Winter Wonderland

I knew from the weather report last night I might wake up to our first serious snowfall. When I drew back the curtains in the living-room a very beautiful, white lacy world greeted me. Now the snow is not deep and will probably not even last the day which won't hurt my feelings at all, but every tree branch, bush and flower is wearing a fluffy mantel of white.

We have had days and days of rain so the snow is sticking to branches, making my three burning bushes with their red berries look like someone dusted them with a huge sifter of icing sugar. I hope my carrots and two turnip in the garden have survived..It's been so wet here that the garden has been too mucky to walk in. I'm sure one of my hubby's weekend jobs will be to get his snow tires on now.

The picture I have posted is not of our home here in Muskoka but of our old farmhouse we purchased in 2010 in Prince Edward Island. The house was purchased in the month of November and for the most part the weather was very nice that month. My brother-in-law and I started renovating, tearing out the kitchen cupboards after which we started smashing down the old drywall. The day before I was to fly home, snow greeted us. Just looking at the above picture is making me very homesick for the island and our retirement home..

Speaking of cupboards brings me to my other topic, starting a small, seemingly innocent project like painting our kitchen in the house we are presently living in. When we purchased the house the walls were painted a very dark blue and the kitchen being a very small room needed brightening up..I chose quite a deep yellow, also using that color for my office. I guess I was thinking these rooms need brightening up really badly and that's why I chose yellow, but that has never been one of my favorite colors...I'm much fonder of most shades of green.

So last weekend hubby put two coats of green paint on the kitchen walls and I very gently suggested this would be a great time to put down a new kitchen floor..I had two floor samples here from over a year ago. At first he wasn't that eager to do it until the summer, but the more he thought about it, the more it started to make sense, so off we went to purchase new flooring. We settled for click lock vinyl that looks like cork. It will match the color of the kitchen counters well..

Then I had the idea we should rip up the old linoleum whereas Jim thought the new flooring would go over top of it fine..after more discussion off came the linoleum but not all the paper backing or glue..woe is me. I have been scraping that darn floor since Sunday and finished Thursday night. I thought I was finished in the afternoon but Jim moved the refrigerator and stove for the second time and there was two small patches left to do..

I had three different scrapers and used them all. I started out doing it for a couple of hours, then rested. When my right wrist started groaning and aching, I shortened it to scraping for twenty minutes or so, resting my wrist for longer periods. I'd sit at night with a cold wash cloth wrapped around my right wrist, then start work again next day. I am so grateful that job is done. We have been living in a mess all week, everything on shelves and counters had to be cleared out and is spread all over upstairs, I am so ready to get organized again. Especially since my 21 month old granddaughter might drop in on Saturday...on the positive side, she can't mess the house up more than it already is!

Another positive is that the tops of my kitchen cupboards got a good scrubbing and my antique bowls will be gleaming when they go back up there, every item will be washed giving me a head start on my Christmas cleaning. After living in such a mess for a whole week, I find I must look for all the positives I can. Today with the fresh snow, it reminds me of Christmas coming up fast.

Dear hubby filled in all the nail holes where I had hung pictures in the kitchen so I can start over and hang something different. I can decide if I need all those mugs and glasses and hopefully get rid of quite a few. After all we need to downsize a LOT before we retire. (or so I've been told)..

As I sit here typing I can see my white Christmas cactus blooming away, matching the whiteness of the snow on the front deck. Which reminds me I should water all my houseplants, which will lead to all kinds of other jobs. At least I don't have to get down on my knees and scrape the kitchen floor, in my mind's eye, I'm trying to visualize how amazing it will all be when once more everything is back in place...well minus what I can pry my hands away from!