Where've You Beeeen???!!!

Something my dear old dad would exclaim when he was made to wait for someone for more than a minute past the set deadline ... "Where've you been?!"  And that's what I hear in my head when I see how long I have been away from blogging. I wonder if anyone even remembers I was here.

All I can say is that summer got in the way ... and four busy daycare kids ... and one of my own who left home (temporarily) ... and my daughter ... and my dad ... and vacations ... well, basically all of that is encompassed in the busy-ness of summertime. Needless to say I'm exhausted every evening, and once I've had a refreshing swim and then supper, I'm ready to chill and read or watch movies before bed.

All summer I've been wanting to share things with my blogging friends, and although I tried a couple of draft posts, nothing got published. I've been on vacation last week and this, and have finally, finally, been able to catch my breath this morning (as it rains!) and chat with my old friends :)

First, I wanted to share some of the crafts I've made with the daycare kids. Nothing too mind boggling, but thankfully, I have kids that just love crafts! From Pinterest I found this simple and fun project of weaving. We made the looms from cardboard, and the older kids set to work weaving various yarns and beads. I think they turned out really well, and it was a good two afternoons of quiet entertainment ;)

The "God's Eyes" are a favourite as well, and the inexpensive variegated cotton yarns work these up quickly.

While down at the beach, we picked up a bunch of boring brown Canada geese feathers. I had an idea in mind ... why not brighten up these dull brown feathers!

With a bit of acrylic paint, we created these pretty feathers ...

I think the geese would be happy to have one or two of these back in their wings, don't you?

We also did some "faux sun prints" which I have written about before.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished products, but you can see how this craft turns out (together with a tutorial) here.

We also made some garden flags with the kids' handprints ...

I have a tutorial here if you're interested.

We've also been working on some improvements in the house this summer. We finally bought some new interior doors to replace our ugly cheapo slab doors that I've hated since we moved here, um, 20 years ago! They look great, and although we have so far installed just the doors in our main hallway, the change is remarkable. I'll share some photos of that soon. Right now there is a huge mess in our house as we tackle another room ... my son's bedroom. His room has not been changed since we painted it after he left his crib. He is a collector of things, and all of this stuff has now been emptied from his room and fills our living room and hallway ... ugh!

This summer my son has been living away from home in the far north working at Algonquin Park! While he's away we decided to paint his room and change it up a bit as a surprise. He did tell us that he wants his room painted in the colours of a Maclaren 675LT ...

... so grey walls with bright orange accents. We picked up the grey yesterday. It was no mean feat trying to choose a good grey! Orange is the "in" colour these days, so we've been finding a few bright orange details here and there. There is some structural change that my husband needs to do before the painting begins. 

On one wall is this handy small closet (above) that my son has used as different things through his life in this room. The cupboard extends a couple of feet to the left and right of the opening. It was originally my sewing cupboard until he was born (it used to have a door covering it). Then it was a play space where he and his friends could climb into and read or play games. We've even used it as an extra sleeping space for overnight guests (small ones!). Then it became his entertainment centre with a TV and gaming equipment. Now we're ripping back the walls on either side of the doorway and fitting in some shelving units to make it more accessible and tidy. We have an electrician coming in today to wire in a new outlet at the back of this space to accommodate all his electronic things. After that we can get to the painting ... can't wait!

And in the spirit of catching up with all my news, my daughter graduated from her four-year university course from Trent University in June. We all attended her convocation, which was held outdoors in the freezing cold weather. It was a wonderful ceremony though, very light-hearted and entertaining, and she looked radiant. We're so very proud of her!

My daughter and her good friend & roommate who also graduated this year (but on a different day).
This is overlooking a portion of the university campus which is situated on two sides of a large river.

The four of us in front of my daughter's first-year residence

We've had a couple of good camping trips this summer ... just returned from ten days in Algonquin Park two days ago. As I mentioned, my son is up there working this summer and enjoying every minute of it! We were able to see him a few times, and he took us on a tour of the lake where he is living and working. It was so nice to see him doing something that he loves for the entire summer. I'm glad he made a break from hanging out with his unadventuresome friends here in town. I'll write about our time in the park in a separate post as this one is becoming a bit long! It's nice to be able to share some things with all of you again ... I've missed you all, but I will be able to get back into a regular routine of blogging again once things settle down again in the fall (but hopefully before!). Rainy day here today ... a bit grim, but gosh we sure needed this rain, it's been a scorching hot and dry summer!

Here's a little sneak peek of our vacation last week ...

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wendy