This was going to be a post where

I counted my blessings....

BUT

I came across this TED Talk today and felt I needed to share it:

Confessions of a depressed comic

Kevin Breel shares some of his story.... The same story many with depression suffer.... in a much more eloquent manner than I ever could.

Please take 11 minutes out of your busy day to listen and let go of some of the stigmas you may be holding for those of us with mental health issues.

Thanks,
Lori

ps expect a post where I count my blessings shortly

new project

I started painting a table for our kitchen yetesterday - and I remembered to take 'before' pictures! can't wait to share when I'm done!

Florida

Just back from an awesome, but way to short, trip to florida to visit my folks, the oh so typical snowbirds.

Took time to check out http://robynstorydesigns.com/ OMG!!!! what a store.

bought myself one of these buffing brushes (paint-shoppe.com/ultimate-buffing-brush-small/) that I've been reading about - can not wait to try it out. If anyone knows of any other ways of buffing the wax, I'd love to hear about it.

had a great time in the sand and surf and took lots of pictures, but won't be sharing those here ;)

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

My favourite product for painting furniture - Annie Sloan chalk paint -no priming, no sanding needed. it goes on so well, it is amazing.

I'm having so much fum 'restoring' the old pieces of furniture in our house that just can't be restored the traditional way through a nice coat of varnish - okay, admitedly, there's probably one or two pieces that I could have done that way, but the time it would have taken and the value of doing it versus how it would look in our home, just doesn't make sense.

here's what the paint cans look like (the website for the paint is www.AnnieSloan.com)

If you live in Ottawa, you can buy it at www.malenka.ca it's an awesome store where they're always willing to give you tips and tricks. they also offer workshops on chalk painting. At some point I'm actually going to make it to one and figure out what I'm doing right and wrong!!

update

I had some difficultly posting pictures with my last post - still learning how to blog, so here are the pictures that go with my last post:

I'm still learning now to stencil as well as you can see, but quite proud of this piece - and Camile did some of the stencilling too :)

some of my projects

Since one of the puroposes of this blog is my way of tracking my new passion - furniture painting - I know - so EXCITING lol - I thought I'd share some pictures of work I've already done. My step daughter C is 5 and L O V E S pink. When norm and I combined our homes we ended up with a tonne of extra furniture, including a double bed. I decided that C should have a pink bed. so I took some Annie Sloan Chalk paint ( I LOVE this stuff) in Empire Red, Graphite, and Old White and mixed up a special shade of pick just for her. (I added the Graphite to avoid having a pink that was too 'barbie' or 'bubble gum' pink - it toned the shade just enough). the result: I had an old stepstool kicking around that I used to use to get things from top shelves in the kitchen - now I have Norm, so Camille and I painted it together:

My first post!

is that a boring title? oh well. maybe I'm going to be a boring blogger...

about me:

40-something, a lover and a fighter,step-mother of 2 incredible 5-year olds - boy and a girl - met the man of my dreams and gained a family as part of the deal.

I'n starting to blog as a way to capture my random thoughts, track some posts of others that I like ( I can do that here, right?) and to keep track of my new passion in life - furniture repair and restoration.

Just a fancy term for painting old ugly furniture to make it look better. I'll be taking a course in May to learn how to do some basic repairs. Hoping to turn it into a parttime career eventually - if I can figure out how to get people to pay me for it. Any good advice given will be appreciated.

So that's me in a tiny nutshell. or at least the start of a reveal anyway :)

how does one signoff on a blog?  like a letter with a valediction? no? yes? I think I will

wishing you sunshine and fair winds... Lori