... posted several days late because at the end of the weekend I decided to rearrange my desk and it took way longer than I expected to get back to some sort of order.

This weekend (the one that just pasted) was our first summery weekend of the year. Saturday was sunny with just a touch of wind and 13 degrees. It doesn't sound all that warm but after the winter it feel quite balmy and we ventured outside without coats or hats. It felt so liberating to be just wearing a sweater and some shoes (no boots needed). We went to Canadian Tire and got a bird feeder and some birdseed.


We let Abby out to run around the yard off-leash while we set up the feeder and checked around our emerging lawn. She was pretty good at staying near where we were but did run across the street to meet a new person and next door to try our neighbour's garden remains once. More practice is required (getting a fence up will help too). It was a lot of fun to watch her explore the back yard. It's full of fun things likes sticks and water right now. She particularly enjoyed the snow that remains on our back deck and in the yard. Running all over and then laying on it belly down to cool off. She gleefully found and ate most of the birdseed we'd dropped on the snow while trying to close the feeder (she also really likes peas).


The most exciting part of the day was to be found hiding in the front lawn. Yep, there is grass growing in there. The snow wasn't even completely gone but I could already catch a hint of that grassy summer smell. So good.


We had such a lazy Sunday morning. Zeke slept on the bed. Abby slept on the couch. We ate pancakes right out of the pan. Eventually I got around to the stack of fabric I'd picked out last week and made myself a chair cushion but I'll save the details for another post.


Our kitchen table is currently decorated with the first vase of goodness from our very own yard. A bunch of pussy willows in all their woody, fuzzy beauty.

Rob was able to pick up some boxes yesterday afternoon and I spent the evening deciphering pictograms. Here's what we ended up with:





Vital Statistics:
Hemnes Linen Cupboard from IKEA
Number of boxes: 2 (+ a duvet and pillows for the spare bed)
Hours to put together: 2.5
Days spent trying to get boxes from trucking company after they arrived in town: 8
Pencils consumed by Abby: 2 (+ the cover for my awl)
Hours spent rearranging living room to be just right: 2 (and still not completely happy with it)
Number of alan keys I now own: millions? (at least 12 anyway)


I really like our new cupboard. I love the yellow. I love the striped backing and drawer liners. I especially love that it locks with an old fashioned key (Rob gave me such a funny look when I exclaimed over the key - he thought I meant the allan key - you know - the one that comes with every IKEA thing you've ever bought). It makes the living room look so grown up. It holds our table linens and lots of our fancy dishes that don't otherwise have cupboard space. I need to get a few dividers to let me store tea cups and tumblers a little more efficiently though. It was so much fun unpacking everything into the cupboard. I rediscovered so many lovely things we were given for our wedding. Now that they're out we'll actually get to use them.


Special thanks go to Rob for playing with Abby for the whole evening (after we discovered she could snitch and eat a pencil in under three seconds even while I was keeping track of her) so that I could put the cupboard together.

This is my dishsoap dispenser. He makes doing the dishes a little more fun.