News of No News

 

Yes, we have no baby yet. Every time the phone rings, I leap from wherever I am and whatever I am doing to grab it. After all....it could be THE CALL. I've decided to give the new parents a day or two before I make my arrival. Given that we live near Toronto and they in Montreal, it means they would have a new baby and a house guest. I think it is nice to take your baby home, just the two of you and have a couple of days alone. After all, it is life changing. Two days, maybe three max, and I'm there with all my Nannie advice...

The parents to be have just moved house, so there will be lots to see and lots to talk about. I do know the nursery is pale grey and with white furnishings. I did buy bubbie this bassinet because I do think it is nice to have a newborn beside you at night. I got the ruffle too, because baby stuff cant' be too cute.

While I wait for the phone to ring, I've been busy photographing product for my SHOP. I've tried on every piece with various outfits and I'm truly smitten with it. Thank you to everyone who gave feedback on my photos and backgrounds. It was unanimous that the simple white or barn board was the favorite for the back ground. I'm trying hard NOT to purchase my own products, but the Isak Bracelet below caught my fancy. I like the "horse bit" styling and the tan leather.

I shall bring the news when it arrives...............

 

Countdown

13 days and counting down......Grandmother-hood is just around the corner. Is this not a gorgeous Baby Bump?

Posing.

I have such respect for photographers. I often think something will be easy to get good pics of, then fail miserably. For my new jewelry line, I've been snapping pieces all over the house. On old red barn wood, white plank flooring, white linen, and even on the pages of books. I love the way the pieces look on the photographic images, (they pose beautifully don't they?) however I'm not sure that is proper with respects to the original photographer. Thought? This bottom photo shows the bracelet that got me started on the whole line of Sno of Sweden. I bought it for a gift and then decided I should see about being a retailer. A bit of an investment in inventory, but at least I'll have lots of samples to parade around in.  The book with the gorgeous images is called Spirit of India by Parragon Books Ltd.

Sno Bound

I've been totally consumed with photographing my new line of jewelry that will soon be added to the Razmataz online shop. I am thrilled that Razmataz will be selling the gorgeous Sno of Sweden jewelry and I'm having a ton of fun with my new stock. To get the word around, I'll be having a giveaway shortly so check back to that. 

I'm heading to a girls dinner tonight to celebrate our husbands leaving us here, while they play golf, eat tacos and laze around the pool in Florida. While it's minus 5C here with a crust of icy snow all over just to make going outside really nasty. I'm bringing a bottle of white and a slightly too pink, girly girl cake! It almost didn;t make it. I came into the kitchen to find Frenchie up on his hind legs, feet on the kitchen table about to have his first taste of pink butter cream. Oh, that dog!  Have a good weekend.

The Baby Shower

Lindt chocolate bears dressed in pink or blue satin ribbons, Italian sodas in pretty colours.

Party favors....pink or blue nail polish by Joe

Wrapped in a little cello bag with pink or blue truffles

Blue or pink?

I stamped the tags with Peter Rabbit and glittered the ears either pink or blue and added a pom pom tail.

The beautiful mother to be.

TROUBLE

Our theme was white, with hints of pink or blue.

I love streamers and we hung them from all corners. This shot is before we noticed that the chandelier bulbs were burning the streamers.

The baby shower was a breeze. Usually I would stress for days with food prep and trying to get the house ready, but with a total of 5 overnight guests plus another dog, I decided to order trays of sandwich's, cheese, fruit and cheese from the grocery store and also served a crock pot of bought meatballs in Diana's sauce and sausage rolls. Desert was store bought squares and cupcakes from a nearby shop. A couple of hours before the shower, everyone did a quick pick up and tidy of the house and we set up a table for drinks and food. 

The day before I had made up the party favor bags with either a pink or blue nail polish and chocolates tied up with ribbon and a Peter Rabbit tag.

Not knowing the sex of the baby, our colour scheme was white. Which was good because my furniture is white and so are my dishes and napkins. We threw in a hint of pink and a hint of blue and it all looked very pretty. 

Our guests were very generous with their lovely gifts and support for our mum-to-be and baby.
They left for home (Montreal) with the car stuffed to the max with lovely baby bits and happy hearts after visiting with lots of family and friends well into the evening.

Boy Child and DIL are moving this weekend just to spice things up a little. Why not move in your 9th month.I moved 5 days before he was born and I know that's a difficult thing when heavily pregnant.

It's not my story to tell, but my Daughter in Law and her family have been through the wringer for the past 6 months. You can read about things in their words HERE, but to sum things up, their mother has been having treatment in the USA. She and their father have been gone for 6 whole months, an eternity to this extremely close family who get together several times a week, and for most of the duration on DIL's pregnancy. It has been so hard on everyone going though the excitement of a pregnancy, first grand child, niece/nephew etc and the stress of the family going through losing a grandparent as well as an illness.

BUT...I am so happy for them because today her mum and dad are coming home for a week. They will all be together under their home roof and celebrating all the going's on around them (baby, engagement etc). They have made some special preparations for today and I am just so excited for them all that they will be reunited today. 

I think they have an angel on their shoulder and his name begins with G.

Baby Shower Help

I'm a month away from being a Grand Mamma....I still don't have any idea what I want the baby to call me, but I think GRUMPY may be the word for Granny me. Have you heard the expression "Tea Cup Kids?" It's a name teachers have for today's generation that have grown up being told how smart, beautiful, talented etc they are. ALL THE TIME. Kids who win trophies because both teams get one, kids who play soccer games with no score, kids whose teachers can only select positive comments on report cards, when both kid and parent needs a firmer truth. It's a fine line between boosting a child's confidence and fixing his/her life to avoid all things that can cause distress, no matter how mild. I may have been a tough mum. If I didn't want my kid to touch a snappy dog, I would say "don't touch the dog, he'll bite your face" If they didn't behave in a restaurant, I didn't count to 10 (I hear parents counting 5 rounds of 10 these days) I gave them one chance to sort themselves out, or we left. I never had TIME OUT on a little chair in the corner with books and toys, I sent them upstairs to spend 15 minutes in their room. I didn't negotiate and discuss things when they were young. My parenting style was based on YES and NO. Maybe I scarred them or traumatized them with my old fashioned parenting....they seem ok.....they seem to love me and respect me still.....

Anyway, Grandparenting will be a whole new cup of tea and one I am really excited about. I am hosting a baby shower on Sunday for my Daughter in Law. I've nothing planned yet, although invites are sent out. We have no theme because we don't know the sex of bubbie. I hate shower games where you pass diapers around and guess which has the chocolate poop in it, or the ones where you sample baby food. Does anyone have any good ideas for shower games or little take home favors for my guests? I would love your input. So far, all I have is this ribbon bunting I made to decorate the room.

Gifted

We're attending a 60th Birthday Bash tonight for a fairly new friend. Women get more and more interesting as they age, shedding any self consciousness, expectations, roles and duties for a boldness, confidence, and Joie de Vive that truly becomes them. The Birthday Girl is no exception. She's fashionable, curious, interesting and a bit edgy. She just got married last year to a fellow with 3 kids to join up with her 3 in Brady Bunch fashion. A delightful mix. 

I love buying gifts for people whose style I admire and like myself. So this one was easy. I packaged it in a brown paper bag, stamped with her name and a chandelier dripping in glittery jewels. 60 is her time time to sparkle.

What's in the bag you ask? A Swedish clipped hide cuff with a gleaming polished half that looks like it was dipped in silver. I like the juxtaposition. Rather like being 60.

Mexican Tile Work

The tiler has left for the day, and tomorrow we are leaving, so it will be a while before I see my kitchen wall tiles all grouted and polished, but I thought I would give you all a look at it. The wall tile is a crackle finish subway tile that I took all the way up to the ceiling. We have low ceiling on this level and I thought it would give it some height. For the windows, I used a handmade (and quite wonky) Mexican tile in a vivid blue, turquoise and yellow to give a hint of Spanish to this old Monterey style home.

And, the best news of all is that the Insurance Company has approved the claim for the damage.

Rare Breeds.

See that? That's a rare Florida breed of workman. Goes by the name of Ruben. Rare in the sense that he is the first one on our flooded kitchen scene who is careful, conscientious, and a good craftsman. He's here right now tiling the walls and window sills. I'm impressed with his work. Kitchen still not usable, but hopefully soon. But we leave tomorrow, so I won't see the finished product for a while.

I once went to a psychic who told me I attract negative energy and to be careful in public places such as grocery stores and malls in case I absorbed some of it. Not sure I believed her but I had a little incident on Saturday while out walking that made me think of that warning. I was strolling back towards my house a few blocks away when a lady (and I use this term lightly) coming on the opposite side and direction started waving and calling out to me to say hello. She was pretty gaunt with no bra and her boobs hanging pretty low to her pant waist line. She told me she lived in the neighborhood, although she couldn't really pinpoint where, and so I did the same. In fact I pointed to the vacant house. She actually leaned forward and touched my necklace, asking me if it was a real diamond. I told her I got it at Walmart and it was fake. She told me my name sounded like a black persons name. I said thank you. And sensing she was jonesing for a fix and about to rob me, I set off quickly towards home. Over drinks with neighbors, I asked them if they knew of P. They did not. 

The next morning, MLK Blvd was closed down due to a fire in an apartment complex. Turns out it was arson. A woman had a fight with her boyfriend then torched his apartment forcing the evacuation of the entire building. The next day the accused had her mug shot on the news. It was P. The chick who I met the day before. 

We went to a nice restaurant called Tryst downtown St. Pete. It was warm enough to sit outside. As soon as dinner arrived, so did the local stray cat. Known to live in the vicinity of Tryst, he dines nightly on fine food tossed below the tables from cat loving diners. His name is Trystopher.

Early Valentine

 

I spotted this beauty at Paper Street Market here in St. Pete while out and about with The Raz Man. He hated it. Declared he would never have something so pink in the house. So, you can imagine my surprise when he went off to run some errands and came home with this as an early Valentines Day present for me. The colour is more like Rhubarb than pink, which makes it much less girly.

House Guest

My brother in law came for a visit here in Florida. Upon arrival he asked if I had a project he could do around the house. I told him I would like bookshelves in my weirdly vacant nooks in the living room. And PRONTO, they were built. I'm really chuffed with them. You don't get a better house guest than this.

In other news, the dishwasher once hooked up was apparently full of mold and once we started it up, we literally had to haul it out to the backyard. The stench was awful and unfortunately we have to replace it. We can;t take any chances now that the kitchen has been rebuilt due to water damage. 

Still no word from the Insurance Company to tell us the claim is approved. And it appears that Geronimo, the plumber who installed the tap and sink and cut his finger and bled all over my kitchen, must have been in a bit of shock, be cause the cold tap is leaking under the sink. And so it continues............but the lovely shelves make up for the shoddy kitchen work.

The Culprit and a Nurse

This is the culprit. The 8" widespread faucet that the poor young marble installer drilled a single center hole for. 

This is the new slab of marble to replace the mistake made Saturday.

Yesterday the protective paper covering the floors was removed to reveal 2 large scrapes in the floor, carelessly filled with a cover up pen.

On Sunday we noticed that the windowsills were not cut properly, something we have agreed to accept.

On Monday we noticed the upper and lower cabinets did not line up and the carpenter had to return to move the lower one. 

Today we noticed that the cupboard door does not shut because it wasn't leveled after it was moved.

We discovered 2 large dings in the front of the dishwasher as well as several missing parts. 

Neither contractor will accept blame for the floors or dishwasher and because we were not here, we don't know who did it.

And today when the plumber was here to install the faucet. His name was Geronimo
Geronimo proceeded to slice open his finger and bleed all over the new marble. 

As I raced to apply pressure to his finger, 

it sprayed blood 

all over the front of my new white linen dress.

His truck was in the shop and his borrowed truck did not have a first aid kit.

Unable to stop the bleeding with a roll of paper towels, I finally found my first aid kit which was packed away with the kitchen gear, and i wrapped it tightly in gauze pads and dressings, and to keep the messy dressy tight and neat, I wrapped it tightly in blue painters tape.
In the end, he had blood splatters all over his shirt, me, the dishwasher sink and floor.
Dexter would have been proud.
When the Raz Man came into the kitchen to see how it was going, he found the 2 of us standing in what looked like a crime scene.

He was very pleased with my reaction time, as well as my first aid skills and proceeded to clean up the blood and then finish his install.

Did I mention he was on blood thinners?
No wonder he bled like a stuck pig.

And....after 7 weeks the Insurance Company is now back and fro-ing over whether the claim will be covered or not.

I'm drinking. It's all I can do.

CHEERS