My World this Week

A few tweaks inspired by a $1.00 purchase.  ;)

In my part of the world, it is very hot and very humid.  Typical July weather but my longing for Autumn has already set in.  Pumpkin Spice... sweater weather... candles... evening tea or hot apple cider... soups simmering... mums... sigh.  Oh, so ready.

This past week included the celebration of my birthday (thank you for the cards and such!).  I think I will get some e-mailing time very soon.  With my husband being ill this summer, he has been in the office and on the computer more than usual.  He is feeling a little better.  Christopher had a bad summer, too, ending up at the clinic's emergency room.  Both suffering from mold allergies and it has been wet, wet, wet!

Victoria is losing fur like crazy.  I think she has fond thoughts of the cool Maine summers which are in her DNA.  This is the cat who can sit in an open window when it is below zero!

Otherwise... this is what has been happening in my world this week:

Reading

This is what my stack of books looked like earlier.  Yikes!  Two have been read, and three to go.  I used birthday gift money to purchase the latest issue of Where Women Cook.  I haven't been buying it lately but it had some articles I was very interested in this time.  Including one about Aimee Wimbush-Bourque who blogs at Simple Bites and wrote the fabulous cookbook called Brown Eggs and Jam Jars.  Info about the cookbook... here.*

My friend, Kristi (who introduced me to D. E. Stevenson and I will be forever grateful) sent Listening Valley.  It is my very next fiction read.  Looks fabulous.  More info... here.*

Disaster was sent by another friend and it was an excellent book.  While it begins with Hurricane Katrina hitting their home and church, the book is about the storms we all experience in life and how God uses them to shape us and mold us.

It is very well written, lots of Scripture, and easy to read.  More info... here.*  Thank you, Carol, for sending this book.  I highly recommend it to anyone going through difficult times (and we all do off and on!).

The Birds Our Teacher by John Stott has been on my Wish List for ages.  It finally had used copies at an inexpensive price!  This edition also comes with a DVD of Stott's trip to the Falkland Islands.  Info... here.*  I have perused the book but have it out to read and enjoy soon.

The other two books are review books, one review written... the other will be soon.

Watching

Foyle's War is one of my all time favorite TV shows and I was quite unhappy when Set 8 was not shown on PBS as the others had been.  Instead it was streamed through Acorn's streaming service, which makes sense as they do own many of our favorite BBC shows now.

So when it went on sale at Amazon, I was happy to be able to buy it with credit and to eventually share it with my daughter and her family.  It is said that this will be the last season due to the cost of producing it.  This is the second season after WWII has ended.  Further information can be found at Amazon.com... here.*

By the way, if you get the Ovation Channel on Cable or Satellite TV, they are now showing Foyle's War every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon from the beginning of the series.

Washi Love

Each color is a separate roll of French Ephemera washi tape.

Sorry about the glare of the flash, it was dark!

Stephanie gave me a delightful mixture of washi tape for my birthday, including a lace tape and package of colorful geometrics (some of those are shown in the upper right section and a couple others elsewhere).

Knowing my fondness for "all things French", she also gave me the container of beautiful Cavallini French Ephemera washi tape.  Further information... here.*  Thank you, Stephanie!

Creating

I bought the pretty picture at a garage sale years ago.  While I liked the cardboard artwork in it, it was so dingy with age that one could not see it on the wall.  But I kept it, thinking I could do "something" with it... someday.

That "someday" came when I found a roll of chalkboard style vinyl on clearance for a couple of dollars.  It gave me an idea!  So I took the cardboard out of the frame and carefully placed the chalkboard vinyl on it.  This is the same stuff as sticky shelf liner so it takes patience.  I found one layer wasn't enough so I added another layer of vinyl over it.  That looked fine.

I then wrote a thought I've been pondering for awhile, since reading an article.  It took about three times going over it with the chalk pen to get it to look bright enough.  So this project wouldn't work great as a chalk board one would erase and use a lot but it is fine for a permanent wall art!

Decorating by Tweaking

Stacked vintage suitcases are sitting in between a bookshelf and a "fake" tree in my family room.  I set a couple favorite flower accessories on the stack.  It looks good there.  That's a heart shaped pillow peeking out, trying to be seen!

Thrifting

I found this cute shelf for $1.00 at the Mission's thrift store.  Thus the slight change in the kitchen, shown in the first photo.

Her Fluffiness

How statuesque and beautiful!  Actually, she is waiting for me to open "her" window to look at the outside world.

*Most links to Amazon.com are Associate Links.  Which means I receive a very small percent of any purchase done when entering Amazon through a link or the Amazon Widget on the sidebar.  It cost neither of us anything but time and it all adds up... so I thank you!