Ch-Ch-Changes - Part 1

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Lately I've been feeling quite tired. It's partly because I've just been so busy for so very long and I don't see much of an end in sight. I also haven't had a real rest for a very long time.  The latest forced period of rest was due to being sick with the shingles and in a great deal of pain so that just tired me out more than anything.

I have some plans for very short trips before the end of summer so we'll see how that goes.  Of course I'll share scenic photos when I'm on my way or when I'm back.  I love taking scenic photos.

In the meantime, here at home I'm still beavering away on making a lot of small changes to the home. I've got got plans for some medium size changes a little later this year. There's only so much that can get done in a given week. It's an achievement just to get the gardens in on time.

This year my home garden was planted by my brother. Thank goodness. I was stricken with shingles and couldn't do much besides sleep so he decided to weed and garden for me.  He also had to buy a lot of soil first to add to what was already there.  I didn't go crazy on buying plants because the garden is going to undergo stress very soon when Phase 2 of the patio renovations begin later this month.

Part of the patio garden

One thing I chose for the balcony garden was a small rose bush called Maui Sunrise. It's already given me a lot of joy with its big showy blooms and plenty of beautiful colour.

A few weeks before getting sick, I planted the plot at the community gardens.  In truth it really hasn't done well. It's been overridden with invasive plants from elsewhere so I've been doing a lot of pulling up rather than a lot of harvesting.  It's too sad looking to post a photo here. In fact, I don't even think I took a proper photo of it this year simply because it looks that bad. But at least I've tried.

Here are a few photos of some of the small home decor changes and DIYs around the house.

New shelf for the primary bathroom

New shower curtain for the primary bathroom

This one comes with tassels. I still need to steam the wrinkles.

New shelf for the master bathroom.

New shower curtain for the master bathroom.

I recently purchased a very thin summer blanket and a white linen/cotton bedspread. It was proving time consuming and difficult to make the bed every day. I bought the new duvet cover and put the thin blanket inside. You can see it's still lumpy but it's a bit easier to make the bed. The bed looks so small in the photo but it's actually a queen size.

A new striped bedspread & pillowcase.

Fresh Rabbit's Paw Fern for the living room

New bathroom fan/motor

New bathroom light fixture

The master bathroom also had a lighting upgrade but I cannot find the photo right now. The below photo is the former look with gold finish. It's now a matte black finish. Some of you will remember when I changed out several of the door knobs from gold or brass finish to black.

Another bathroom project was restoring the master bathtub. It was looking so dirty where the anti-slip adhesives were affixed to the tub. It looks newer now and the drain ring and overflow cap which showed a lot of wear have been replaced.

Before

After

I'll continue to work on the bathtub after the caulking and regrouting have been redone in both bathrooms.  I'd looked into replacing the tub with a shower but the price was absolutely ridiculous.  The company that gave me a quote was asking for an amount which was more than sufficient for an entire bathroom redo but it was only to replace the tub. I know there are better prices out there but for now I'm going for a temporary fix just because there are a lot of bigger projects yet to do in the kitchen, dining room, living room and both bathrooms.

New kitchen cabinet knobs

Old kitchen cabinet knobs

New combo oven/microwave.

The cabinets got a good scrub but they are always in need of a good scrub. The grimy grease collects so easily even though I wipe everything down on a daily basis.

There are a number of projects which I want to complete before the end of the year. Let's hope it all goes well. I've discovered I am not a big fan of home renovations and decorating. It takes too much time, energy and money but sometimes you just have to do it.  My long time readers will know that I've already made a lot of small changes over the past 2 years or more. But this year's changes are more wide-ranging and hopefully will last longer than the former changes.

Make it for Christmas

This year I learned how to make a few things for Christmas gifts.

I made some Frankincense and Myrrh Perfume.  I didn't quite make it as per the recipe because  I had some issues getting all the right ingredients.  But I did try it out and next time I will  have everything in stock. I still have the 5 roll on bottles which I ordered from Amazon so I can make more  of this perfume or any other scent I desire.  I sourced the ingredients from local stores but they are also available on Amazon.

The bottle with the cap off and the steel ball roller is the one that I made.

One thing about the perfume is that several of the oils are quite pricey (frankincense, myrrh and the jojoba oil used as carrier oil).  Of course a little goes a long way but if you do not like the scents then you've made the perfume for naught.  I didn't mind the experiment because the frankincense and myrrh oils are associated with the Three Wise Men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus but you might wish to at least sniff the essential oil testers if you buy in person.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it yourself.

The other gift I made is called Vanilla Infused Sugar. I don't use a lot of sugar and neither do my friends but a little of this special sugar will be a treat.

This sugar will now infuse for one week and then I will strain out the vanilla pods.

I just made enough for several small jam jars (using about 2 cups of sugar and 3 vanilla beans).  I will give these as gifts when they are ready after tying some raffia around them or some colourful ribbon, adding labels and short notes with some ideas for using the sugar.

Here is the Vanilla Infused Sugar recipe.

Earlier in the week I also attended a workshop and learned how to make some very simple candles and bath bombs.

The candle making was super easy.  There were a lot of people in the workshop so the instructor decided to do an easy project which involved only two items:  beeswax sheets and rolls of candle wick. If you would like to make these items but don't have supplies near you these are items that can be found on Amazon.

To make the candles you simply place the wick at one end and roll the beeswax tightly.  At the end you gently squeeze the ends to the body of the candle. The wax melts and seals itself.  It surely cannot get any easier than that. Beeswax sheets now come in a variety of colours.  I used purple and the little candle below is just for me. I guess I should trim the wick a little as it is a bit long.

You can get quite creative with the beeswax sheets and use several colours placed in various ways to make a pretty pattern.  I think these candles would also make nice birthday gifts.

The bath bombs we made are also super easy to make.  The recipe is here.  The recipe link I've shared will take you to a very similar recipe to the one we used. The instructor also brought dried herbs and flowers which we could add to our bath bomb mixture and/or to the molds themselves.  One of the batches mixed by my group wasn't quite wet enough so a bit of it came apart at the top (see photo above, top right).  That's okay because these bath bombs are just for me.

I had a lot of fun with my workshop table mates.
They were all super friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Now I must get on to wrapping the rest of the gifts I am giving. Believe it or not I still haven't posted two parcels but I have to do a bit of sewing before I can post one of them.
The lead up to Christmas will now be spent cleaning, putting up Christmas decorations, buying food for Christmas guests and generally getting ready for Christmas.
I'm a bit late with things this year though I started my preparations (gift buying) early.
I really want to enjoy a Christmas of peace and joy.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a wonderful Christmas season.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.