It's the end of semester one.  Which means it's time for final exams.  I do believe the only thing worse than writing final exams is creating final exams, proctoring final exams and marking final exams.  Oh and then I get to compute final marks and write report cards.  This time of year is always so crazy hectic that I barely have time to breath.

So, needless to say, I am dying to get back into the sewing room.  I have so many projects swirling around in my head and I have no time to make them come to fruition.  It's torture, I tells ya.  Torture!

The only good thing about the end of this semester is bidding adieu to a particularly difficult student.  Every once in a blue moon, I run across a kid that stretches my considerable patience to the limit.  That.Was.This.Kid.  However, to put it in perspective, I had 73 other students that were wonderful to be around.  So, the odds are still considerably in my favour.

Any other teachers out there with a student (or twelve) that just drives you batty?   Tell me about it, so I don't feel like I'm alone in my misery.  *sob*