On the death of the mural...

...and the opening of my kitchen. Squee!

I got stood up by my contractor on Tuesday due to light rain, but for some reason the guys had no problem showing up this morning, the day of a forecast blizzard.  They left at lunch time for a break and some supplies and I haven't seen them since, so I don't know if they'll be back (now that the forecasted snow has actually appeared) to frame it and finish the wall this afternoon or not.  Either way, I'm already loving this work in progress!  It's so fun to watch a vision become reality, even when someone else has to do the hands-on work.  The whole house feels different now that the dining room and kitchen are open to one another.  The job will include a small counter for me to put food on so I can serve the dining room from the kitchen.  No more dinners with the four of us squeezed into the kitchen!  It just seemed odd for us to use the dining room when it felt so closed off, but now I know we will.

Speaking of snow, this is the view from my new bedroom.  Yes, I live within the limits of a fairly large city.  Yes, those are horses.  Miniature horses, actually.  Isn't that wild?  Dorothy can watch them from her room too.  I have no idea why people in the city are raising miniature horses, but I do like watching them from the window.  Today they look cold.  I only see a few of them out there (we've counted seven total, I think?) so they must have somewhere sheltered they can go, but for whatever reason they are choosing to stand in the snow.  From my other bedroom window I can see the very elaborate all-season food gardens of some other neighbors.  They are raising chickens and some other caged bird (doves, maybe?) for meat, I assume, and have had covered winter lettuces growing until recently.  I love the vibrancy of this view and my multicultural neighborhood; it's so unique!

This photo may look familiar.  It's the mobile I made for Worth before he was born, and which was finished one month and seven days before his birth, January 20, 2010.  I needle-felted the animals and then made my very first blog post about it!  I recently realized that I've been blogging for one year, and that today is my blogiversary.  (Is that a word?)  I thought I'd give blogging a try, and just like that a year went by--with a baby, and some projects, a camper and a house.  I hope my blog focus returns to more crafty things soon, once things get more settled with the house.  Anyway, just for fun, I'm going to offer a giveaway in honor of the day.  During our move I found a small fabric handbag and a crocheted hat that I made but never gave to anyone; I will give one or the other (your choice) to the first person to comment on today's post.