{Dream} Home

I suspect it had to do with Hip House Girl's post about a church house, but I had a strange dream last night.

I dreamt I had, let's say, come into possession of a house. I don't know how. That's one of those irrelevant details in dreams. The house was a split level, with a few bedrooms. One of them was at the very top of the house, completely staged by the previous owner and never used.

What I recall most about this house was the basement bedroom. In my dream, it was my parents'  basement, but in this house that now belonged to me. You know how those things happen in dreams. It had the exact same cement steps as my parents' basement. It also had the cold feeling typical of farmhouse basements. Instead of the stone and plastered foundation, also typical of farmhouses, my dream basement bedroom had a brick-like stone wall.

It sort of looked like this:

Courtesy of Country Living via Candace Rose

But a little rougher, like this:

Courtesy of GREAT INTERIOR DESIGN

Or this:

Courtesy of TripAdvisor - yes, TripAdvisor

In one corner, next to the bed, there was a fireplace and across from the bed, there was a TV. It was actually quite similar to a hotel room; perhaps, reflective of the too much time spent in them?

The floor was old cement, except for the more recently poured steps, which I previously mentioned. I'd decided in my dream to tile the floor and steps with ceramic tile. I imagined in my dream, it would turn out like this: 

Courtesy Aerials Home Construction

There you have it. Not enough time spent in my house lately, reading blogs before bed, and I'm dreaming about renovating a basement room in a home I don't own. It gave me a great excuse to blog today though! Does anyone else have dreams about renovating that are this vivid?

Seriously Jonesing for Soda

That's right- soda. Not to be confused with Jones Soda, but good ol' bubbly, carbonated water.

I was cruising through Shoppers Drug Mart, when I was overtook by nostalgia. All thanks to this sleek bottle of 'carbonated spring water' on the shelf. The next thing I knew, I was gladly handing over 1.99 per bottle for nothing more than bubbly water.

Isn't it beautiful?

This isn't a new fad for me. I've had on and off cravings (can you call them that) thirsts for carbonated water since college days. I blame the origin on a three-month exchange to Europe in high school. If you've been to Europe, you understand the value of water. It always comes in a bottle, and it's just as likely to be carbonated as not. The brand I recall being purchased in our household came in a 1L bottle (roughly) and the name was in red font. I was more fond of Rosport Bleu, which was sold in restaurants. To this day, I still have an empty bottle I brought home as a souvenir.

I love the small luxury of having glass bottles of carbonated water in my fridge. The thought of cracking them open and pouring a fizzy glass with a splash of lime is bliss. It never occurred to me before now, I could create this luxury for myself. You can buy a machine for this, can't you?

So, I did a little research.

SodaStream Shop - This one kept popping up; not only in paid search, but also in the various organic search results. It also had several positive comments. $99 - 239 for the machine. Gas refills range from $19.99 - 34.99 (depending on if you keep or exchange container). Glass bottles are available for $17.99, but only compatible with top 2 models. Free shipping in Canada, but returning gas 'carbonators' is at own expense.

Homemade device - This is where my brother would use the term 'gerry-rig'. This looks a little complex.. a CO2 tank! That seems much more intense than a cartridge system. Where would I put it?! http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Soda-Water-%26-Home-Carbonation---Pays-For-Itsel/

Strangely, I couldn't find many other products, but perhaps I didn't look hard enough. Does anyone else make carbonated water at home?

Dreamin' Red & White

There was no shortage of excitement a few weeks ago when Target announced they were coming to Canada. It only seemed appropriate then, when popping in to pick up some toiletries during a recent work trip, I would browse some of the home decor aisles of Tar-jay. 

Here's a few items that had me longing the stores 'north-of-the-border' debut was sooner, rather than later.

Oh, blue and silver. Ohh ahhh.. How much I'd love to purchase this whole collection.

Here's a close up of those blue and white vases. I love cobalt blue!

These wall accents are so sweet. They remind me of IKEA's dandelion-fluff-style light.

Look at this dishware! I sense a soft spot for retro colour schemes, as evidenced by the bright blue and orange flowers on this plate. Maybe it was the lime, green flowered panelling in the farmhouse I grew up in? See the blue and brown plate? I bought dipping bowls in this style. If I didn't have a plane to catch home, I would have bought a whole set!

Last, but not least, who DOESN'T love a giant container of cheese puffs!!

Photo Gallery Wall

I can not believe how little time it took to feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted again. I thought the calm feeling would extend a little further into the month after Christmas break. I thought wrong. The past two weeks I feel I have been as busy as ever.

I do have some updates for you! Remember I said I had a few 'gimme's on my list? Adding more photos to my 'gallery wall' was one of them. I had plenty of great photos, but I hadn't got around to framing and hanging them. Luckily, I had a chance to pick up some frames from the dollar store before I got too busy again. A few hooks later, and they were ready to hang. Hope you've had a little more time to relax than I have!

Here was the 'gallery wall' before:

Here is the updated wall today. I added 8-10 more photos.

Wordless Wednesday - Why is it so cold in here?

Appliance Overload?

Can you have too many appliances on your counter?

I'm not really one of those people who has to have an empty counter. For me, convenience is more important than clean lines and a stylish kitchen. The appliances I use regularly need to be close at hand, otherwise, it just takes me that much longer and I don't like that.

However, over Christmas, I acquired several more appliances.

I finally bought a new toaster. My old one had spent the past 8 1/2 years with me, since I moved out of my parent's home and into my university dorm to be exact. (Shhh, don't tell the rez police. It could have started a fire.) It was a $10, 2-slice special. It still worked, but I was ready for something new. I used a Christmas gift card and upgraded to a sleek, silver 4-slice model from Black and Decker.

My brother's GF also gave me a used breadmaker, because I'd commented I wanted one. Her grandma, "a hoarder of good things", had 3. I have already made a loaf of bread and pizza dough 4 times in it.

The dilemma? My "appliance corner" was already crowded. As you may have noticed in this photo:

Despite the crowding, the small toaster fit on the stove, and I could leave my coffee maker, kettle and George Foreman grill on the counter, without interfering with my workspace or the tool turnabout.

Not so much now. The toaster is now twice as big and doesn't fit on the stove, and the breadmaker takes up the entire corner. Only the kettle and George Foreman fit well in my cupboards, but I use them more than the breadmaker. What to do?! Is it too much if every one of these guys stays on my counter?

One More Resolution

I need to add one more resolution to this list - Fix the labels on my blog.

When I started blogging, I didn't understand how labels worked, so I would tag a post with five or six. Now, I have this whackpile of labels, that no one would ever want to look at. I've added them to my sidebar, as a constant reminder to tidy these up. Hopefully, if I do a few every day, they'll be cleaned up in no time!