Merry Christmas to me!!!!

I gave myself a gift today. I know, I know, there's still several days to go but I've been a very good girl (by my standards at least), and I figured I deserved it. My gift to myself was to put everything else aside and actually do some mini work today. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I certainly know what my New Year's resolution is going to be!!

It all started as every day has lately - with a ton of other things to do. First, I had to get up early (those of you who know me understand what a burden that is to me!!), to go to my grandson's school Christmas recital. He's in Grade 1 at a school that has only Grades Kindergarten, 1 and 2. They're all so little!!!! Anyway - when his class had their turn, he did manage to sing along with the rest of the kids but wouldn't demean himself to actually do the actions that went along with the song. Instead he alternated between waving to his grandfather and me in the audience and mining for treasure up his nose. We were so proud! We didn't get to see him after the show so headed home to realize we had grabbed the wrong set of car keys when we left - probably because our eyes were still glued shut with from the too-early wake up. Bottom line - no house key on that set!! Lovely!!

We then called our daughter who was just leaving work to catch the second showing of Brogan's little performance (minus the nose-picking as it turned out - shame - it was one of the best rehearsed parts!). We arranged to meet her half-way to the school, got the keys, and headed home for a late breakfast.

Oh, did I mention I had to go to the dentist yesterday for a "tiny" filling. It really was small - they only detected it two days before when I was in for my twice-yearly cleaning and checkup. It showed up on the x-rays but it was actually up under the gum line. That meant they had to cut open my gums to get to it. So, late breakfast for me consisted of a bowl of cream of wheat, followed by soup for lunch and supper. It should heal quickly though so I'm sure tomorrow will be back to normal.

I then spent a couple of hours trying to get the house decorated - which is usually done by the third week of November but this year will apparently be done by the day after Christmas. Then, when I was doing some cleaning up, I noticed it - the little wooden shelf unit I bought at the silent auction this year at Camp Mini Ha Ha. No one had placed a bid on it so I bid 5 whole dollars and no one outbid me. At the time I thought, "what do I need with another shelf?" But then I reminded myself it was a fund-raiser for our Camp so, what the heck!

Picking it up and looking at it again a thought struck me - I could paint it up and use it as some sort of Christmas decoration. And I could then use it as an entry in the Camp Mini Ha Ha Bingo Challenge (more on that later). So, my darling, hard-done-by hubbie went to Canadian Tire for me and brought back a small sample-size can of bright red paint and I went to work.

Below is the picture of this little shelf as I got started painting it. I put green masking tape over the hanging pegs as I didn't want them to be painted red.

Once the painting was done, I let it dry for a couple of hours while I did some more clean up, made a chicken soup so I would have something gentle on my gums for supper, then went back at the shelf again. I used one of my favourite wood stains - Colonial American by Minwax, and went over the whole shelf unit, including the unpainted hanging pegs. It really toned down the bright red and added a nice patina to it.

The shelf unit actually had an open back to it which I wanted to be closed so, while I hunted down the paper and wood trims I had in mind for the back wall, once again my darling hubbie came to the rescue and cut out a 12" x 9 and 3/8" piece of Masonite to fit in the back.

Here's some pictures of the papers and trims I chose out of my "stash". It's hard to see but, the upper paper has a pale green background with a small window-pane check in fine white and red lines. The bottom dark green paper is textured, almost like a grass cloth. I really like the way they look together. Then I cut and painted some trims for baseboard, panel molding and crown molding.

After installing the trim I fitted the back wall into its space. I will eventually secure it better but I'm still thinking of whether or not to add lighting so am leaving my options open. I started to gather up furniture and little accessory items to complete the scene I have in mind. The last picture shows a few pieces of my old Chrysnbon furniture I had painted with a Christmassy pattern as well as my beautiful amaryllis made by Marijke Hurkens (pulchinellascellar.blogspot.ca/)and a poinsettia I made myself in a workshop Marijke gave last spring.

Tomorrow I'll go on the hunt through my stash for more Christmas items, dishes, pictures, etc. Then I'll glue or secure everything in place, attach a couple of hangers on the back and get it hung on the wall. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product as well as some pictures of some wonderful pieces that one of our club members made and gave away as gifts at our Club's Christmas party on Tuesday. They are simply amazing and you will love them, I have no doubt!! So, until then, TTFN - Marilyn