Laowai

Somehow this week has zoomed by and I haven't gotten around to posting the rest of our Thanksgiving photos. So here they are – a yummy meal with Grandma C. and then a nice little walk in the woods too. So glad we could be with family this year.

I finished my little knit/felted purse. When it came out of the washer it looked like cookie monster. Ha. It was a good project for learning and practicing – my first time knitting in the round. And the yarn was free from my knitting group's yarn exchange.

Before felting:

After:

Mom and Jennifer and Jenna came to visit us for Thanksgiving and we've been having lots of fun.

First we cooked up a storm and then we ate all our Thanksgiving goodies. Gobble, gobble. We played some games and watched a Christmas movie. The next day we went into the city and shopped and shopped. We Enjoyed the Christmas lights and we saw The Bean. And last of all we went to the Christkindle Market – and ate raclette!!!

I need a nap now.

This is how my husband expresses himself artistically.

with delicious cake made by Bea and Claire

I finished two projects this week – my hallway painting project and a window restoration.

Here's a photo of our hallway from just after we moved in. It's a pleasant space because it's roomy and full of light. But its walls were feeling dingy and I wanted to get rid of all the blue trim. We removed the carpet and had the wood floors refinished in 2014. And I painted the stairs in 2015.

Now it feels refreshed and clean.

I just need to put some artwork back on the walls. And the windows themselves need to be painted gray – that will have to wait.

Here's a before shot of my other project – it's a window from the upstairs bathroom. 

This project was a real challenge but I'm mostly pleased. So, one done and about 20 more windows to go (yikes).

Slow and steady progress…

Raking leaves

The crafty season has begun

I don't usually find meat attractive – but this roast getting ready to cook looked good

Have you ever smelled a confused lilac in November? I have.

Working on my hallway painting project – opened a new can of hole patching stuff

Car knitting – while I wait – picking up Bea from Science Olympiad club

Some photos from close to home:

And far from home. Photos from Brian's work trip to England and Switzerland. I think that's Oxford and around Lausanne.

Starting with a scary selfie – me after I've been sanding the blue trim in my hallway. Oh it is so messy and I hate every minute of it!

Since it's a hallway that is open to the stairs and the rest of the house I spend a lot of time trying to manage the dust. There are six doors and two windows that I'm changing from blue to gray. I finished sanding all that blue and now I just need to work on the walls – lots of holes to patch – but somehow the white dust doesn't seem as messy. 

Here are some before photos of the area that I'm working on.

Is this safe? We'll find out…

In addition to painting right over the outlet covers the previous owners also painted over the window hardware. Arg!!!

Brian is in Europe all week so it's a good time to work on this long overdue project. I hope I can start painting in a couple days.

My other selfie is much more tidy. I've basically been prepping for painting or I've been knitting the whole time Brian is away on this long work trip. 

Look at me learning new stitches and following a pattern – yay!

I just finished this project this morning. I've wanted to make one of these for so long – it's a little scarflette that has a hole to tuck one side through. Cozy and cute. I'm super pleased.