The Before

We are in the process of renovating a building in our hometown in hopes of opening our own restaurant. This is my son who is sitting on a hammer in one of the old studs.

This is my Dad who is running from that big ol' piece of drywall that is falling to the ground. There was a layer of drywall, cornboard, and lathe and plaster on this wall.

Here is a little better picture of the layers. Check out those light fixtures which have now been replaced.

This is what the wall used to look like when you walked in the door. It had lovely blue carpet with about six layers of subfloor and linoleum underneath it.

Here is my little friend who helped me rip out the old wall paper of the plaster walls. She was a fantastic helper!

Stay tuned for some after pictures. We hope to be open in about two weeks. Tomorrow is our safe food handling class. I'm taking it with my husband and I'm expecting to get beat on Tuesday's test. I hope this explains why I haven't blogged in so long.

Have a good one!

:) Heidi

Do you take "no" for an answer?

After the separating of the twins for one day the school called and offered to put them in the same classroom. Not exactly sure what changed the Principal's mind just glad that something did. Home life is peaceful once again. So I'm curious to know how many of you would take "no" for an answer?

What would you do if it happened to you?

Last night was Unpack Your Backpack night at school and we found out that our identical twin boys are being split up in their second grade classes. When we found this out I looked over and saw the tears start flowing down my little boy's face. He tried to fight back the tears but he just couldn't. We tried separating them in 4 year old preschool and it was not a good situation for them. I took the advice of a wonderful, well-meaning teacher who I adore but one of the twins had a hard time being away from his brother. That was the year of "I don't want to go to school, mommy!". We have a new Principal this school year who made a policy of no siblings in the same class. When my husband and I went in to question her the first words out of her mouth were"I'm not changing classes". My husband and I live in the same housing subdivision as the superintendent of schools so we paid him and his lovely wife a visit. He was pretty surprised that the new principal would shut us down without even a discussion on the subject. So now I'm left with what do I do. Do I make a big deal out of this ?(I kind of got the feeling from the superintendent that I could go over the new Principal's head since he gave me her boss's phone number and told me everything would work out fine.) The boys wanted to go to school this morning and my husband and I asked them to give it two days to see if maybe they didn't like it. Their teachers assured me they would let them get together as much as possible.

I called over to the other elementary school in our area and was warmly greeted by the school secretary who let me talk to the Principal there. She couldn't have been more helpful and friendly. If you were in my shoes what would you do?

Red Oak Restaurant in Bishop Hill

These are Dala horses. They are a swedish good luck symbol. I just love the colors of them! This picture was taken at the Colony Store in Bishop Hill.

Beautiful tulips in front of the Red Oak restaurant. The gal that owns this adorable restaurant brings in lots of flowers from her gardens and places them on her tables.

This is the porch where she puts out the Swedish flag and the American flag.

This is the sign on the side of her building. I just love the thought of "Comfort food and Pie Co."

Here is a large Dala that hangs out in the garden. I didn't see one like this at the Colony Store otherwise I would've bought one for my garden.

This is a reataurant that I have been to many times with the special people in my life. It is just one of my favorite places to go. It has soft music playing in the background, beautiful flowers and a little patio out back where you can sit and eat a fabulous lunch.

Art Institute in Chicago!! Spring Break 2010

American Gothic by Iowa artist Grant Wood! Being an Iowa girl myself I was so excited to see this right in front of my eyes! The placard off to the side read that Wood was trying to depict a farmer and his daughter and traditional values. I always thought it was supposed to represent a husband and wife. It said the gal was supposed to represent womanly duties such as cooking (the apron she is wearing) and home (houseplants on the porch). So amazing to see in person!

Do you love Van Gogh's The Bedroom? I did! Yep saw this too!

Can you believe how big Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte is? Loved this one too!

I googled for the name of Picasso's sculpture and here is what was said about it. "Pablo Picasso's untitled sculpture was placed on Daley Plaza in 1967. While many Chicagoans initially scorned it as unintelligible modern art, it came to be a familiar icon of the city."

My family only spent an hour in this magnificent museum. I want to expose them to this but not bore them to tears. :) Anyway if you want to go inexpensively, go on Thursday evening. We all got in for FREE. The Art Institute has a sponsored evening by Target (love Target). The free hours are 5:00pm-8:00pm.

Happy Day everyone!

Heidi

Having fun with Decoupage!

Last night we went to Hobby Lobby and bought paper mache Easter eggs and Decoupage glue. My friend Ann showed me how to take napkins and glue them to eggs to get these cuties. We had such a nice time sitting around the table talking with our 7 year old twins. They loved this project! They didn't want to put the napkins on the eggs so they just painted their eggs.

These were the bigger sizes of eggs. I love the one on the left but I think they all turned out good.

Here are the napkins I bought. The two beverage size napkins were from the dollar store and the others were 40% off at JoAnn's.

More eggs! My Mom and Dad sat down and helped us so it was definitely a fun family project.

What Easter things do you like to do?

Happy Day to all!

What would you be?

If I were a month I’d be April

If I were a day I’d be Sunday

If I were a time of day I’d be morning

If I were a planet I’d be Earth

If I were a sea animal I’d be a dolphin

If I were a direction I’d be south

If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a outdoor lounger with comfy cushions

If I were a liquid I’d be green tea with pomegranate

If I were a gem I’d be a pearl

If I were a tree I’d be a lilac (I know this is a bush) ;)

If I were a tool I’d be a ion drill (these things are awesome!)

If I were a flower I’d be a day lily

If I were an element of weather I’d be sunshine

If I were a musical instrument I’d be a saxophone

If I were a color I'd be yellow

If I were an emotion I’d be happy

If I were a fruit I’d be a grapefruit

If I were a sound I’d be a happy tune

If I were an element I'd be water

If I were a car I’d be a Jaguar

If I were a food I’d be a cupcake

If I were a place I’d be an outdoor patio

If I were a material I'd be soft cotton

If I were a taste I’d be sweet

If I were a scent I’d be lavendar

If I were a body part I’d be hands

If I were a facial expression I'd be a smile

If I were a song I’d be jazzy

If I were a bird I'd be a bluebird

If I were a gift I'd be extravagant

If I were a street I'd be a street in St. Charles, Missouri

If I were a city I'd be Florence

If I were a door I'd be painted red

If I were a pair of shoes I’d be a pair of sandals

And what would you be?

(I found this here http://kingofmicestudios.blogspot.com/)

What I've been working on...

Inspiration hit me one morning. I bought a little pendant from the talented Danita of a mermaid and an octopus. What could be better than a friendly hug from an eight-armed creature? So I made this little cutie and wrote a little story about what it might be like to be a mermaid who finds herself making friends with an octopus. So if you could make friends with a creature what one would you choose?

What I want Today....

A walk in the park where I can see these beautiful flowers blooming...(not going to happen for a few months)
This book to read...(Border's paperback $14.99 Half.com hardback $6.09 includes shipping)
These adorable owl stamps...
The heart tree to stamp on the kids' valentines...
The Matroyshka doll stamps would be nice too...

Do you ever go window shopping with your camera? I do it all the time now. If I want to buy something I take a picture of it and if I still want it the next time I go shopping I buy it. It also helps if you want to try to find it cheaper online. This cuts down on the impulse shopping which leads to runs to the Goodwill and Salvation Army. What do you tell yourself when you are considering making a purchases? What do you want today?

Are you thinking ahead?

My friend called today to ask what I've been up to in the craft department. These are creations I made from wool sweaters that I felted. They are actually made with the scraps I had leftover from scarves. Here is the shop I saw on etsy that inspired me to make mine. Love the gray wool felt bowl with little felt hearts. The one with "LOVE" spelled out in beads also tops my list. Here is the link cosedolci.etsy.com .

I've been eyeing this sweet little couple now for quite some time. Most of you probably know this shop marmeecraft.etsy.com .

Today is my wonderful husband 's birthday. I wonder if he really knows how much I love him? He is so kind and generous to me everyday. I'm not talking diamond rings and Cadillacs generous but the kind that comes from something bigger than material goods.

Is there something you made that is Valentine's Day related? Do you have your eye on something?

Have a wonderful day!

~Heidi

My love for star shaped ornaments continues...

I found these in a shop in Iowa City, Iowa called Artisan Gallery. It is located downtown in the Old Capitol pedestrian mall. My parents and I went there last Tuesday to go out for a nice lunch to celebrate Dad's birthday. It was bone chilling cold but we really wanted to get out of the house. The stars and snowflake ornaments are two-sided and are so nicely done. they are made by Des Moines based business Sticks. This is a link to their website http://www.sticks.com/installations.html. If you go to their website and look at past work they installed in libraries, campuses, and hospitals you will be amazed at their wonderful creations!
I love this mirror! I unfortunately don't have the funds to buy it but I'll put it on my wish list. :)
What wonderful messages for all of us and I love the seemingly simple artwork.
And if you happen to go to Iowa City check out New Pioneer Coop. It has lots of organic foods and I loved their hot case. I didn't eat the maple pork loin because we were going out for lunch at a restaurant but I thought it looked delicious. I can testify that the Broccoli Swiss and Mushroom soups they let me sample were delicious! Next time I find myself in Iowa City on a warmer day, I'm going to grab a cup of soup, some of their freshly baked bread, have a little picnic and watch the world go by. You may wonder why I would take pictures of a hot case. My husband manages a deli style kitchen and I like to give him unsolicited advice. :)



Hope you are all staying warm!



~Heidi

More Art for the Art Project

This year for the Muscatine Art Center Mosaic Project I brought home nine canvasses to distribute among my family. I had a leftover canvas and did this angel. It is reminiscent of the russian iconic angels.

And this was my hubby's attempt. Can you tell who he'll be rooting for in this year's Orange Bowl? I was so impressed with his ability. He hasn't done anything like this since he was in school.

The sales from these little works of art go directly to the Art Center. It is a blind buy so for $20 you take a chance. I love going to the artists' reception so you can put a face with the beautiful works of art. It just is so much fun to do these together as a family. My Dad has also done a couple and I will post them soon.

Hope you all have a beatiful day and that it is warmer where you are than it is here in frigid Iowa!