Chateau Bright Star Sunday Garden Tour

We had one nice day this summer so far, so I took some photos of some of the things we have growing in our yard. Every day I take a walk through our garden to see what is blooming and what new treats we have popping up. Every day I spy something new. Here are some items that caught my interest on Saturday. I am not a photographer, nor do I have the photography gene that some in my family have, but I think I did an alright job.

Golden Moss Stonecrop (sedum)

Columbine


Miss Kim Lilac

Oriental Poppy

Morden Variety Hardy Rose

Grow your

Bright Star Dreams

We have walls!

Homer has been hard at work scheduling contractors, framing, preparing for the trades to arrive, waiting for deliveries and inspectors, cleaning and organizing. The rough plumbing is done, the furnace ducts have been moved, several new gas lines have been added, the electrical is done, the framing is done, the drywall is up, the taping is started, the flooring is ordered and scheduled to be installed. Taping will be finished this week and then painting will be started. Whew! The end is in sight now. Just one more week of drywall dust.

We may even get this and the girls room done before we leave for Ethiopia. When will that be, you ask? Right now your guess is as good as mine. Due to daily power outages in Addis, our agency has not been able to get through to their representatives in Ethiopia. so we don't know if we are officially waiting for a visa or if we are waiting for CIC in Nairobi to issue the medical request. I know I should be jumping up and down about this, but I don't think it would do any good and it may even make things move slower. I have been stressed about it absolutely - as a planner it is hard to sit on my hands and not plan. Believe me I have been sick about it, but I know that everyone is doing their best to move the process along. Jumping up and down will only make me feel worse, so I try to wait patiently for news this week.

Here are some pictures of the basement progress.

Bedroom

Bathroom

Rec Room

Rec Room

Build your

Bright Star Dreams

Big News at Chateau Bright Star - Dreams Do Come True!

Almost 3 years ago, Homer and I decided to pursue our dream to expand our family. In March of this year, our dreams were answered. We received news that a pair of sibling girls needed a family and they had been matched to us -- a couple of crazy canucks who needed a family too. We waited for two days to see their faces, and when we did, they took our breathe away. They were gorgeous. I'm not just saying that because I am their mom, they really are gorgeous. Since Homer and I don't consider ourselves to be card carrying members of the beautiful people society, we felt like we had just been dealt a royal flush. But there were more steps to go before everything was official, so we decided to hold our tongues (and blogs) until we knew for certain they would be joining our clan.

On May 29, the court officially decreed that we are parents to these breathtaking girls. We waited 6 days after the decision to find out the news. Our daughters T & M are ages 6 and 4 and are currently living in Ethiopia. We hope to travel by the end of the summer to bring them to their new home.

This journey has been an emotional one and more than once I have questioned whether we were doing the right thing for the children. I had one person this week tell me that our daughters will be so grateful to us. I explained that we are the ones that are grateful. Our daughters are the ones who are losing and have lost so much - their culture, their birth country, their language and so much more. And they have to move to a country where this happens in June. They did not choose for this to happen to them - we have made a selfish decision that we hope that they can accept. We are so grateful to have this opportunity. This person said the same thing to me the very next day. Some people just don't get it.

I had every intention of posting a picture or two today, but upon reflection have decided to not post pictures to the world wide web. Once the pictures are out there, I cannot take them back.

Hold on to your
Bright Star Dreams

Seriously - Is this Mother Natures Idea of a Joke?

Our back yard May 31, 2009

Our backyard today

Global warming huh?


I think our Saskatoon bushes got the worst of it - at least one of them has snapped down the center.

I'm dreaming of moving west...

Wishing you warm

Bright Star Dreams

Happy (Belated) Birthday Homer!

It was Homer's birthday this week. So what does one get for the man who says he does not want anything.

Answer: Something he has wanted, even coveted, but did not really need. New dishes!!

LOL, it was something I wanted and coveted and he went along with me. He just wanted the baking bowls. So this is what he got for his birthday:
I am sure my grandmother had a set like this in cream. They lasted forever.

We have been looking for new dishes for some time now and found a brand we liked while in Hawaii a year ago. Our old dishes were over ten years old and they were starting to look chipped and battered. With all the issues with products from China and with new additions to our family in the future, we were reluctant to purchase anything that was not guaranteed lead free. We were unable to find anything we both liked and was not made in SE Asia. Homer Laughlin is made in America and is one of the last commercial pottery/china companies left in North America.

We both loved the Fiesta Dinnerware from Homer Laughlin, but we could not agree on a colour. Sometimes too much choice can lead to an impasse in our house. So finally, we decided not to have just one colour but two. I chose three colours that I liked and told Homer to choose one colour he liked and hopefully one of the ones I chose would go with it. He ended up vetoing two of the colours I chose and the colour he liked the most won't be available until June. So we purchased the four piece settings and gusto bowls in Peacock and Sunflower for now. We may purchase some more dishes in June when the Lemon Grass colour becomes available. Neither of us liked the bowls in the four piece setting, but it was actually less expensive to buy the set and add the gusto bowls than to buy the pieces separately. Here's the four piece setting (in Peacock). The handles on the mugs are slightly different than shown:

Here are the Gusto Bowls (In Tangerine - wait maybe this is Persimmon a retired colour):

Five huge boxes arrived mid-week and the delivery driver actually rolled one of them off the truck. Homer was certain they would be damaged and we would be sending them back. Amazingly, they arrived unscathed. The dishes were well packed in bubble wrap and expanding foam.

We are happy with our selected colours, but I like almost all of the colours, so I am not sure we could have gone wrong. If you are interested in checking out all of the colours and the large selection of dinnerware, here is the link to their website. I think there is a lifetime of birthday gifts for us to choose from.

http://www.homerlaughlin.com/ffd/home.asp

Enjoy your colourful
Bright Star Dreams

Sunday cuteness...

Hmm, what is this...

Smells pretty good.

Tastes good too.

The bottom is even better.

After all that work, it's time for a nap.

25 Kilos is never enough

Have a great Sunday

Floor, Check

The sub floor is done! I guess I should say mostly done, as we still need to do the floor in the bathroom. We are now calling the plumber to do the plumbing and heating work. We have to move several of the heating ducts to reduce the number of bulk heads we have to build. We were going to put up the walls before the plumber came, but have decided we want to leave everything as open as possible for the plumber to work. We will be putting up the one wall where the bathtub/shower taps, spout, and shower head will be attached. We now have to go find a tub we both like. It is just a basement, so it won't be anything too fancy.

On another note, we still have snow in our back yard, but I can see some greening of the grass. We have had above average temperatures this weekend. Maybe spring has finally decided to grace our presence. The dogs have been enjoying sunning themselves on the deck. We are having a lazy Easter weekend, hence the decision not to build walls just yet.

Hope Easter brings you

Bright Star Dreams

P.S. If anyone is looking for an elliptical trainer, we are planning to sell the one in the picture.