tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85938664428735757062024-03-04T23:08:58.527-05:00The Do-tiqueRethinking the Do-it-Yourself MystiqueFilia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-66932405534742324032011-12-13T13:30:00.000-05:002011-12-13T13:30:05.199-05:00Can't sit still...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today is Christmas tree day! That means that the natural tree is (finally) home, it's in the living room in its stand and the branches have just barely opened up enough to be lighted and decorated. </div>
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It feels like we're the last family on our side of town to get with the program - I keep seeing beautiful, lit and decorated tannenbaums adorning the front windows of all our neighbors in the evenings.</div>
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The decor theme this year will be much like the theme of many years in the past - birds and snowflakes and forest creatures. I picked up some great ornaments on sale at Superstore and some other cute ones at Indigo this year. I kind of like the partridge in a pear tree look, I guess.</div>
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As much as I fret that we're late in getting started, I have to remind myself that we're still only in Advent, the Christmas season really starts December 24th and carries on for nearly two weeks until the Feast of the Epiphany in January, so there isn't much of a rush. The part that makes me sad is that for most people, the Christmas trimmings are on the curb side by the time we're only onto three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree...</div>
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Photos (hopefully) to come!</div>
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<i>DIY Rating</i>: 10 </div>
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Who doesn't love decorating a tree? Seriously!</div>
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The caveat here? </div>
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Stay away from all those crazy magazine tree photos - they will drive you nutso!</div>
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Unless (and only maybe) the tree photo is from a real person's house, </div>
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yours will not look like theirs unless you have a team of </div>
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5 designers and a lighting crew and a </div>
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fancy schmancy prop room and backdrop!</div>
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<br />Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-37681525734043515152011-12-02T19:50:00.001-05:002011-12-02T21:35:07.013-05:00In Principio...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Every endeavor has to start somewhere...</td></tr>
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For those who are less nerdy than myself, the title of this post can be translated to "In the Beginning"...<br />
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And that's pretty much where we're at over here at The Do-tique.<br />
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Luckily, there has been some progress and I can show you where we've gotten to so far.<br />
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When we started, things were brown, very brown...The front entry was sort of like a dance party between the 70's and the 90's and no one was really getting along.<br />
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But after a bit of <a href="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/products/category/paint" target="_blank">Sarah Richardson's Bisque</a> paint and a few <a href="http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod350155&categoryId=cat1701013" target="_blank">Restoration Hardware</a> <a href="http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod690211&categoryId=cat20033" target="_blank">knock-offs</a> found in the clearance bin at Homesense...this is what happened:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dlIfzZHGqJ0/Ttl2NigaQmI/AAAAAAAAEH8/WsFRouHvnEc/s1600/P1050934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dlIfzZHGqJ0/Ttl2NigaQmI/AAAAAAAAEH8/WsFRouHvnEc/s400/P1050934.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Still debating whether we should paint the inside of the door in a dark colour or possibly paint the wall around the door in a dark grey...<br />
Kinda like this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah's House Season 4 <br />Photo Credit: Stacey Brandford</td></tr>
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I regret that we don't have the original photos of the living room any more, but here's where things are at so far - we carried the Bisque through into the living and dining areas:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workin' on that equestrian chic part with the saddle (beside hutch)</td></tr>
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I picked up almost all of the pieces in this room at an <a href="http://www.timpotter.com/" target="_blank">antique auction in Napanee</a> and in barns north of Kingston before we moved west. The trouble was choosing furniture for a home I hadn't lived in yet that didn't really go together in the first place. Plans are to have the side chairs re-upholstered in more modern fabric with a bold red pattern and a cream/neutral field. The footstool will probably go and this is the sofa that will arrive on Monday and be placed facing the blue love seat:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fabric will be a lighter, neutral natural linen colour and <br />I changed out the legs for a turned shape to go with the antiques.</td></tr>
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For fabrics, I'm thinking of drapery and accent pillows and like styles like these:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All three fabrics available through <a href="http://www.tonicliving.com/" target="_blank">Tonic Living</a> in Toronto</td></tr>
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Next will be a coffee table and different dining room chairs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe this one from Urban Barn?</td></tr>
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So, what do you think? What would you add? Take away?<br />
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As for the DIY aspect here, the light fixture was pretty easy to change. The long story is that we had an antique brass fixture that we inherited from my mom and it got dropped part way through installation and broke. The more modern light was easier to install...and made it up in one piece. The mirror involved <i>Hubby</i> driving home with his head poking up through the sunroof since it only barely fit into our pick-up truck, uh, I mean sub-compact, 2002 Mazda Protege. My mom contributed the painting part, which saved us a tonne of work.<br />
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As for the combo of antique + new furnishings (including new sofa), I put out roughly $3,850 to decorate everything you see in the entry and living room including paint. Expecting to spend another $1,000+ on drapes, coffee table and lamps/accessories. My fave Ralph Lauren lamps just got marked down at Homesense to $80 from over $200, so those might be coming home tomorrow...<br />
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We could have an entire blog post on my journey through antique shopping and auction bidding but I'll summarize to say that before you hit the auction scene, spend a LOT of time going around to different shops and dealers to develop a taste for what styles and items you like and what they cost retail. It will really help you decide what to bid on and how high to go in an auction sale that can get pretty overwhelming, pretty quickly.<br />
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<i>DIY Rating</i>: 5 </div>
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You <i>could</i> bring in a consultant from almost any furniture store </div>
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for roughly $100/hr to help you do a room like this pretty quickly. </div>
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It just might not look quite as unique. </div>
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This project is more like a personal hobby or labour of love. </div>
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Time invested hunting out interesting and bargain priced items is probably </div>
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well above what any sane person would put in but very enjoyable for me.</div>
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I also think that though my time input was higher, that I got </div>
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some great pieces for a fraction of the retail price.</div>
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<span id="goog_1862943730"></span><span id="goog_1862943731"></span></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-32836070403054892702011-11-04T00:48:00.004-04:002011-11-04T00:48:58.942-04:00Equestrienne<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Lord Denver Horse Tryptich Print - which I really want, but is too big for my house...</td></tr>
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For a long time, I've been looking for a way to bring a little bit of that equestrian element into my home-decor style in a way that it sophisticated and not over-done. I'm talking a little something <a href="http://www.ralphlaurenhome.com/collection/2011_Fall/Brookfield/" target="_blank">Ralph Lauren</a>, a little something <a href="http://www.elledecor.com/decorating/articles/home_badgley_mischka" target="_blank">Badgley Mischka</a> a little something Madonna at Ashcombe House, a touch of<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvxvDHgIXmzpzGUQTg_X8a5OK1sBiizgRRWNkZ0lWk34JVjEuOyS6i416rd58l-WoawvG7QGctGBPkzXq24wZyKw0nVVpy4yPJ76IfYjlwKFINf2yRVlfD6BSAKUf7VkX7SP6nBn-yKGA/s1600/amanda+harlech+3.jpg" target="_blank"> Lady Amanda Harlech</a>, but a bit more modernized. So far, the look includes one small block print of a farmer's horse that I got at <a href="http://www.blackcreek.ca/" target="_blank">Pioneer Village</a> when I was a kid.</div>
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When I get my English country manor house, I'll have something like this in the mud room so that I'll always be ready for a morning hunt...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCdyFgpCXxGozJ0wQeHkFkijFtXb9BF08QAde4MHwhwWpMbVSfAfBaRwm4XyQ2TQayCa-4PhtqdGrK9gct3KeaLrVXO0Du0NV5ULh_yh4KWK58KV-3sXd8P68Z8-hfxbAwLOgPIzcnOSq/s1600/saddle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCdyFgpCXxGozJ0wQeHkFkijFtXb9BF08QAde4MHwhwWpMbVSfAfBaRwm4XyQ2TQayCa-4PhtqdGrK9gct3KeaLrVXO0Du0NV5ULh_yh4KWK58KV-3sXd8P68Z8-hfxbAwLOgPIzcnOSq/s400/saddle.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
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In reality, I'm thinking of something more along these lines:<br />
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I'd love to put my saddle on display in the front entryway in place of where this photo shows a wood pail, but my biggest worry is that my saddle, surprise, surprise, kind of smells like horse. Maybe a low bench instead with a couple of old riding helmets might work better.</div>
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On a side note, if I were a slightly strange looking statuesque model, this is how I'd probably dress for work - forget about a handbag, just grab a Hermes saddle for the road...</div>
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<a href="http://studentfashionblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Constance-Saddle-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://studentfashionblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Constance-Saddle-1.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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But finally, the <i>Piece de resistance</i> that inspired this post in the first place, a suburban California horse stable <i>cum</i> art studio designed by million-dollar designer Kathryn Ireland. It's probably the most true-to-life representation of my dream club-house and hangout spot. </div>
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Some of the photos I've seen online show the equestrian occupants hanging out in the studio part of the stable, which makes this space purely the stuff of fantasy - I have a toddler who wrecks my house already, there is NO WAY even a horse I really like would ever be allowed near anything designed for by Ms. Ireland! Interestingly, the room is painted in exactly the shade of white that we nearly (but didn't) painted our ground floor in last week...enjoy!</div>
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<a href="http://www.verandaunveils.com/files/view.html?14" target="_blank">Stable Tour 1</a> <a href="http://www.verandaunveils.com/files/view.html?15" target="_blank">Stable Tour 2</a></div>
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<i>DIY Rating: TBD</i></div>
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<i>Still have to give this look a bit of a try - </i></div>
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<i>will probably aim for artwork </i></div>
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<i>and stay away from more fanciful decor choices </i></div>
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<i>like adding a real horse to my art room </i></div>
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<i>or placing the boots I really ride in anywhere near my bed </i></div>
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<i>(which is something I see in a lot of magazines!).</i></div>
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<br />Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-35668977484204516612011-10-23T17:23:00.004-04:002011-10-23T17:23:33.731-04:00Brown-out!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn4.xiha.fi/u/0/1/1389/uploads/large/481014093454ae382000e1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://cdn4.xiha.fi/u/0/1/1389/uploads/large/481014093454ae382000e1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.xihalife.com/bbs/photos/dailylife/1083.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Muddy Bath in Guilin Shanshui</span></a></span></td></tr>
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This is pretty much what it feels like in my living room. For that matter, in my dining room, family room, kitchen, stairwell and basement! Yes, my whole house is painted in various shades of dark brown. </div>
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At first, I kinda liked it. It looked pretty good when I viewed the house before buying it. But, after a couple of months of living here, I'm feeling like it's really getting under my skin. Part of the problem is that a lot of our furnishings are wood, our flooring is honey-oak and every time I like a photo in a design magazine or blog, the walls are a shade of off-white.</div>
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I've been speaking to a few different design folks and they agree with me that for some reason, brown is a very, very popular colour in Regina. Even the "Fine Living" magazines here featuring million-dollar homes show most rooms painted in brown. I'm not sure I get it.</div>
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So, after our last <a href="http://thedo-tique.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-but-not-quite-right.html">White, but not Quite Right</a> adventure, we've decided to return to Sarah Richardson's palette and give this one a try as an overall main floor living colour:</div>
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<a href="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/default/files/paint/sr44-bisque_0.png?1275674103" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/default/files/paint/sr44-bisque_0.png?1275674103" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/all/themes/sarah/_images/products/paint/title-paint-name.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Paint Name" border="0" height="13" src="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/all/themes/sarah/_images/products/paint/title-paint-name.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="Paint Name" width="101" /></a></div>
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<li class="title" style="color: #5a6434; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px;"><strong>Bisque</strong> lends a softening effect when applied to cabinetry as an alternative to bright white.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're only one coat in, but so far, it's coming out as a nice, soft, warm white. Photos to come!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should also share that it was a bit of a mishap that led to this choice... We started out with Benjamin Moore's White Dove but when we put some samples on the wall, it didn't look at all right. After some thinking, I discovered that the chips have a date code on the back and the chip we'd chosen was produced in 2001 - it had yellowed over time! With a fresh chip, we realized the sample was in fact the correct colour (and was also too stark for me). This was a good learning experience!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>DIY Rating: 10 for testing out sample pots before buying </i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(I'm learning my lesson after two failed attempts at white!)</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As for my colour choice...I'll let you decide once the before and after photos are ready!</i></span></span></div>
</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-21354680776969215972011-10-19T19:16:00.002-04:002011-10-19T19:16:45.484-04:00Shop'n DROP!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/7f98de8ccb78b0d1_large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/7f98de8ccb78b0d1_large" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophia Loren in her bedroom</td></tr>
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Do you ever buy your furniture in sets?<br />
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What's strange is that most furniture showrooms are designed to show shoppers a full matching suite for each room, but real-life professional designers never buy furniture that way. If you take a close look at design magazines or tv shows, they way that they put rooms together looks good because they use an eclectic mix of pieces that work, but don't match. You won't often see anything that looks like a furniture showroom in Canadian House and Home!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrhvfcQ80X1qbp9v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrhvfcQ80X1qbp9v2.jpg" width="327" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's this kind of matchey-matchness that makes <br />this site so hilarious to look at!<br />Image via <a href="http://catalogliving.net/">Catalogue Living</a></td></tr>
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However, dear reader, do not be deceived into thinking that look this is easy for us mere mortals to achieve! There is a unique talent at work in creating a certain unique and seamless looking decor. I've recently decided that the reason it's such hard work is that one must be an expert shopper in addition to having a flair for colour and space.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/41524/15m/www.hgtv.ca/blog/photos/sarah_house_episodes/images/236309/original.aspx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/41524/15m/www.hgtv.ca/blog/photos/sarah_house_episodes/images/236309/original.aspx" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via HGTV.ca (Sarah's House Season 4)</td></tr>
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Just to get a sense of what I mean, take a look at the shopping guide for the new Sarah Richardson House Season 4 main living room <a href="http://www.hgtv.ca/sarahshouse/guides.aspx?sectionid=398&categoryid=8459021088266838923&postid=236310">here</a>.<br />
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It's amazing the number of different stores and fabrics and paint colours that she sources for the room and is able to manage and pull together for a seamless look. I sometimes get overwhelmed in just one store trying to pick just one item - it gives me a new respect for what a designer is able to manage in their mind's eye.<br />
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Some of the tricks that I've heard of and/or used are to put together inspiration boards and to shop slowly and accumulate things you love over a longer period of time.<br />
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I've recently started an account with Pinterest to try to organize my thoughts and save digital images of what I like. It's frankly a lot of fun. I want to find a use for it in business by saving images of great marketing pieces that I see online and in real-life - still need to get around to that...<br />
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<a href="http://d3io1k5o0zdpqr.cloudfront.net/images/LogoRed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d3io1k5o0zdpqr.cloudfront.net/images/LogoRed.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://pinterest.com/filiaartis/decor-inspiration/">Here's my board</a></div>
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On the tv shows about decorating, like Sarah's House, it appears that they are working in a linear fashion and decorating the room in one shot, start to finish, in about two weeks time. Maybe you can do that if you're a superstar with a great support staff. I suspect what's really happening is that they're shopping out different parts of the house simultaneously and just showing a linear documentation of the process. I think in a regular house, you're going to have a lot of incomplete spaces for quite a while adding bits and pieces to each room as you find things that work. </div>
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So, as you sit in your matching love seat, sofa, chair combination with the slightly too small rug and side tables that match your coffee table, don't fret too much! It takes time and talent to shop out that quintessential eclectic look that is you and isn't as easy as it looks! There are basements and guest rooms and used furniture websites to help you split up those sets and keep only the pieces that work with other things you love.</div>
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<i>DIY Rating: 5</i></div>
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<i>Reading the source list for Sarah's living room helps </i></div>
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<i>one to realize there is a lot of work and talent to pulling together a completed space.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>It might be worth bringing in a designer to give some direction to your plans.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Start small and don't be surprised if it takes 1-2 years to create what happens in 30 minutes on TV!</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.doubleoakhomes.ca/plugins/content/jw_sigpro/sigpro.transparent.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.doubleoakhomes.ca/plugins/content/jw_sigpro/sigpro.transparent.gif" /></a></div>
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<br />Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-37086148397684114342011-10-07T00:43:00.002-04:002011-10-07T00:44:41.041-04:00Let's Talk Turkey<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/10/14/gal_invention_barbecue-king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/10/14/gal_invention_barbecue-king.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">External Turkey Roaster via Life.com</td></tr>
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Starting tomorrow (and actually, a little bit tonight) your grocery store is going to be a madhouse. Haven't got your wine cellar stocked yet? The parking lot at the liquor store will need traffic police. Sharpen your knives, break out the pie dish, dust off the extra leaves for your dining table, it's Thanksgiving weekend and it's time to whip up the big feast.</div>
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Except not for me. </div>
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Don't get me wrong. Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday of the year. I love turkey dinners and I love having a big bunch of family and friends over at my place to celebrate.</div>
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With moving only 6 weeks ago, looking after little B. full-time and both of us working, The Do-tique just isn't quite ready for a big holiday production yet. </div>
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That's why we're choosing not to do-it-ourselves this year and opting to leave dinner to the experts instead. You'll find us trying out the Thanksgiving buffet at the Hotel Saskatchewan with another young family that just moved here about the same time that we did. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hotelsask.com/images/46pg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.hotelsask.com/images/46pg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hotel Saskatchewan</td></tr>
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<div>
No shopping, no prep or cooking or clean up. Lots of time to take naps and walks and have friends over for dessert and maybe even unpack a few boxes.</div>
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The other upside? Works out to be considerably less expensive than DIY (especially when you consider labour). The only downside is that you'll be the only one in the office not having a turkey sandwich next Wednesday since leftovers aren't usually included!</div>
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Missing all our far-away friends and wishing all my dear readers a Happy Thanksgiving! </div>
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<i>DIY Rating: 0 Sometimes, you just have to choose your DIY battles</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>When life gets way too hectic, no shame in leaving </i></div>
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<i>the hard work to the experts and heading </i></div>
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<i>out to a hotel or restaurant for a holiday meal. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Most places have special event menus and seating times </i></div>
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<i>and though things get tight closer to the date, we've always managed </i></div>
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<i>to find a last-minute reservation when we've needed to.</i></div>
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Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-4529491219511199762011-09-23T17:41:00.002-04:002011-09-23T19:27:46.676-04:00White, but not quite right...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.hownottoactold.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/white_lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.hownottoactold.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/white_lion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Have you ever tried looking up advice online about picking paint colours? Let me tell you, there are a lot of tips out there! However, it's fairly well-accepted that this is one of the most difficult steps in decorating and you really have to be in the exact space with the exact chips/samples to make a final call.</div>
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This time, I thought I'd try out the new(ish) line of Sarah Richardson paint colours offered through Para. If you're a newbie to this sort of marketing, the plan is that the famous designer picks out their top colours from a paint line and they are sold sort of as a feature set. So, if you like a particular person's style, you can get their look by choosing their top colour picks from the line fairly easily. It can make the job of looking at a full range of tints much more approachable.</div>
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Here is a clip of SR talking about her line and the process of picking colours:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/quXrb2hIG8Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Did anyone else catch the Christie Mansion in the </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">background for the Tommy Smythe comments here?</span></i></div>
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The truth is that most people get paint colours wrong and that includes even the real super-star designers. (I don't have the clip, but there are even scenes on TV where the illustrious Sarah Richardson realizes she's got a miss!)<br />
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Our goal was to pick out a creamy white for the office. Something like this: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYINJMZBj5eFtYbkJFyVXl1ZjdwMXoeNl0BfRDxf3ZaL-do2fTbnz2hIgN7URpUpr8ie6voLr11hbDA1Ehyphenhyphen397yw9O-KOBJ7c-o6GKT8YTZ2VyoYZlVa7IT8M3qoujtXJNCx-sb13WD34/s1600/14.+unknown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYINJMZBj5eFtYbkJFyVXl1ZjdwMXoeNl0BfRDxf3ZaL-do2fTbnz2hIgN7URpUpr8ie6voLr11hbDA1Ehyphenhyphen397yw9O-KOBJ7c-o6GKT8YTZ2VyoYZlVa7IT8M3qoujtXJNCx-sb13WD34/s400/14.+unknown.png" width="318" /></a></div>
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I may also mention that Benjamin Moore alone has 160+ shades of white, so it's not an easy colour to get right!</div>
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This is what I picked out:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Sunbeam" class="imagefield imagefield-field_paint_feature_image" height="322" src="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/default/files/paint/sr45-sunbeam.png?1274199966" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-size: 11px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-size: 11px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #535354; font-size: 11px;"><ul class="details" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li class="info" style="font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Sunbeam</strong></li>
<li class="title" style="color: #5a6434; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Paint Code" border="0" height="13" src="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/all/themes/sarah/_images/products/paint/title-paint-code.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; cursor: move;" title="Paint Code" width="97" /></li>
<li class="info" style="font-size: 12px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>SR45</strong></li>
<li class="title" style="color: #5a6434; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Sarah's Advice" border="0" height="13" src="http://sarahrichardsondesign.com/sites/all/themes/sarah/_images/products/paint/title-sarahs-advice.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; cursor: move;" title="Sarah's Advice" width="128" /></li>
<li class="info-advice" style="height: 130px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<strong>Sunbeam</strong> is a toasty white that can be used to warm a cooler palette.</div>
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</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this is how it turned out on my wall:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjas9vXhRi5NsT86K6BxbTMd1L1W3cHM0iGVC7iBNb58GhSyzMpAbKSKm_Jq1F05wvxDckYBkrt4hVitgDObcc-ua7DRT6ybbNKqT76H-fQL3iaB0jYIVPj-gEmdLjTOw2Ugcu-jZ94ILKo/s1600/P1050779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjas9vXhRi5NsT86K6BxbTMd1L1W3cHM0iGVC7iBNb58GhSyzMpAbKSKm_Jq1F05wvxDckYBkrt4hVitgDObcc-ua7DRT6ybbNKqT76H-fQL3iaB0jYIVPj-gEmdLjTOw2Ugcu-jZ94ILKo/s200/P1050779.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1sXZew_pb4/Tnz3WDv6HpI/AAAAAAAAEE4/8kNBVSXRIaI/s1600/P1050778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1sXZew_pb4/Tnz3WDv6HpI/AAAAAAAAEE4/8kNBVSXRIaI/s200/P1050778.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JHwfrbWGjaQ/Tnz4Dmx2EKI/AAAAAAAAEFA/qqlW6iUj3ZE/s1600/P1050780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JHwfrbWGjaQ/Tnz4Dmx2EKI/AAAAAAAAEFA/qqlW6iUj3ZE/s200/P1050780.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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(The photos are quite dark, but you can hopefully see how golden yellow this turned out!)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite a bit more yellow than expected. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What went wrong here? I mis-judged my own instinct to go with something that looked paler and muddier on the chip and took this one at the suggestion of the paint rep at Lowes - who did also admit that she herself had never worked with these colours. (Mistake #1! Never take product advice from someone who has never used what they're selling you!)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, loyal reader, what can you do if the same thing happens to you? If you have a reasonably good understanding of how colours work, you can almost always have a gallon of paint re-tinted. What I did was request a small shot of brown tint to tone down the yellow and a few shots of white to pale the colour and reduce the saturation. The end result looks like this:</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_QCgaqiQvcc/Tnz8N8aatQI/AAAAAAAAEFE/4dkxXKj_RIQ/s1600/P1050781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_QCgaqiQvcc/Tnz8N8aatQI/AAAAAAAAEFE/4dkxXKj_RIQ/s400/P1050781.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even with daylight and overhead lighting, this room is still dark and the shade<br />
came out more "french vanilla" or yellow than creamy white.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not 100% happy, but we'll see if we can work with it once furniture goes in. What do you think?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lucky part is that the actual painting is the easy step and our hard work prepping the walls won't have to be repeated in order to adjust the final look of the room. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>DIY Rating: 6</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It takes time and practice to master the art of choosing paint colours. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Look for an experienced sales person at the store </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>to help give some suggestions on good tints </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>AND </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>to offer their expertise in re-tinting your choice in case it doesn't work out!</i></span></div>
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Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-66601923129454071692011-09-17T17:56:00.000-04:002011-09-17T17:56:25.921-04:00New, but not you?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/146d2240a55954c2_large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/146d2240a55954c2_large" width="312" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
We're all used to TV shows and renovation blogs where we see horrible images of dated wall coverings and green shag carpeting being ripped out and painted over in order to create something non-offensive, reasonably updated and boring that will easily sell on the real-estate market. </div>
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But what happens if you buy one of these houses and the decor just isn't you?</div>
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That's kind of what happened to us in our last move.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The choice was between a house that hadn't been updated AT ALL since 1975 - I'm talking museum worthy kitchen, green shag and a lot of original (expensive to replace) fixtures - and a house that had been through quite a bit of upgrading since 1975, but still needed a bit of coaxing to fully bring into the 21st century.</div>
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While we decided against a major reno project and took the fixed up house, a lot of the decor choices that the previous owners made fall into the category of "Home-Depot Decor." Not to say that the Depot is a bad place, it's just that it's kind of overpowering when you make all your decorating choices at one store. What I'm talking about here is a lot of brushed nickel and dark, taupey-brown paint. (ok, I have found quite a bit of Canadian Tire decor in here too, but you get the picture!)</div>
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Back in 1989, my parents bought a house that had also been newly decorated. It was awful, but because it was new, they kept the bizarre wallpaper up and decorated around it. I hated it, but they refused to rip it out.</div>
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Do you change it even though it's in good shape? We were dealing with a dark, olive-green in the office, which has very little natural light. Though I love all those images of dark, moody rooms in Elle Decor, somehow, it just doesn't work as part of the 1970's architectural aesthetic. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5G1YNPXvSDzKfZVnax4P7ju7GquGeQXujF4MgSym60YnPcBUMxrSneGPpfFaovUnvreWql7SG1-FTd9doUSXW5YsQ2yfFL0CMYoHKYvq2r0DY6v02QvG3hniw0VNPwtcz9JmN2WY67A/s1600/10.+ElleDecor2006January.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5G1YNPXvSDzKfZVnax4P7ju7GquGeQXujF4MgSym60YnPcBUMxrSneGPpfFaovUnvreWql7SG1-FTd9doUSXW5YsQ2yfFL0CMYoHKYvq2r0DY6v02QvG3hniw0VNPwtcz9JmN2WY67A/s400/10.+ElleDecor2006January.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark looks good when...high ceilings, large window, use of mirrors and white rug/furniture/mantel piece<br /><br />Sadly, I have 8ft ceilings, small window and dark furniture!<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After a month, I decided to bite the bullet and start priming it out. My save-a-dime instincts rebel at the thought of re-painting a freshly-painted room BUT sometimes, there are colors (like dusty rose in that 1989 kitchen) that just cannot work.</div>
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(This is my second attempt at priming over dark green and let me tell you, it's a pain in the A**!)</div>
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Here are the "before" shots:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dfg2opO0ck/TnUT9_MVQTI/AAAAAAAAEEw/6HGi9RwlVYo/s1600/P1050752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dfg2opO0ck/TnUT9_MVQTI/AAAAAAAAEEw/6HGi9RwlVYo/s400/P1050752.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLd151pSsvM/TnUUa8L7vSI/AAAAAAAAEE0/NlhvzaZSG1g/s1600/P1050756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLd151pSsvM/TnUUa8L7vSI/AAAAAAAAEE0/NlhvzaZSG1g/s400/P1050756.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Way darker at night - these were daytime with all the lights on and using flash!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm hoping that I will like the finished product more than what we had and still not fully decided that I made the right choice to change this out, but maybe there was a reason that this was the only room not included in the online sale photos?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you're thinking about a dark color like this, my suggestion would be to seriously consider whether you have the architectural details in place - like windows and higher ceilings. Our window is covered by the porch, so the light is very filtered.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Secondly, this type of green works well as an accent colour - let's say, like above white wainscot or around a wall with cream/off-white cabinetry. Four, full-sized walls was way too much of a good thing!</div>
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Finally, the person who picked this paint should also have aimed a few shades lighter to get the cozy, saturated feel they were looking for that was still green - paint always looks darker on the walls and this one was verging into black in the evening.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>DIY Rating: 5</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>About the same amount of work to "live with it" </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>and decorate around something I didn't love </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>as the work involved in changing it right off the bat.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Still wish someone else was doing the painting work for me though!</i></div>
<br />Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-644215080888843402011-08-18T13:49:00.000-04:002011-08-18T13:49:45.967-04:00The Mov-tiqueIt has been almost a month. We moved away from our beloved Kingston home on July 25th and this Saturday is the big move-in day for Regina.<br />
<br />
I spent some time the other night looking at before and after photos of the Kingston home and enjoyed the satisfaction of how well the place turned out in the end. It will be interesting to start again and incorporate some new elements as well as some repeats from the last house into this place.<br />
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The transition will be from a 1956 1 1/2 storey home to a 1976 split-level. Both, interestingly, are mainly white on the exterior and somewhat similar in size.<br />
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Stay tuned for some exciting reveals of the new rooms and of the interesting antique furniture that I scoured the Eastern Ontario countryside to find in the last few weeks leading up to the move. I know, who buys furniture BEFORE they move?? It's just that I've developed a love for antiques during our years in Kingston and this was my last chance to be able to bring some of those pieces to the West, where they are much more scarce.<br />
<br />
Luckily, our shipping container weighed in finally at about 8,000 pounds, which was considerably lighter than the 11,000 pounds we had been quoted. We'd literally assessed each item in our home and tried to decide whether it was worth keeping at $1.50/pound - a lot went the way of the garage sale to make room for the new furniture!<br />
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In terms of DIY planning, it made sense to have the house moved professionally and the china/dishes and pictures packed by experts. We packed the rest ourselves. Overall, the cost and effort involved in going the 100% DIY route and picking up a self-move truck wasn't worth it. We decided that Hubby should drive the car west instead of shipping it, so I'll find out in a couple of days whether he'd ever recommend that method to anyone else!<br />
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Hope you are all enjoying the summer!<br />
<br />
(promise more pictures next post!)Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-83917195067897655712011-07-14T10:22:00.000-04:002011-07-14T10:22:08.015-04:00Christmas in July?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static0.travelandleisure.com/images/amexpub/0018/4538/201011-w-santa-caneel-bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://static0.travelandleisure.com/images/amexpub/0018/4538/201011-w-santa-caneel-bay.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://static3.travelandleisure.com/images/amexpub/0018/4565/201011-w-santa-half-moon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-hotel-santas/8&usg=__15m2Td9n2_hhazpzgGDMZ1zNt9M=&h=320&w=380&sz=40&hl=en&start=55&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=af8_Cz1yw_ypeM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=123&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsanta%2Bin%2Bjamaica%26start%3D40%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbm%3Disch&ei=e-IHTsCVHcTd0QGqutnOAg">Caneel Bay Resort</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div><div style="text-align: justify;">With a cross-Canada move coming up for us in a matter of mere weeks, it's time here at The Do-tique to begin the process of de-cluttering and de-provisioning. Estimates coming in on the moving costs are suggesting that the cost of moving will work out to about $1 per pound of stuff. That means that unless something is literally worth its weight in gold, it has to be let go. That also goes for all the provisions and dry goods around the house - which I'd naturally re-stocked mid-spring unaware that we'd be moving so soon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This all brings me to the topic of Christmas in July...How do you use up Christmas-like ingredients in the middle of the summer?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had a can of pumpkin filling in the pantry and a tonne of oatmeal - They became delicious <a href="http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/?p=6094">breakfast granola</a> for a week or two. We also had a small turkey that we bought on sale right after the holidays that turned itself into a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seery/how-to-barbeque-a-turkey_b_73614.html">BBQ feast</a> - quartered the bird, brined it for a day and grilled it with homemade BBQ sauce - better than Thanksgiving! Finally, I found a package of <a href="http://www.joyofbaking.com/GingerbreadMen.html">gingerbread cookie dough</a> that I'd stashed away in the freezer and thought it would work pretty well as a base for ice-cream sandwiches.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My methodology here was to take the same approach as if I were using brownies and bake the gingerbread as large squares.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4up14r4mhMXn7_kbRrTPfXehgCk4-15gXh8bB51SLTlJhm5ByeMgZOnMZAYZ-Wn1Z_I9etgeV0BLQegCB6OvpmoRhnPAYgiKYZzfnyyrUQsxrod3QRGL9C3BRynd1m4YRz_nD7kkyztW/s1600/P1050245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4up14r4mhMXn7_kbRrTPfXehgCk4-15gXh8bB51SLTlJhm5ByeMgZOnMZAYZ-Wn1Z_I9etgeV0BLQegCB6OvpmoRhnPAYgiKYZzfnyyrUQsxrod3QRGL9C3BRynd1m4YRz_nD7kkyztW/s400/P1050245.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fill them with ice cream, freeze the whole lot and then cut them into smaller bars with a hot knife:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aBmP7CgPpeLXwXRm7TirKY87wGcOL-PM0_2U2mvPmih737zCSKLJQCigdoXNLC8BEaWlKhKbLY2JK6GU-oHzAR5yn9U8jstySbpEbLrcwR_zdMvwzQca2e8q_VVWjjvb-QVHEuTwxWiu/s1600/P1050251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aBmP7CgPpeLXwXRm7TirKY87wGcOL-PM0_2U2mvPmih737zCSKLJQCigdoXNLC8BEaWlKhKbLY2JK6GU-oHzAR5yn9U8jstySbpEbLrcwR_zdMvwzQca2e8q_VVWjjvb-QVHEuTwxWiu/s400/P1050251.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The results were amazing and the sandwiches got better after a few days once the gingerbread spices had begun to flavor the vanilla ice cream. Interestingly, Chatelaine stole my idea for the cover of their August issue! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://food.chatelaine.com/Content/recipe-images/Brownie-ice-cream-sandwiches-0-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://food.chatelaine.com/Content/recipe-images/Brownie-ice-cream-sandwiches-0-l.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by James Tse via www.chatelaine.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Here's the link to the <a href="http://food.chatelaine.com/recipes/view/brownie-ice-cream-sandwiches/29127">Chatelaine recipe</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 10</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Yes, go, NOW and de-stock that freezer </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>and pantry before the end of summer! </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>You have some crazy tasty stuff in there waiting </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>for you if you get creative about it!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Overall, all three of these options were easy to make </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>and helped stretch the grocery budget a tiny bit.</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-67546200162093599302011-06-25T04:08:00.000-04:002011-06-25T04:08:16.340-04:00What's Been Done?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqECGIVA4Ku1LA7lBXRAPbPVbuCYDOT76vLE4XjLDGKAf0kNoRZVSwlKfUVaa5hjHCmAdt5Vqk-hzsV-KIh6WeHEMzq_XrQre0i-OprYFjyE80_7YEBOwn4eANk5_y3U0of0vntZodao/s1600/del-griffith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqECGIVA4Ku1LA7lBXRAPbPVbuCYDOT76vLE4XjLDGKAf0kNoRZVSwlKfUVaa5hjHCmAdt5Vqk-hzsV-KIh6WeHEMzq_XrQre0i-OprYFjyE80_7YEBOwn4eANk5_y3U0of0vntZodao/s400/del-griffith.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, what's been doin' at The Do-tique? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, dear readers, it has been a while! I didn't know how loved this blog was until it went quiet for a while and the emails and requests for more started coming in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To be honest, the picture above from the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" pretty much describes it all. Here's what has been happening:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7SE1P7Om-5E/Tfg1AH1YGkI/AAAAAAAABJc/X8ZWYFZsQUE/s1600/yves_saint_laurent_tuxedo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="397" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7SE1P7Om-5E/Tfg1AH1YGkI/AAAAAAAABJc/X8ZWYFZsQUE/s400/yves_saint_laurent_tuxedo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yves St. Laurent Tuxedo Image courtesy of <a href="http://retrothreadz.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html">Retro Threadz</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">There hasn't been quite as much baking, crafting, decorating or home projecting this spring at The Do-tique. The DIY projects have all been centered around building a format for my "real job" which is philanthropic advisory - helping charities ask for support and showing donors how to plan their giving. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I wanted to take the time to learn about and create an online marketing strategy for my planned giving work through LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging and a website. It's been an interesting journey so far and the best part has been the chance to meet and work together with people from across North America. I didn't realize at first that such amazing connections could develop out of Twitter!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">You can check out my DIY website project for this whole initiative at www.christinaattard.com</div><div style="text-align: justify;">(On the overall, I'd get a web-expert to set up the site for me next time, but more on that another time!)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Usually, I'm blogged and tweeted out by the end of the day and have neglected to post updates here.</div><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.housetrucks.com/rogerHTs/img53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://www.housetrucks.com/rogerHTs/img53.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger's House Truck Image via <a href="http://www.housetrucks.com/">House Trucks</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In other news, we learned at the end of May that my husband was going to need to move to Regina, Saskatchewan this summer. That meant prepping, staging and selling the house in a very short amount of time and setting up a crazy shopping trip where I had only a few days to buy a house in city I'd never visited before. (It's left me a little in shock!) Luckily, everything worked out and we'll have a whole new set of home projects starting this August. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lessons learned: a deadline can make <i>Hubby</i> move very, very quickly on all those little house maintenance and touch-up projects that have been sitting around for two years. Our basement was looking wonderful and I think that effort did, in the end, add great value to the house when it came time to sell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm battling my DIY mentality and struggling with whether we should hire the moving company to do a full-pack. It will all be in the numbers in terms of time vs. money / sanity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, the leader of the Junior Small Society here at home, <i>Baby</i>, is really not much of a baby any more these days! We're also having a lot of fun going to the park, taking her for bike rides and generally running around after her. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What's been happening with you? Anyone want to challenge the DIY mystique and share a guest blog post on their most recent projects? (I'm hearing of other house moves, people getting chickens, bathrooms getting renovated...so lots to share, dear readers!)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Submission guidelines: 1-2 photos, paragraph describing what you did or decided not to do, DIY rating.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 10</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Really, can you stop life from taking over sometimes?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Promise to get back to this blog, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>but also feel great about my new ventures over at </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>www.christinaattard.com/blog.html </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-10762053994416366092011-03-09T16:56:00.000-05:002011-03-09T16:56:41.393-05:00A Basement Vocation?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpwhT5px25EJ4uCEsY-uSNJI49v6dshi80p972h_GoSbK9L5ROP0jkHUa19Uz0ll2H_zuYJS0p8YtAKbf-BiV5NIn7CUtgo3FQpCYTjhbWMD4TxGtJoVW9_b1oW80ziW3VXPUTAZPMgMn/s320/70s+show.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpwhT5px25EJ4uCEsY-uSNJI49v6dshi80p972h_GoSbK9L5ROP0jkHUa19Uz0ll2H_zuYJS0p8YtAKbf-BiV5NIn7CUtgo3FQpCYTjhbWMD4TxGtJoVW9_b1oW80ziW3VXPUTAZPMgMn/s400/70s+show.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">We all know the rule, you live at home in the basement until you're married, right? And if that marriage, job, move to a yoga centre in California doesn't work out, the basement will be ready for your return, still decked-out in fake wood panelling and orange curtains with mom upstairs making meals and doing your laundry. Just like in <i>That 70's Show</i>...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have recently had an idea for a book that I'd like to publish on financial advice that I would give to my Millennial generation peers entitled, <i>How to Move Out of the Basement and Never Come Back</i>. Since I'm not a professional financial advisor (yet, anyway), my words of wisdom are mostly anecdotal and gained from my own experiences. Since writing a book won't do much to keep me out of the basement personally, I thought I'd just share a few of the ideas I have in mind here at <i>The Do-tique</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a62d67296c63d002_landing" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a62d67296c63d002_landing" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xylophone jobs were harder to get than anticipated!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Living at Home Does Not Help Save Money</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">How often have you, your siblings or your friends used the old adage, "I'm just living at home for a while to save some money so that..."?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The problem is that a few years go by and the bank accounts are still pretty much empty. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Living at home doesn't save anyone money - I mean if it's between street life and basement dwelling, by all means, live at home - but the tactic that really helps anyone save money is to have a savings goal and a savings plan. Usually, if you're working and not getting resourceful about supporting yourself - ie. get a roommate, cut expenses - than you might have some work to do in terms of developing better spending and saving habits before you can expect your parents to help you.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Paying rent is not always throwing money away - do the math on property taxes and interest rates and sometimes renting <i>can</i> be better than buying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
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</b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V5H1EvGNpCY/TXfw5edi9CI/AAAAAAAAED0/lt5C8j-tsMc/s1600/grandier%2527s+contract.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V5H1EvGNpCY/TXfw5edi9CI/AAAAAAAAED0/lt5C8j-tsMc/s320/grandier%2527s+contract.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pact with the Devil (1633)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Avoid Unnecessary Debts</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I graduated, I had a student loan that was worth more than my annual starting salary in my first job after graduation. I graduated in 2003 and cleared my loan by 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The key is to continue living like a student for as long as you can while you still can and pay those suckers down. My strategy was to set up a savings account and move an amount over at the start of each month from my paycheck. If I needed the money later in the month, it was there for me. I would make a lump-sum payment on my loans each time the savings account balance reached $1,000. Soon, bigger purchases like cars, weddings, mortgages are going to start coming around and no one wants to be stuck at 30 still paying off purchases they made at 19. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Part of this mentality is choosing not to make luxury purchases that you have to borrow to acquire. This does not mean always use cash, but the bottom line is to re-claim a mentality that you have to save for things like clothes, electronics, trips. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By living as debt-free as possible, if your income changes suddenly, you're not carrying monthly debt payments as part of your fixed expenses. It might help you close the gap on a few more rent payments until times get better.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/bf6b5870f004943a_landing" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/bf6b5870f004943a_landing" width="244" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Saving Can "Buy" Time</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Granted, young, single people rarely have room in their budgets for major savings, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't start looking at the small things. Finance gurus are always showing us how much those Starbucks trips and magazine purchases add up to annually. We noticed a huge difference just by taking bagged lunches to work and cutting down our restaurant visits to once a week or less.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So few people in my generation are working in full-time jobs with benefits and insurance. Most people are surprised to find out that EI benefit payments do not equal their regular salary or they are simply not eligible to make a claim. Events like job loss or the birth of a child might mean you need to rely on your savings to stay out of the basement. Do you have a good idea of what your monthly expenses are and how many months you could survive for on savings? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once you've saved an emergency amount, you can start thinking about moving excesses into your retirement fund. The days of jobs with pensions are pretty well over for the Millennial generation and it's going to be up to us to self-manage this process. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://timstvshowcase.com/ateam1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://timstvshowcase.com/ateam1.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Their mommies wouldn't let them <br />
bring their guns home from work!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Build Your "A" Team</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are all kinds of professionals who can guide you through the steps that will help keep you out of the basement. Some are amazing and will treat you as well as their own children. You need to start looking for these people and getting to know them long before you'll need their help.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Your Parents</i> - seriously and honestly think about their spending and saving habits and how they have managed their money, careers and hard times in the past. Ask them about these things if you can. The key to understanding your own ways of dealing with financial matters is buried in your experience as part of that family. It will help you to know what worked and what behavior you need to avoid.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Financial Advisor</i> - these folks do more than just help the wealthy! Often, their advice is free and they get paid on commission through products you may eventually purchase through them. Shop around until you find someone you trust and ask them to help you create a financial plan. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Insurance and Mortgage Brokers</i> - yes, you are indeed invincible, but just in case something happens, you are going to need to be insured. Agents can shop out the best policies for your needs. Question those automatic insurance checkboxes on major purchases and make sure you are getting the right coverage at the best prices. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for a mortgage broker, you will be glad that you got pre-approval on a fantastic interest rate when you happen to find that perfect home to buy rather than having to scramble and risk losing a chance to make an offer. He or she can identify what you need to do to become eligible for a mortgage in case you do have some other major debts or bad credit in your past.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Real Estate Agent</i> - buying a home for the first time is a major emotional and administrative experience. An agent can help you to get realistic about what your dream house costs and this will help you with developing a specific dollar amount you need to save for your down-payment. Get to know their personality long before that 2 AM negotiation session when you're ready to buy. Stay in touch with them afterward to discuss market prices and recoup values on renovations in your area before you put in a $10,000 hot tub. We'd spent three years getting to know our agent casually and it paid off when we ended up in a fast-moving bidding war over our dream home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am going to share this post with some professionals and perhaps they will have their own comments to add. What are your thoughts as a reader? Agree? Disagree? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">DIY Rating: 10 <i>and</i> 0!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Unless you experience some very unlucky circumstances, </div><div style="text-align: center;">staying out of the basement is a total DIY project!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">That means get resourceful about bringing in experts who </div><div style="text-align: center;">can help you get yourself the lifestyle you actually want.</div><div style="text-align: center;">And a bedtime that's as late as YOU want it to be!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-42941113051779239412011-03-07T22:08:00.000-05:002011-12-12T13:32:42.986-05:00Double Doing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Over the past few months, I've been thinking about these two TV pals of mine: June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) and Don Draper (MadMen). </div>
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Mrs. Cleaver made a daily appearance in my childhood via television. </div>
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Strangely, we had some of the same office furniture at home as appears in the offices of Sterling Cooper, so that world somehow feels familiar to me - my grandfather was a building superintendent just off Wall St. in the 1960's and we had some cast-away pieces still floating around. </div>
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It feels like I grew up around both June and Don. </div>
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Interestingly, I often feel torn between the need to ask both, <i>What would June do?</i> and <i>What would Don do?</i> What's interesting in the television shows is that their worlds were shown as completely divorced from one another while today, I sense that many of us, especially parents, are forced into both lifestyles at the same time.</div>
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Don is a leader. He's suave, he demands and receives respect at work, he delegates and manages, he has freedom and martinis at lunch and he regularly has moments of brilliance leading to adulation from his superiors and cash flow. He works late a lot, is not accountable at home for his day at work and is free to either show up for dinner in his kitchen decked out in plaid wallpaper or hit the bar and female company in a hotel room afterward.</div>
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June is a proper wife. She's dressed to the nines and her boys rarely have dirty faces. The house is orderly, the briefcase and lunch bags are ready to go, the roasts are cooked on time and there is a large glass of milk at everyone's place at the table. Everything, except for a few mischievous mishaps with her boys, is under control and she appears at ease and has time for social and leisure activities.</div>
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Don is a jerk at home and June is helpless in the office. </div>
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Many of don't have the luxury of either foible!</div>
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<a href="http://thismomloves.blogspot.com/2011/03/millennial-moms-is-this-you.html">This Mom Loves</a> published a post yesterday on "Millennial Moms" noting the trend toward seeing fathers as equal partners in parenting and household management. Women, in my experience, seem to participate as equal partners in the workforce, taking on jobs as or more demanding than those held by their husbands.</div>
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Are we all trying to be both Don and June - the "powersuit" who can divorce themselves from the cares of the home during the day and then come home to put on an apron and pull together a roast of beef and pour a glass of milk and even have the leisure to wash the dishes as a couple afterward since none of the children ever seemed to need a ride to soccer practice back then? </div>
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Do you ever feel only half as good as you'd like to be at either of your two roles? </div>
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How do you find balance? </div>
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My continuing goal has been to speak with working moms (and some dads) whose children are into their teenage years or older and to ask how they made it work for them when their kids were younger. The answers are surprising. They are always creative. They all involve sacrifice and they give me a lot of hope. My thanks to the successful and unsuccessful career-oriented women and men who have been sharing their knowledge with me. If you are someone like this, there is a lot you can share with us Millennial parents! </div>
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<i>DIY Rating: 0</i></div>
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<i>The pull to be an impressive leader at work and have </i></div>
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<i>a perfectly oiled machine for a home life can seem irresistible. </i></div>
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<i>This often results in insanity, </i></div>
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<i>even with some serious hired help (think daycare here).</i></div>
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<i>There are experts around you who have walked this road before - </i></div>
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<i>find out their secrets and start drawing up your own battle plan.</i></div>
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<br /></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-34988600846749408462011-03-04T13:06:00.001-05:002011-03-04T13:09:28.066-05:00Books and Miscellanea at The Do-tique<div style="text-align: justify;">Dear Readers, </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Please do not lose hope and assume that I have abandoned my work here at <em>The Do-tique</em>! The fact is that most of my internet publishing time has been taken up with designing and assembling a web site that I intend to launch shortly. Truth be told, this was most certainly a project best left up to the experts! While I have come to learn quite a bit about using online templates to design a page, the frustrating hours spent trying to learn how to do this sort of work myself have caused me to develop a new-found appreciation for the skills of a technician. The knowledge and experience gained have been higly valuable and I can now say that I'm capable of creating a basic web page, but the time investment has also been quite a bit larger than I anticipated and my plans are to find an expert to help me finish and polish up my work before the big reveal. I've realized that my skills are in concept and layout, but that I still have some technical learning to do before I can use the technology to manufacture what I see in my mind's eye!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">DIY Rating<em>: 4</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>WYSIWYG site design was not as straightforward for a </em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>novice user as I anticipated. Consider an expert here if </em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>you cannot afford to invest the DIY time.</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Part of the small remainder of my free time has been spent reading <em>Where Nests the Water Hen</em> by Gabrielle Roy. This book appeared in the New Fiction section at the library and I was attracted to a title that included the key words "nest" and "hen" - they sounded like just the sort of thing I'd be interested in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What I was not aware of is that <em>water hen</em> in the title refers to a settlement on a body of water (I think connected to Lake Winneopegis) located in southern Manitoba. Depsite this tome's placement in the public library, it was originally published in 1951 and this is a new edition of that publication. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The author, <a href="http://www.nwpassages.com/bios/roy.asp">Gabrielle Roy</a>, spent a number of years as a school teacher in Manitoba and this book is loosley based on characters and events that she experienced during that time. She writes here about these events some years later and her voice appears here as an anonymous, thrid person narrator. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are two story lines in the novel that are joined together at the end. The first concerns the Tousignant family headed by the hen-like Luzina and her husband Hyppolite and their many children. I think the final tally works out to ten children in 14 years and I don't think that includes the surprise baby that arrives some years later. The family lives on a small island set on the river and the tale opens with Luzina's myterious annual business trip. I will leave the reason for the trip a surprise and note only that once the business is revealed, it is a delightful surprise for the reader. The main theme here is the relationship between the family and the "outside world" partly represented by the correspondence that they exchange with the government and the three school teachers that are deployed to the island by that same government. The family demonstrates and interesting reflection of Canadian nationalism in that they hold the founders of French Canada and the country of France in high esteeem as their heroes and champions while at the same time reserving no guile for the current anglophone government, even allowing one of the school teachers to raise the Union Jack on their property - indeed there is an awe for the authority of the British Empire and the <em>miracles</em> that it can acheive. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The second story line concerns the character of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Capuchin">Capuchin</a> father who visits the Tousignants annually in July. He is an authentic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendicant">mendicant</a> living as a constant traveller with a genuine innocence in his belief that Providence will provide for his needs through the kindness and charity of others. He provides the reader with a gentle and heartfelt reflection on life on and around the Water Hen from the perspective of a loving outsider. He is bold in his belief that God will assist him and guide him in helping these people - his indulgences include making a child-like request to the head of the CPR to gain a bell for his small chapel and his intervention with the poor fur trappers where he takes their furs all the way to Toronto and ends up receiving in payment many times what they had been able to sell their goods for locally. The Imperial Fur Company rewards him with a beautiful fur coat that he dons but once a year for his trip to Toronto and eventually divests himself of lest he should become too accustomed to luxuries of the flesh. In contrast, when Luzina is asked to repair his habit, she finds it to be so threadbare that she can barely piece it back together. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Birds are a recurring image in the book. We hear of their coming and going with the seasons and their presence in the poetic descriptions of the landscape. The family is disconcerted by the teacher, Armand Dubriel, who comes to live with them for the season and spends more time massacring the island's bird population for rifle sport than he seems to spend teaching the children. The author spells it out most plainly through the Capuchin's use of bird species to describe different types of souls in his annual sermon. There is also the Capuchin father's reflection on the "dance of the birds" that so closely mirrors the evening of dance on the prairie at the end of the novel. For the most part, the souls that live in the area are not soaring eagles or hawks, but rather homey water hens who like to nest and roost and raise their families in lonely peace. Some, like the older Tousignant children, tend to "fly the nest" in search of greater education and careers others are migratory like the Capuchin himself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: auto;">As a reader, what was strange was how disconnected I felt from this story as a part of my own cultural heritage. As someone growing up and living in modern southern Ontario, life in rural Manitoba in the 1930's is like hearing about an exotic foreign country. Embarrassingly I barely know anything of the French-Canadian culture of the prairies let alone the history of all the other immigrants that are mentioned in the book. I was reminded a bit of Tolstoy's character Dmitriy Olenin from <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cossacks_(novel)">The Cossacks</a> </i>in so far as it was a bit of a journey into a culture and experience as Canadian as my own, but so very foreign and in the end, unchangeable by the reader's visit to that time and place.</div><div style="text-align: auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">RIY (Read it yourself) Rating: <i>10</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Very much enjoyed this short and delightful novel. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The translation is also excellent and flows beautifully.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-46251674429625253872011-02-23T10:59:00.001-05:002011-03-14T16:52:03.649-04:00Linchpinning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, I encountered two Linchpins. One at a Starbucks and the other at Computer Depot in Kingston.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What on earth is a "Linchpin," you ask? It is a term used by Seth Godin to describe a person who goes above and beyond just performing a job or task to create "art" by interacting or performing in a new and creative way that adds something human and irreplaceable to the work the person does.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, how is it that a barista at Starbucks was able to create "art"for me? It turns out that a man that I've seen working at another Starbucks has moved to a new downtown location and I recognized him. He's a fair bit older than most of the baristas that I've come across, not the usual university student type, and it's clear that he's happy to be there rather than grouchy about serving coffee when he could/should be in a more "senior level" position somewhere.<br />
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His name is Bruce and sitting there watching him out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that he knew the names of most of his customers and greeted them by name and actually remembered what all of their "regular" drinks were. Now, I used to work in the coffee business and I know that it takes a high level of caring about your job to create an atmosphere of welcoming guests into your shop rather than just processing through your 3,000th espresso shot of the week. It was great to watch him at work and he was friendly to me as well. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now what happened is that he actually made a mistake at the cash and nearly charged me almost triple for my cup of tea. The "art" part here is that he took the opportunity to make a personal connection over the mistake and made a quick decision to make the drink "on the house" because of the error. An act of generosity. Will I be going back to that shop? Absolutely! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Contrast this to my experience last weekend where I went to claim my free birthday drink at another Starbucks. I asked <u>twice</u> whether they offered a free birthday drink with a registered card and was told that I could have anything on the drink menu. I was also ordering a few other things for <i>Hubby</i> who was in the car. When it came time to ring everything up, the girl turned to ask her manager whether it really was in fact their policy to offer a free birthday drink and the manager said only with a coupon that I should have gotten in the mail (but didn't receive, unfortunately).<br />
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It wasn't a big deal to pay for my drink, but I left feeling embarrassed in front of the other customers behind me and will probably avoid that location from now on. Should they have honored what the girl had said was their policy in the first place?<br />
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I think Starbucks is the new <i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_100721660">local</a></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_house"> </a>for most of our communities. This book talks about their corporate philosophy and explains a lot of what you see in the stores: <a href="http://www.starbucksexperience.net/">The Starbucks Experience</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Onward to the computer situation...I've mentioned a few times that we're getting set up with a new TV here at <i>The Do-tique. </i>It has been a major ordeal and hassle to figure out exactly what cables I need to get my TV to show content from my MacBook. Five electronics stores later and I finally came across Trevor at Computer Depot here in Kingston. Can you create art in selling some basic cables to a confused non-tekkie? Absolutely! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Trevor was calm. He seemed to have time to go through my questions and take a look at my laptop and try to figure out the most affordable solution for me with the best picture results. He didn't throw a lot of letters and number at me. He didn't bad-mouth the other guys. He took the time to grab a TV monitor in the store and actually test out the cables for me with my own laptop and didn't rush the sale or try to up-sell me. It was clear, it was easy, it was low-pressure. Somehow, he made a connection, which is key as a sales person. Chances are pretty good that I'm going to be going back there again or at least telling other people that it's a good place to get help.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the other stores, I got a lot of fast talking. I got a lot of numbers and letters and products thrown at me with little or no explanation of how the whole system worked or what all the bits and pieces were for. I had sales guys arguing with each other in front of me about what the best solution would be. I had guys walk away to go ask someone else in the store without saying something like, "hang on a second while I go ask..." leaving me just standing there wondering what was going on. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both Bruce at Starbucks and Trevor at Computer Depot were able to create order out of chaos for me - first out of the chaos that was an incorrect price for my tea and second out of the chaos that is A/V equipment for me. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bruce is over at the new Starbucks on Princess at Sydenham.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Trevor is at Computer Depot on Gardiner's Road.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.computer-depot.ca/images/depot_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.computer-depot.ca/images/depot_logo.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="standardpagefont" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;">699 Gardiners Rd. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="standardpagefont" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;">Kingston, ON </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="standardpagefont" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;">Canada K7M 3Y4 </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="standardpagefont" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.computer-depot.ca/" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.computer-depot.ca</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 2</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>When you can get people like Chris and Trevor on your side, </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>why make your own coffee or figure out </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>that computer problem on your own?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>What can you do today that creates </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>a similar experience for someone else?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-30935427671109383662011-02-22T12:33:00.001-05:002011-03-01T11:23:52.733-05:00Unblogging and DIY Dinner Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/0e1a9315e2749076_landing" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/0e1a9315e2749076_landing" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dear Readers, please forgive my longish absence after that last bomb-dropping style post on will writing! I didn't mean to be away for so long! Things have been busy with my new full-time job which is trying to land a new full-time job. Add in a few computer crashes timed right as posts were just about finished and a certain adorable toddler needed rescuing from daycare and you have my best excuse for why nothing has appeared here in a while.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/55642fa8efe56c9f_landing" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/55642fa8efe56c9f_landing" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I received a special request from my guests to share the recipes used for an impromtu dinner party that I hosted last night. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>In order to convince you that really anyone regardless of their skill in the kitchen can have dinner guests:</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the Christmas holiday, I was invited to a dinner party that featured a menu that absolutely topped any easy <i>DIY</i> suggestion from every single magazine and website that I have ever read! What did these clever hosts serve? Pea soup <i>a la Habitant </i>(meaning "from a can"), baguette with a tray of cold meats and pie from the grocery store with home made whipped cream. Add in a touch of wonderful company and genuine lack of cooking skills and you have the easiest <i>DIY</i> dinner party every. I rate it 10!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/VV9864.jpg?size=67&uid=5c500a7c-f634-4c91-a54e-e232d88cb3a1&uniqID=5b2813ed-6201-44e3-a974-1707a26bfcc0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/VV9864.jpg?size=67&uid=5c500a7c-f634-4c91-a54e-e232d88cb3a1&uniqID=5b2813ed-6201-44e3-a974-1707a26bfcc0" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you are a small step more ambitious than that, you can try out my menu from last night, which worked out to be a low-stress quick dinner idea that seemed to impress my guests:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Tourtiere <i>a la</i> Alex Trebek</div><div style="text-align: center;">Oven French Fries</div><div style="text-align: center;">Steamed Broccoli</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I have no idea whether this recipe actually originates with Alex Trebek, but I discovered it a few years ago and here it is with my adaptations:</div><div style="text-align: auto;"><br />
1 pound ground pork<br />
3/4 pound ground beef (or veal)<br />
1 large onion, chopped<br />
1/4 teaspoon sage<br />
1/2 teaspoon thyme<br />
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves</div><div style="text-align: auto;">1/4 teaspoon cinnamon</div><div style="text-align: auto;">salt and pepper<br />
1/4 cup red wine, beef stock or water<br />
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs<br />
1 Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inch)<br />
(I use tenderflake frozen pie crusts)</div><div style="text-align: auto;"><br />
</div>In large pan, combine meat, onions, seasonings and wine; cook over low heat for 1 hour.<br />
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Drain fat. Stir in bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Let cool for about 45 minutes.<br />
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Defrost pastry according to instructions. Spoon in filling; cover with second pastry shell. Cut steam vents in top and seal edges. Bake in 350degrees F (180 degrees C) oven for 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown.<br />
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</div><div>Serve with maple syrup<br />
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</div><div>This works out to be a one-pot meal, with little labour and a longish inactive cook time and finally, an impressive home-baked/home-faked dish.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Unfortunately, no leftovers were available for a photo-opp today!</div><div><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 10 </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>This tourtiere is easier than it may look and comes out quite yummy! </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Stick to the "keep it simple" mantra and dinner </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>entertaining can be a DIY for just about anyone.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-52285839897065798612011-02-07T11:02:00.003-05:002011-03-01T11:26:49.122-05:00A Serious Matter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Photo Source:<a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=lawyer+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlawyer%2Bsource:life%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1&imgurl=ca85cc60c324a090"> Life</a></td></tr>
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<div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today, I am going to take a look at a project that I hope all of my readers will think about undertaking, but that I hope in doing so, no one will choose the <i>DIY </i>approach! What I'm talking about here is making a will (specifically for Canadians). Though I'm not a lawyer by profession, those who know me personally will be aware that I have what's probably an unusual interest in this sort of stuff.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What you should know is that only <a href="http://www.leavealegacy.ca/program/about/faq/">30% of Canadians</a> currently have an up-to-date legal will, but everyone over the age of majority should have one in place. Basically speaking, this is your chance to determine what happens to your family, assets and possessions rather than leaving it up to your Provincial Government to decide for you. (You may not like their estate plan!) All I'm saying is seriously question your reasons for choosing <i>not </i>to have a will in place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A second point is that there are practically a million and one <i>DIY </i>will kits out there that offer a cheap and easy alternative to using a lawyer to draft your will. The problem is that a will can be a fairly technical document even for a simple estate and a <a href="http://www.petley-jones.net/the-29-95-will-kit.html">lot can go wrong with a cheap kit</a>. The reason to have a live person drafting this document for you is that they are aware of what can go wrong and can ask all the in-depth questions necessary to get the right fit for your family. You just can't get that for $29.95!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For us, guardianship and custody was probably the most difficult hurdle to address in the planning process. This morning, an article appeared in my inbox from another blog that I follow. The article was titled, <i><a href="http://www.allaboutestates.ca/2011/02/eeny-meeny-miney-mo-who-will-get-your-kids-after-you-go%E2%80%A6/">EENY, MEENY, MINEY, MO, WHO WILL GET YOUR KIDS AFTER YOU GO…</a></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It talks about some of the ins and outs of how the law (in Canada) handles minor children when both of their parents are deceased and I thought I'd share the information in case this is something that you are also thinking about.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What you can do yourself is begin the process of getting organized to make a will. It took us about a year to get all the pieces in place and I don't think that's an unusual time frame. A good place to start getting basic information about the process is from your bank/financial institution. A lot of them have will planning kits available online. Another great resource is your church - I've seen the kits distributed by the <a href="http://archdioceseoftoronto.blogspot.com/2011/01/planning-for-our-final-days.html">Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto</a> as well as by the Canadian Anglican and United Churches and they are all top-notch and free.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Keep an eye open in May 2011 as that is a time of year when there are dozens of free public information sessions available nationally on making a will/leaving a legacy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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PS. This just in:<br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">39% Amount of Canadian millionaires who don't have an estate plan<br />
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22% Amount of Canadian millionaires who haven't even thought about it</span></div><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/Golden+Years/4200124/story.html#ixzz1DI6lUuGf" style="color: #003399; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.nationalpost.com/Golden+Years/4200124/story.html#ixzz1DI6lUuGf</a></span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 0 </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Make this a priority, but be sure to hire an expert to help!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Google search: "dying intestate ontario" </i><i>for a good </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>summary on why this needs to be on your 2011 To-Do list.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-11830187874832555362011-02-05T18:58:00.001-05:002011-02-05T19:00:43.317-05:00Whole Wheat Flour - Reader Question<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TU3jPOLBCGI/AAAAAAAAD_s/0u7ZQw2es40/s1600/flour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TU3jPOLBCGI/AAAAAAAAD_s/0u7ZQw2es40/s400/flour.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Photo Credit: <i>Filia Artis</i></td></tr>
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A good question from <i>KvD</i>, a regular reader here at <i>The Do-tique </i>about substituting whole wheat flour for all-purpose in my <a href="http://thedo-tique.blogspot.com/2011/02/stewlicious.html">stew recipe</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In this recipe, I used flour to thicken the sauce for the stew and to make the dumplings that went in. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Corn starch would likely have worked equally well if not better as a sauce thickener here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for whole wheat flour, there are lots of recipes online that call for a percentage of whole wheat mixed with all-purpose flour to make whole wheat dumplings and that sounds like a route that I would recommend trying. 100% whole wheat would probably work, but they'd be pretty heavy tasting dumplings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Often, when I want to sub-in whole wheat into a recipe, I limit myself to replacing about 1/3 - 1/2 of the white flour with whole wheat since things can get a bit too dense otherwise. For instance, I made whole wheat pizza dough last night, but only replaced about 1/3 of the white flour and that was about right to create something that still had the correct texture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>With regard to using whole wheat flour as a thickener in sauces and gravies, I wasn't able to find a great answer online, so if any of my readers have tried this, please let me know how it turned out. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If I had to do this in a pinch, I would make sure to grind the flour in a coffee grinder or food processor and then sift out the larger bran particles with a sieve before proceeding to give myself the best chance of a sauce that is somewhat smooth. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In reality, flour as a thickener for sauces is kind of a cheating method in the first place. So, if you're a more accomplished chef, you can adjust recipes to allow for sauces to reduce properly rather than artificially rushing that process with thickening agents. Another option would be to allow the cream in this recipe to do more of the work for you as a thickening agent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm hoping that C.F. of <a href="http://mavieprovencal.blogspot.com/">Ma Vie Provencal</a> may chime in since I know that she follows an allergen-free diet and will know all sorts of tricks for making things without flour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Bon Appetit!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: I leave it up to you, dear reader, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>to </i><i>assign a rating from your own experience! </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Does whole wheat flour work?</i></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-22697580896026456872011-02-04T16:21:00.001-05:002011-02-04T16:23:13.441-05:00Books and Miscellanea at The Do-tique<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TUxtZ6rMl2I/AAAAAAAAD_o/aicy9qUaKKw/s1600/2207530863_c81f831e35_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TUxtZ6rMl2I/AAAAAAAAD_o/aicy9qUaKKw/s400/2207530863_c81f831e35_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crosseyed_doll/">Crosseyed_doll</a></td></tr>
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This time, I am going to feature for you, dear reader, a few songs from <i>Baby's </i>current play list. Now most young children are probably listening to wholesome tunes by the likes of Raffi and The Wiggles (ok, I have no idea who the children's musicians are these days!). However, our little scalliwag seems to enjoy dancing around the house carrying an empty beer bottle while listening to <i>Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Here are samples of some of the favorites:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
(<i>You may have to scroll down and hit "play" for the track, the artist's site won't let me embed the links!</i>)<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=48161">All For Me Grog</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/geomusicology/music/songs/larry-maher-s-big-5-gallon-jar-4800518">Larry Maher’s Big Five-Gallon Jar</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=48163">The Lowlands Low</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 10</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Really, is there anything more entertaining than </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>watching a small person enjoying a few pirate tunes?</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-28164190857038470382011-02-02T19:41:00.000-05:002011-02-02T19:41:15.819-05:00Snow Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/eaca5f18944a76a4_landing" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/eaca5f18944a76a4_landing" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">No real breakthroughs to report from here today on the <i>DIY</i> front. We decided to all stay in since about a foot of snow and high winds were forecast for our area. Everyone had a nap, everyone did some work, <i>Hubby </i>shoveled the driveway and <i>Baby</i> supervised. I got caught up on my blog reading.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In thinking about the ultimate <i>Do-tique</i> project, the dream of having a top designer come in and decorate one of my rooms for me is quite close to the top. That's exactly what happened to one of the regular blog readers over at <a href="http://ramblingrenovators.blogspot.com/2011/02/sarah-101-after-show.html">Rambling Renovators</a>. Check out the interview with Geeta where she discusses what it was like to have Sarah Richardson and Tommy re-do their dining room for the show <a href="http://www.hgtv.ca/sarah101/">Sarah 101 on HGTV</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I've always wondered how the costs are shared on one of those shows and what the behind the scenes experience is like. My guess has always been that what they show on TV as a fairly smooth design process with short time frames is in reality much more complex than it appears. I give kudos to Sarah Richardson for occasionally showing where things go wrong in the decorating process, but I suspect, like Martha Stewart, she is not fully showing the team of interns and assistants and specialty designer source catalogues that help her pull it all together. Geeta's interview gives us a bit more of an insider's look into the process and I want to thank her for sharing her insights with the RR readership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since this blog questions a prevailing <i>DIY </i>culture<i> </i>and the concept of Sarah 101 is that by learning the basic building blocks of design, anyone can create what she is putting together - especially since she relies heavily on out of the box solutions like IKEA. I wonder, if having seen the behind the scenes process, whether those people whose homes appeared on the show would agree that what Sarah creates is really something that anyone could do themselves?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a slight shift of topics: We're trying to get a renovation project I'm working with onto Mike Holmes' radar - or maybe someone like him. Can anyone comment on what it's like to be on one of these TV shows? Any tips on how to get on and how to negotiate what will happen? If you are someone or know someone who can help, let me know. This is truly an incredible project, but it's going to be a huge challenge to get the building from where it is now to where it needs to be. This particular place serves the poorest of the poor; it is a refuge to these people and it is falling apart.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: Undetermined</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I wonder what Geeta would rate her experience as and whether you, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>dear reader, would ever agree to lending your home to a TV show or not?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I would consider doing it, but worry that by only decorating one room, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>that room would look out of place with the rest of my house.</i></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-217759809844671612011-02-01T21:06:00.000-05:002011-02-01T21:06:31.671-05:00Stewlicious!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c18de0f08ca9a8b4_landing" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c18de0f08ca9a8b4_landing" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image Credit: <a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=cooking+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcooking%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1&imgurl=c18de0f08ca9a8b4">Life</a></td></tr>
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So far this winter, I have planned twice to make chicken pot pie. The first time around, I had all the ingredients ready to go, but realized early in the process that my chicken had spoiled (my own fault for leaving it a day too long in the fridge!). I ended up with a vegetarian strudel using the puff pastry that I'd defrosted and vegetables I was already preparing for the pie.<br />
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Second time around, I never got around to buying frozen pastry or having the energy to make some from scratch, so my next failed attempt became chicken stew with dumplings. I thought I'd share the recipe here as it turned out pretty delicious.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image Credit: <i>Filia Artis</i></td></tr>
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The recipe is an adaptation from <a href="http://www.canadianliving.com/food/chicken_stew_with_dumplings.php">Canadian Living</a> and the main reason for the adaptations was that I didn't have the right ingredients in the right amounts, so I had to do some improvisation. An accidental addition of much more cream than was called for also occurred, but the stew came out so creamy and delicious, I decided to keep that error in my version.<br />
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Overall, I liked the results. I repeat one of my favorite mantras that the secret to being a home chef is to know how and when substitutions and alterations can be made. Dare to experiment and see what happens!<br />
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My time start to finish on this one was 1 hr 15 mins, so a bit longer than I like to spend on a weeknight dinner, but we got two nights out of it, so if you average it out, pretty quick and easy. The preparation mess factor was about medium with all the chopping and ingredient preparation, but it was still a one pot meal, which is my favorite kind!<br />
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I'm dying to hear from anyone who makes this recipe or has made anything that has previously appeared on <i>The Do-tique</i>! Please let me know how things went and feel free to document your experience with at least one photo and I'd be pleased to feature you as a guest blogger. Now THAT's an invitation that should be impossible to resist!!!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 8 definitely doable and easier than pot pie!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>If you're not a chef by nature, save this one for </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>the weekend when you can take your time.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Overall, quite simple and extremely tasty, but though the prep was all </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>straightforward, it did create a moderate amount of mess to clean up.</i></div><div><br />
</div><br />
<b>Ingredients</b><div><br />
</div><div>2.5 cups chicken stock </div><div>(I used a boullion cube to make stock and ended up adding additional 2 cups of stock at end)<br />
4 (0.6 kg) skinned chicken thighs with bone in</div><div>2 medium carrots, peeled and cut in cubes<br />
1 potato, peeled and cubed<br />
1 head broccoli cut into florets<br />
1-2 tbsp butter<br />
2 chopped celery stalks<br />
1 chopped onion<br />
1 cup sliced mushrooms<br />
1/4 cup all purpose flour<br />
1 tsp dried thyme<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/2 tsp pepper<br />
1/2 cup whipping cream<br />
</div><div>Dumplings<br />
1 cup flour<br />
1 tsp dried parsley / 1 tbsp fresh parsley if preferred<br />
2 tsp baking powder<br />
1/4 tsp salt<br />
1 tbsp butter<br />
1/2 cup milk, (approx)<br />
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<b>Preparation:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
In a large Dutch oven, bring chicken stock to boil. Add chicken; cover and simmer over medium-low heat until juices run clear when chicken is pierced, about 20-30 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer to plate; let cool. Remove meat from bones; cut into bite-size chunks.<br />
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Add carrots, broccoli and potatoes to stock; cover and cook for 10 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to plate. Pour stock into large measuring cup; if necessary, add more chicken stock to make 2.5 cups.<br />
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In same pan, melt butter over medium-high heat; cook celery, onion and mushrooms, stirring often, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add flour, thyme, salt and pepper; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in reserved stock; bring to boil, stirring. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until thick enough to coat back of spoon. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan. Add carrot mixture and cream, stirring to combine.<br />
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Dumplings: In bowl, whisk together flour, parsley, baking powder and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until in coarse crumbs. Using fork, stir in enough milk to make sticky spoonable dough. Alternately, you can mix the butter and dried ingredients in a food processor and add the milk that way also. Leaving space around each, drop by tablespoonfuls onto simmering stew; cover and cook, without lifting lid, for 15 minutes or until dumplings are no longer doughy underneath.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Takes about 1 hr 15 min and makes 4 servings.</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-14691305857949909952011-01-26T09:38:00.001-05:002011-03-01T11:31:58.561-05:00The E-Domain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Though the focus of <i>The Do-tique</i> is life in our physical domains, I wanted to take a look at the world of the virtual home as it is full of <i>DIY</i> projects waiting for attention! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the past few months, in anticipation of an effort to connect face-to-face with colleagues in my own industry and to meet and learn from new contacts in another related industry, I thought it would be wise to create a business card that represented me as a professional contact. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/BusinessCardAttorney1895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/BusinessCardAttorney1895.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BusinessCardAttorney1895.jpg">Wikipedia</a>: Attorney's Card, 1895</td></tr>
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The personal business card is about acknowledging that networking takes place on both a personal and professional level in many sectors. We network with other professionals to learn from each other as colleagues. In the business/sales setting, we work to create connections on behalf of our employers when we are representing them to potential or existing clients. Two functions, two cards - use each appropriately.<br />
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Some options I looked at for personalized cards were: <a href="http://Moo.com/">Moo.com</a> and <a href="http://Tinyprints.com/">Tinyprints.com</a><br />
Both had great design templates, but I went with the local (and awesome!) <a href="http://www.thepcc.net/">student print shop</a> this time around since they had the best price, quickest turnaround and it allowed me to order a small "tester batch" and I'll save the larger order until I'm done "testing" this look.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The big question that came out of this thinking was how to create an email address that would be connected to my "personal brand" and communicate professionalism. I understood that myname@hotmail.com was going to make me look like a teenager. See <a href="http://www.marketingactuary.com/2009/11/does-your-email-address-say-youre-cheap.html">Marketing Actuary</a> for a discussion on this very topic. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I ended up with a custom website and matching email address that are perfect for my purposes. The process was not as intuitive as I thought, so I wanted to share what I learned in case it is something you might be considering yourself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Step 1 - Purchase your site name</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Did you know that you have to buy a URL? I didn't. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I spoke with my telephone and internet provider about purchasing the name from them. The service included email addresses at that URL, but their pricing was fairly high.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, I purchased my site from an online retailer called <a href="http://www.Netfirms.com/">www.Netfirms.com</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I chose the very most basic plan and the cost was $4.95 per year and I got that pricing by searching "netfirms promo code 2011" in Google and finding a coupon code that was valid.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Step 2 - Create a Google Apps account</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The reason for this is that there is a cost to create an email account at your URL through Netfirms. Google allows you to create an email account with the ending @yoururl.com for free through their Apps program. In essence, it is a Gmail account without any visual association to Google.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Google will take you through a process to confirm that you own that URL before initiating the account. You can also migrate the website over to Google Apps and use their free templates for web design if you are a novice like me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Step 3 - Download onto your desktop</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do you want to deal with more webmail? Really? The answer for me is, "NO."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The solution: I was able to set everything up as a POP account that automatically downloads into my MacMail program. I can check email remotely through webmail if I want to, but for everyday use, it's all nicely automated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am certain that there must be another way to set all of this up at a low cost, but this was the path of least resistance that I was able to find. What do you think? Is there an easier way? Is anyone else thinking along the lines of carrying two cards?</div><div><br />
</div>As Joan tells Peggy about her typewriter in Episode 1 of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR0w37yQ4MI">Mad Men</a>:<br />
<div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"Try not to be overwhelmed with all this technology. It looks complicated, </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">but the men who designed it made it simple enough for a woman to use."</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 5 </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>As the Marketing Actuary suggested, the most knowledgeable </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>person </i><i>I spoke to happened to be an undergraduate student</i><i>.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>In terms of the DIY aspect, I regret that I didn't employ </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>an expert </i><i>here who could have set this up in much less time.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Perhaps my road map will help other DIY'ers!</i></div></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-91537186367404206072011-01-25T13:00:00.000-05:002011-01-25T13:00:45.820-05:00Score at the Grocery Store!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/974da14bfd169938_landing" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/974da14bfd169938_landing" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image Credit: <a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=974da14bfd169938&q=grocery%20shopping%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgrocery%2Bshopping%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1229%26bih%3D633%26tbs%3Disch:1,ic:gray">Life</a></td></tr>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Ok, so just a quick post today since time is short and I want to get cooking!</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freshco.com/app_themes/freshco/images/logo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="http://www.freshco.com/app_themes/freshco/images/logo.gif" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">I scored big time at FreshCo today in Kingston where almost all of their meat was 50% off! The best before on everything is January 27th (today is the 25th) so if I get cooking and freezing today, I'm not too worried about anything spoiling.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/AAFW001461.jpg?size=67&uid=d153cfd5-dd0f-49b5-8690-ce09a5f8028c&uniqID=af9a9803-1bb6-4527-b548-816c1a677cbe" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/AAFW001461.jpg?size=67&uid=d153cfd5-dd0f-49b5-8690-ce09a5f8028c&uniqID=af9a9803-1bb6-4527-b548-816c1a677cbe" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The strategy here at <i>The Do-tique</i> is always about frozen dinners. We cook about once or twice a month in a big way and then the rest of the month we cook up quick stuff and work through the freezer stash. By setting aside one or two afternoons (usually Sundays) a month to make up some extra meals for the freezer, the week seems to go smoother with way less clean up and hassle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are some ideas of things I'll be making up in the next day or so and maybe the list will inspire others in terms of good ideas for make ahead meals:</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">(All of the meat ingredients were on sale today)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ul><li>Frozen pie crusts + ground pork + ground beef = <a href="http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1051/Alex-Trebeks-Tourtiere-Trebek78055.shtml">Tourtiere</a></li>
<li>Frozen pie crusts + eggs + bacon + broccoli = <a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1926,146179-224204,00.html">Quiche</a></li>
<li>Simmering steaks + veggies = <a href="http://homecooking.about.com/od/soups/r/blss129.htm">Beef Stew</a></li>
<li>Ground beef + veggies + beans = <a href="http://southernfood.about.com/od/chilirecipes/r/bl90924h.htm">Chili</a></li>
<li>Sausages + tomatoes = <a href="http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/17959/tomato-sauce-with-italian-sausage.html">Pasta Sauce</a></li>
<li>Chicken thighs + spices =<a href="http://food.chatelaine.com/recipes/view/lakshmi-sundaram-s-tandoori-chicken-with-butter-sauce/17592"> Indian Curry</a></li>
<li>Leeks + potatoes + bacon = <a href="http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/leek_and_potato_soup.php">Potato leek soup</a></li>
<li>Ground beef + carrots + potatoes = <a href="http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/shepherds-pie-vi/Detail.aspx">Shepherd's Pie</a></li>
</ul><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The recipes are just samples. All of these allow for some play to adjust ingredients to what you have on hand - so feel free to substitute or search the web until you find a recipe that matches what you have in the kitchen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My two best tips here are if you see a cut of meat on sale that doesn't look like what you're looking for, you can get creative about butchering it yourself. For example, if you are looking to make stew, look for a roast on sale and cut it up yourself. If you need pork chops, a roast pork may be more affordable and you can cut the chops from that. Whole chickens are often cheaper than chicken quarters and you can make soup broth from the leftover parts when you quarter it yourself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My second tip is that if you are at the store and thinking about doing some pre-cooking, pick up some ziploc containers and aluminum casserole trays so that you can easily portion out servings for your freezer without tying up your more permanent dishes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Avoid intensely complicated recipes for maximum bang for your time input!</div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 7</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The ease and convenience of frozen dinners at </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>a fraction of the cost and without the unhealthy stuff.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The time commitment here is front-end loaded, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>so you will need at least a couple of half-days a month</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> to get ahead, but the time saved during the week is substantial.</i></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-83994442450825746002011-01-24T12:50:00.000-05:002011-01-24T12:50:55.365-05:00God Bless this Mess!<div style="text-align: justify;"><i>J.</i> over at <a href="http://ramblingrenovators.blogspot.com/2011/01/closet-of-shame.html">Rambling Renovators</a> decided to share one of her family's messy secrets today. Namely, a dysfunctional entry closet that they cleaned up this past week. Inspired by <i>J.</i>, I thought I would share our family's not-so-secret mess and show off my toy storage solution. It looks like this:</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TT2rLbX1y9I/AAAAAAAAD_U/vf7HVP09mJ4/s1600/P1040874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TT2rLbX1y9I/AAAAAAAAD_U/vf7HVP09mJ4/s400/P1040874.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, I realize that this is a tiny, tiny amount of toys - there are in fact a few other similarly sized piles elsewhere in the house - however, I still think a pile on the floor is not quite the level of decor solution that I'm looking for in my main living room.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We went to IKEA yesterday to do some brainstorming on solutions and came up with this option. This Hemnes cabinet would work well with <i>Baby's </i>books and we thought a good idea might be to mount something behind the glass - fabric or peel and stick frosting - to hide some of the chaos inside. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/images/products/hemnes-linen-cabinet-red-glass__0105685_PE253176_S4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/images/products/hemnes-linen-cabinet-red-glass__0105685_PE253176_S4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">A much more affordable solution would be the Expedit bookcase below that can be left vertical or used horizontally. I think it might provide more storage, but without doors, the toy-jumble remains exposed and the cubbies aren't very wide.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/images/products/expedit-bookcase-white__0092712_PE229410_S4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/images/products/expedit-bookcase-white__0092712_PE229410_S4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anywhere besides IKEA that I should be looking? Anyone have some ideas I could use? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In answer to, "where are the rest of <i>Baby's</i> toys?" there are quite a few downstairs in the den and a whole bunch up in her bedroom. We are trying to keep the toys to a reasonable minimum without reducing the fun factor around here by letting <i>Baby </i>play with other safe items around the house that she finds interesting like plastic water bottles and cardboard boxes and containers with rice or pasta and the pots, pans and tupperware. Her stash currently includes some wrapping paper from Christmas that she is interested in scrunching up. Another strategy was to take her to free play groups run by the Ontario Early Years program where you could play for a while with their toys and sign a few out to bring home and borrow. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I often remind myself that children all over the world and in past ages were quite satisfied with only 2 or 3 toys and that the pile we have is indeed quite substantial!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">That being said, I still want to get the ones we have up and off the floor!</div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593866442873575706.post-71835932457222847172011-01-18T09:45:00.000-05:002011-01-18T09:45:42.562-05:00Warn Graphic Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.cmcdn.net/9342780/240x240.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.cmcdn.net/9342780/240x240.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I took a course in Photoshop way back in the early 1990s. It was brand new back then and we were working on "386's" - being lucky enough to go to a high school that could afford to build such a state of the art computer lab in those days! Needless to say, though the concepts I learned haven't changed that much, my skills are seriously rusty these days.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">That being said, when I needed a photo for my professional image, the <i>DIY</i> avenue was not really an option. Thankfully, my friend Warren Nowosad stepped up to help me out at the last minute and transformed my pic into something that looks good and will be useful to me. I want to send out a big <b>"Thank You"</b> to Warren and I thought I would showcase his online portfolio here so that you can get an idea of the work that he does as a designer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://warrennowosad.carbonmade.com/">Warn Graphic Design</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TTWiYBokHnI/AAAAAAAAD_M/04pCItok7V8/s1600/Profile+Image.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ETgULec6FnA/TTWiYBokHnI/AAAAAAAAD_M/04pCItok7V8/s200/Profile+Image.JPG" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfH8gPnsSA5LVw3xoFlrGY4BIodJs4NP8ehMjoH7zfvAWN_0n4EjatY_shNlr-rlHkd6grMzXm9FOiRMWPMxqePWVHiSvO8lm5LFY7dy7plpXm2iki62ldVTgmV87Mh8ASNj8urlTXTST/s1600/Christina_Profile+Image_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfH8gPnsSA5LVw3xoFlrGY4BIodJs4NP8ehMjoH7zfvAWN_0n4EjatY_shNlr-rlHkd6grMzXm9FOiRMWPMxqePWVHiSvO8lm5LFY7dy7plpXm2iki62ldVTgmV87Mh8ASNj8urlTXTST/s200/Christina_Profile+Image_v2.jpg" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I'm hesitant to reveal the "magic" that Warren worked, but since <a href="http://www.celebritygossipshow.com/2010/04/14/britney-spears-allows-unedited-candie%E2%80%99s-ad-photos-to-be-released/">Brittney Spears</a> decided recently to release her raw images, I thought I could follow her suit! (Needless to say, but Brittney does not really look bad at all in her more realistic photos!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Do you use LinkedIn as part of your own professional networking strategy? Have you thought about investing in a professional photo? I see some out there that haven't been updated since I took that photoshop course in the 90's! Others are low-res or look like they belong on Facebook. What does yours say about you?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>DIY Rating: 0 </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Leave this one to the experts! </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>It would have taken me hours to do this myself</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>and since I need the image for business,</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>the professional job looks, well, more professional!</i></div>Filia Artishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472714935780666886noreply@blogger.com3