Painting :)

This is the watercolour of Jack that I did yesterday :) Hmm......he looks a little sad doesn't he? I think that's his "I'm starving, I want your bagel" face. 

Thanks for the encouragement Mama Pea and Susan. I'm shy about my paintings. Sometimes I feel like I'm tooting my own horn when I post about my hobbies and my cooking. But I think that is the side of me that I'm trying to really overcome- the insecure Rain. But during the worst of my depression, I decided either I live or I give up. I chose to live my life to the fullest. I try so hard to stay positive and to fill as many moments in my life with good, creative, delicious and happy things. We only live once and I don't want any more regrets at all. I lost a lot of years and I'm making up for them now.

I walked around the house this sunny morning and took photos of all the paintings I've done and I have to say, I didn't realize there were so many! This is one I did for my boyfriend for last Christmas. I've mentioned that he had really nice memories of his grandmother. He showed me a photo of her cottage once and I decided to paint it for him. He loved it!

I painted these two for Halloween last year. I started painting in 2004 after my work burnout. I did art therapy. I HATED it!!! Every painting I did was black with some kind of red barbed wire in blotches. Of course the therapist did find lots of meaning in them, but I didn't feel that the art therapy helped me at all. But then I met an elderly woman who lived near me. I forget how we met. She was a painter and lived by herself and told me to come over anytime to paint with her. That's when I started to dabble with acrylics.

The "oranges". The bottom painting started off with just my two pugs, kind of a dedication to the two loves of my life who passed away in 2011 and 2014. Then it grew into the pet painting as I added the cats and each dog that we adopted! It'll keep growing over the years I'm sure! It's hung up right in front of me so I see it every time I look up :)

This is the wall in my office. A few years back I downloaded all of Bob Ross' "The Joy of Painting" PBS series. I used to watch him a lot back in the day and I decided to try out oil painting. Most of these are oils with some acrylics mixed in. His instructions are really easy and gave me confidence with oils. You can find some episodes on You Tube. This got me hooked on painting! And well, I was in a romantic mood when I painted the bottom right painting of my boyfriend and me kissing :)

These are the paintings my boyfriend wanted for his office, the Shipwreck is an oil and the other three are acrylics. The red one is my version of Little Red Riding Hood. :) It's hard to see here, but the wolf is very fierce with red glowing eyes...just waiting for Red to visit :) Bwah ha ha ha! :)

The black and whites are in my boyfriend's office too. The first one is a very famous film noir scene from the 1950 film The Big Combo. I made it for my boyfriend one year as a gift when he asked me to make him a film noir painting. :)

These are on the walls around our "breakfast bar" - basically where we eat all of our meals. We don't really have a dining room - I use it for my office so we eat at the "bar".

These are the last three acrylics I did last winter. I love using blues and doing landscapes - I cannot draw for my life so portraits and a lot of detail are very challenging for me! I'm not ashamed to say I DO USE TRACING PAPER!!! :) I get a lot of my ideas from browsing images online. I'm slowly starting to come up with my own ideas, but I still lack that confidence darn it! It'll come with time! :)

I started doing watercolour painting last spring - and I'll be honest - because it is much cheaper than buying canvas and acrylic/oil paint!! I wanted to keep painting but the budget was so tight that I just bought a watercolour pad and some paints for $25 and away I went. I remember the first watercolour I did was last April, sitting on the porch in mild weather with my easel :) I started with landscapes, but I branched out to do some things I've never done before, like the shark scene and the seahorse. 

I started on some fairy tale stuff like Sleepy Hollow and Moby Dick. The top right painting is my version of The Little Mermaid (you can kind of see her swimming under the creepy boat in the water). The butterfly is the last one I did before Jack. I really fell in love with this medium!! For a long time, all of these paintings were filed into a large file folder...awaiting the day where I could afford to frame them. They buckle because I don't have the best quality paper so I wanted to keep them flat and safe until framing. But last month I realized that I won't be able to afford to frame them for some time. So up they went onto the stairway wall with pushpins!!! My watercolour wall! Jack will be added once he's dry :) Now I have to think about painting the huskies and the cats!!!

And finally, this is the abstract series that I did in January. My boyfriend is a musician and he is putting out some new material in the near future. He asked me to paint a series of abstract watercolours for him. He wanted blues and whites and flow but chaos at times. I have to say...abstract is not my favourite way of painting and I felt SO UNCOMFORTABLE showing these to him, but to my real surprise and delight, he genuinely loved each one! He's used bits of all four in his backgrounds for the CD covers and booklets, as well as the cassette covers and booklet. Makes me kind of proud of that! I'm not too fond of these, though I love the second one because I used salt to get some kind of texture! He has these safely tucked away because he wants to frame them :)

When the fur kids are busy chewing their bones, it's time for me to relax! Relaxing each day before I eat is really important so that my food doesn't get stuck and painting does the trick :) I really think that hobbies are wonderful. I learned the hard way that work isn't the be-all and end-all of an accomplished life. I have so many things I want to try, my list is endless! I love seeing my Blogger friends' projects and accomplishments, they inspire me to keep creating! My boyfriend and I chose to live a simple life 3 years ago when we moved back up north. It's nice to have money for lots of "stuff", but that doesn't do it for us anymore and we'll never go back to the grind. As long as we have enough for our needs and to keep the pets happy and healthy, we're just fine! For me anyway, nature, hobbies, simplicity and a good, safe, loving and harmonious home life are the secrets to my happiness and gratitude! :)

Thanks for reading :)

Skies, Saltimbocca and Sundaes!

Every time we go out and it's not too long a journey, we like to bring the dogs with us. One time, my boyfriend went in to the post office and Jack lamented the entire time!

One of the reasons we think he's part hound is because he howls! He was howling for "daddy" to come back to the car! When we first got Jack, we figured he was a Cocker Spaniel, but he's showing signs of hound and maybe pointer too. He's a good "sniffer" and he points his tail when he sees little critters in the woods. Having dogs brings so much joy to our lives!

My eggshell collection is getting out of hand lol...I'm keeping them all for the garden. I have to remember to crush them up and put them in the storage container once in a while!

Last night's dinner was Chicken Saltimbocca with a side Cesar salad. The recipe is from my Williams Sonoma "Chicken" cookbook. I always go to their recipe site as well to see if I can find the same recipe online, just to read the comments. "Saltimbocca" means "leaps into the mouth" in Italian, or so I have read! And this dish does the same! Yum yum! The chicken breasts are pounded down to a thin size, floured and gently fried in butter and olive oil, then topped with Prosciutto, chives and Mozzarella (the original recipe calls for sage, but I didn't have any fresh). I put it under the broiler to brown the cheese then top it with more chives. It's so tasty!

And because I couldn't leave healthy-enough alone...I suggested Sundaes for dessert!!

Mine was vanilla ice cream with a mix of caramel and chocolate sauce. For my boyfriend, I made his with some Nutella, broken up sugar cones and sweet dark cherries. Bugs Bunny and Sundaes...can't beat that!! We're so spoiled!

I wanted some fresh air last night so I took my camera out for photos of the night sky. Here's the waxing moon around 9 pm. I was lazy and didn't bring the tripod out - which you really need for good night photography.

What looks like another picture of the moon is actually Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star in the night sky. I can't be 100% sure, but according to all of my astronomy sites, I believe this is it!

I ventured out behind the house into the woods, but I didn't get very far...ever feel like something is watching you??? My wild imagination creeped me out too much so I hurried back to the safety of the porch lol...

When I woke up this morning, there was a blizzard happening...we definitely got that wind everyone is talking about lately!

This is out my office window towards the street, you can't even see the duplex across the road! White out. I guess it's a good day to tackle the huge laundry pile, and maybe do some painting!

Getting Back To My Routine and Bread Making

We woke up to another ice rink this morning...I still like this better than 10 inches of wet snow though. We don't pay for a snow service, and all we have are a few shovels (I think one belongs to Mama Pea from her windstorm in February!) and a snow pusher. We do this work gradually but obviously would prefer not to shovel at all! I buy a new pair of cleats for my boots each fall because they never last the entire winter, the little cleat pin-thingies always end up falling off. They are a bone-saver that's for sure! I've been buying and wearing cleats every winter since 2001 when I found myself on my back with a broken left wrist to deal with. So this morning taking the dogs out, I was very grateful to have them on! The poor dogs were slipping a lot though. The huskies have furry feet and we don't trim that hair until the spring because they need it to keep their paws warm, but it makes for slippery exploring!

But quicker than I could say "Wacky weather we're having..." the skies cleared, the sun came out and the ice started melting. Just a few hours ago I saw the moon rise. Two years ago, my boyfriend got me a wonderful camera for my birthday, I love the optical zoom. It's a waxing moon and it'll be full on the 12th I believe. Does anyone "moon garden"? Planting seeds by the cycles of the moon depending on what crop you are planting? I've been reading about it and it looks really interesting.

I'm almost all organized from Monday's shopping extravaganza! The freezers are packed and organized, the cupboards are too and I have an inventory list written out. I have this dry-erase board by the kitchen with the upcoming meals so my boyfriend can anticipate yummies :) and so I can have a quick look to see if anything needs defrosting or preparing the day before.

We go through SO MUCH yogurt...I had to make more already this morning. The dogs get some in their dishes each morning too, mostly for the husky's health, being girls! I eat some every day with maple syrup...I need more maple syrup... :) Love the stuff!

And I baked my bread this morning too. I have a great recipe for No Knead Bread. You start it one day then let it sit in the fridge overnight, it makes it super fluffy and moist on the inside with a nice crust on the outside. It's our "go to" bread for nearly everything. I do always keep a loaf of POM bread in the freezer for club sandwiches and sometimes for grilled cheese if I have no bread made.

We had the leftover Mac and Cheese for dinner last night, THIS time I remembered the bread crumb topping! And what looks like an egg on there is just a plop of Cheddar that was leftover from last shopping day!

Here is a photo of the bedroom veranda all lit up with candles! See the rock wall? That's our HUGE chimney. It's a heat waster unfortunately, but very pretty! When we moved in back in 2015, my boyfriend screened this veranda in so he could put up his hammock. The bugs here are intolerable on a good day, screens are very necessary! This little village is a horror of weekenders and tourists on snowmobiles on weekends, but the weekdays are normally so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was mild enough that we both got into the hammock together under a big blanket and listened to the rain falling for an hour or so. It was so romantic! I feel very lucky that I have a man in my life who is just as much of a sucker for romance as I am, I never take that for granted! :)

Shopping Day Is DONE!!!

I woke up bright and early yesterday morning, I think it was just after 6am. It's funny, since I stopped working, if I have something planned for the next day, I have trouble sleeping the night before. I'm not sure why! It's not like I have a set schedule anymore! But anyway, I was up and after letting the pooches out into our yard, I took off for my shopping day. I was out from 7:30 am until 4 pm. My boyfriend had just finished working on his music when I got home and he emptied the car out. It took us both until about 6 pm to unpack, organize and put everything away.

I now have six weeks worth of food and food to be created, jammed into the fridge, deep freezer and cupboards! When my boyfriend and I met, he had a little mini fridge that we use mostly for beer and soft drinks. We had to empty it out for some of the produce because it didn't fit in the big fridge. Look! I'm back on the horse lol...I bought another pork shoulder after I kind of messed up the last one! I'm going to take the advice you guys gave me about cooking it! :)

I have a maple syrup obsession! I hoard it and I fully admit it! We love the pure stuff :) And when it's on sale, I snatch it up. It's the season, the cans go for $5 right now and they are usually double that price. We use maple syrup as our main sweetener and I currently have a store of 18 cans! 

I should have taken before/after shots of the fridge and deep freezer...on Sunday night it was appetizer night, actually, it was empty the freezer night! We had ribs, bbq chicken drumsticks and baked potato skins with cheddar and bacon. The ribs were in a box that has been in the freezer for at least 10 months! For the chicken drumsticks, I follow this recipe: Honey BBQ Wings. This is the best recipe I've ever used for wings and drumsticks! For the potatoes, I follow this recipe: Easy Potato Skins. Though we were out of sour cream, I used Ranch dressing instead. Not quite the same but yummy! My boyfriend makes his secret BBQ sauce for dipping too, he says he just "wings it"...but I know he uses Montreal BBQ chicken sauce and some rum...though I can't reveal the recipe since I don't know it!

I'm so grateful that I thought about preparing some food on Sunday. When I got home on Monday all I wanted was a white wine spritzer with some baguette and Brie...that's kind of our tradition. We munch on that while we're unpacking! And a special treat, I got a big pile of shredded Prosciutto from the deli counter. My favourite lady was working there and she shaves the meat so thin it falls apart, it's mostly all gone as I type this!

Sunday afternoon I made all the fixin's for Chicken Pot Pie and Mac and Cheese. I figured it would be so easy to put it all together and not have to stress about cooking dinner.

We didn't even bother with plates, lol...we ate out of the dishes! The only thing I forgot to do was the breadcrumb topping on the Mac and Cheese, oh well! We have leftovers for tonight too, which again, I'm so happy about because I'm wiped out! But I will make sure to add the topping this time :)

Everyone is tired after I go shopping :)

Except for the four cats :)...Charlie is at it again. We leave our bedroom patio door open when it's milder weather so that the three cats can hang out on the screened-in veranda...but Charlie thinks she's a cat too and she was up on the shelf with them. My boyfriend had a hard time lifting our 64-pound squirming Husky down. She was resisting but we have to keep insisting she doesn't jump up on things, we're afraid if she jumps down herself, she'll hurt her legs.

After spending the morning in bed drinking coffee and watching Disney movies, we had a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato for lunch. Mmmmm!

Black Diamond cheese was on sale this week :) I spent about an hour labeling the cheeses, the meats and anything else I need to keep reserved. I label "ok" on food that is a free for all! And my pride and joy, my 6-7 week meal plan:

I had to keep in mind the holidays and special food I'm making. I also had to remember to get some Easter chocolates for April 16th! (Which are now very well hidden!) :) In the end I have SIX leftover nights. The last time I did grocery shopping was January 23rd and I saved a lot of money in the end because I'd planned and shopped for 4 weeks, and it turned into nearly 7 weeks worth of food that I had. I'm saving about $100 in gas per month now that I don't have to do the bi-weekly shopping. It's a wonderful plan if you can get yourself really organized. If I didn't have my lists and labels, I'd be lost!

I'm done for the day though, tomorrow I'm going to re-organize the cupboards, fridge and freezer and redo my inventory list. I also have a "to do" list that I need to put into my calendar. Things like "make ricotta for tomorrow's pasta" and "start bread for tomorrow's dinner". I also have a list of things I want to bake. I'm going to look through my dessert cookbooks and Pins tomorrow to, and add to the baking list :) Now it's time to sit in bed and read about 4-season gardening until dinner!