7 Links for Bloggers

I was recently reading a few of my favourite blogs, to unwind from all the painting I have been doing in the kitchen.  I came across a post by Kate at Centsational Girl about "the 7-link challenge", an idea that originated from ProBlogger.  The challenge is to link to 7 posts based on the following themes:

1. Your first post
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most
3. A post which had great discussion
4. A post on someone else’s blog you wish you’d written
5. Your most helpful post
6. A post with a title you are proud of
7. A post you wish more people had read
   
   
   
   
   I really enjoyed reading Kate's post and thought I would do one as well.  So here goes:

1.  Your first post.  It seems like a long time ago that I published my first post, but in reality it was only 6 months ago.  I really had no idea what I was doing and it took ages to get my blog up on Google so it could be read by others.   I didn't get my first comment for a few weeks, so for much of January I was mostly preaching to the choir.

2.  A post you enjoyed writing the most.  I really enjoyed writing this post about doing my taxes.  Maybe it was because writing the post was a lot more fun than doing my taxes.  And by the way, I did buy the jeans and I love them (and no that's not a picture of me).

3.  A post which had great discussion.  I don't know that my blog really generates discussion per se - it's just not very controversial.  I do, however, get lots and lots of comments and compliments, which I adore.  The post that got the most comments (apart from giveaways) was the one about my bathroom.  It kind of makes me laugh to think that our bathroom has been viewed over 4,000 times - yep, come on in strangers and have a look at our bathroom.

4.  A post on someone else’s blog you wish you’d written.  I'm not sure if it is the post I wish I'd written, as much as the project I wish I had done and then could write it up.  I just love the playhouse that Linda and her husband at Restyled Home made for their daughter, I mean who doesn't .  It is just so cute and creative and fun and I would love to have made one for my daughter.  Who am I kidding, I would love to make one for myself.  I adore the project, but I also love Linda's easy chatty style of blogging and it came together well in this post.

5.  Your most helpful post.  I don't really think being helpful is what my blog is about - it's more about showing you pretty picutres, or even photos of my messy kitchen.  That being said, I have got quite a few emails telling me how helpful they find my Blogging Tips page, so although it isn't a post, but rather a page, I'm going to go with that.

6.  A post with a title you are proud of.  This is a tough one, as I'm not really that creative with my titles (unless of course you count the one that I made a typo in, which continues to show up with the error in LinkedWithin - sigh).  I guess one that I like is Emerald Quilt although I can't take full credit for it.  I had the post all ready and couldn't think of a title, so I asked my husband for ideas and he suggested something to do with 'quilt' and I added the 'emerald'.  It is one of those moments when our combined creative brains were better than one - and I love it.

7.  A post you wish more people had read.  Early on, before anyone was reading my blog, I did a post called I heart my Smilebox Calendars.  I made, or helped make, calendars for my father, my uncle, my daughter, a friend at work, and myself.  My calendar, which shows photos from my trip out west last summer, is something that I love - truly, madly, deeply love.  Okay that might seem like extreme affection for a calendar, but truth to tell I look forward to each new month's pictures, and am sad when a month is done as I can't display its pictures any more.  Yep, it's love alright.  I still feel that Smilebox is a great on-line product that I know some of you would enjoy using.

So those are my 7 links.  And now.... your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell me what your 7 links are.

Summer Giveaway Winner and a Kitchen Up-date

Let's start with something pretty because things are going to go downhill when I show you how our kitchen is looking these days.

There, wasn't that beautiful - a butterfly visiting our butterfly bush. 

Now on to the not-so-pretty, and in fact, down right messy.  You know the old saying - you have to crack an egg to make an omelette - well it sure seems like someone was in here cracking dozens of eggs.  Oh boy.

It's been this way all week and it's looking like it will take me another week before I"m done.  I'll need a holiday afterward, that's for sure.

I came up for air long enough to draw a winner for the summer giveaway. 

Number 12 is NannyKim.  Congrats!  Please email me your address so I can send the plate to you.   Thanks to everyone for entering.

Now back to work and may I finish soon.

Bangladesh Here We Come

As I mentioned many months ago in this post, my friend Kim and I are making plans to go to Bangladesh next summer to teach in the new Speech-Language department in Dhaka. 

One year from today is our planned arrival date in Bangladesh.  I'm very excited that progress is being made.  Recently, Kim and I met with a group of fellow rehab specialists (physios, occupational therapists, and other speech-language pathologists) all of whom have already been to CRP (Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed) and they gave us great information about what to expect and let us ask millions of questions.   A young Bengali couple, who are both occupational therapists, brought presents for everyone at the meeting which was so sweet of them.  I included some photos of my presents on this post as these are tangible reminders of where we hope to be one year from today.
 

Kim and I submitted our applications to CRP a month ago and within days got emails back letting us know that we would be met at the airport and they have a rooms for us to stay in.  It's kind of funny to know those details before we know important things like what we will be teaching.  Oh well, baby steps.

The other thing we have done is start collecting discarded therapy materials and tests from work and buying good quality toys from thrift stores to take over with us.  Kim and I sat for a few hours recently and sorted out all the things we have collected so far - pretty impressive lot isn't it?  We may try and ship some of it over in a crate ahead of time.

We also need to start fundraising.  We have a year to raise the money we need for the airfare and costs when we are in Bangladesh.

 Exciting developments in our big project, although there is still a lot to do.

Down Under

 

I finally got around to painting the patches on the  basement wall, where we had had a water leak from the now replaced sliding door in the dining room above it.  It has only taken me the better part of a year to get around to painting over the repair.  

Since the walls have now been repainted and the kids have all gone away for the summer, I took the opportunity to deep-clean the basement, wiping down baseboards, washing the floor, vacuuming under everything etc.  And then of course since it looked so nice I thought I would take you on a tour. 

We had the basement finished three summers ago and have thoroughly enjoyed having the extra space.  The first thing we did, prior to having the basement finished, was have a larger hole cut in the foundation and a window about twice as big as the previous one installed.  It has made a huge difference in the amount of light coming into the room.  The sunlight pours in until about noon time, and since this is the only window in the family room, it was well worth the money.

We let Kate have a big say in decorating this room and she wanted something younger and more modern feeling.  She chose the turquoise colour for the walls and then we went to IKEA and bought orange accents in the area rug, runner, and the wall decorations (more about that later).  We only painted the walls in the TV area turquoise so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for a basement room. 

When you go downstairs and turn to the left there was a small area that I had the builder make a recess and hubby built shelves to hold the DVDs.  We have a rather large collection and they no longer fit neatly on the shelves, but at least they are relatively contained.  The painting on the cabinet was done by my grandmother at our cottage.

Then looking right from the bottom of the stairs, you can see the family room past the piano and the foosball table. 

 The foosball table was given to us by good friends of ours when they downsized and gets a lot of use whenever the kids have friends over.  We just happened to have the right size area for it between the piano and the laundry room.

We didn't have the sofa at the time we finished the basement, but my parents gave it to us last year when they were changing things around at their house.  Fortunately it works with the colours we already had used and is fantastically comfortable.

I made the wall art using a very inexpensive duvet cover from IKEA (something like $20), which I cut into squares and stapled to art canvases.

The TV is sitting on a radio-record player console that my uncle bought in the 1960s.   The TV and DVD player fit perfectly on top and it helps add that mid-century modern touch.  Argh - all I see in that photo are all the wires hanging out below - what do you do with all the wires?

I added a little giraffe that my grandmother brought back from Zambia when she taught there in the 1970s.  I love the contrast of the rustic giraffe outline against the turquoise wall.

Kate and I went to a Pier 1 outlet store and found this unusual table with four cushions that you store underneath it.  It often gets pulled apart so everyone can sit around the table and sip their tea or play cards.

And looking back toward the piano and foosball table.  The door behind the sofa leads to William's bedroom, which hubby and I built about 7 years ago.  We had never built anything before but just bought a book and built his room.  It was a ton of work but we were very proud of ourselves.  We would have built more of the family room part of the basement but we needed it done quickly, so we had to hire someone to do it for us.

We hung a series of three black-and-white photos of New York City from the 1950s over the piano. 

Yep books and more books, always more books.  Our movers told us they had never moved so many books before and it is sometimes a challenge to fit them all onto shelves.

That about wraps up the basement tour.  Behind the four closed doors are William's bedroom, a furnace/storage room, a storage room, and the laundry room (which you can see pictures of here, along with some shots of how the basement looked before it was finished - yikes).  

How about a game of foosball before you go? 

Summer Giveaway Reminder

Just a reminder that there is still time to enter my summer giveaway to win this Johnson Brothers Old English plate.  The giveaway ends July 13th and you can find details here.

********

I've been making some progress on the kitchen.  It always gets worse before it gets better.  You can see why I had to wait until all the kids were away for the summer before I began.

I'm at the panicky stage of painting.  I chose a colour for the lower cabinets that was a little out of my comfort zone (well for kitchen cabinets anyway) and now I'm second guessing myself.  I'm not sure the gray (BM Coventry Gray) goes with the light green wall (BM tea light) or the green tile floor which is staying.  I really like gray, especially blue gray, green gray, and blue-green gray - you still with me here?  However, I do not like purple gray and I'm worried that that is what I have chosen.  When it is wet it looks very green gray but as it dries it looks more purpley, especially next to the green.  Or is it the pinkish pickled oak showing through since I only have one coat on so far.  Yikes!  Here's another picture below.  What do you think?