I love these retro alarm clock/radios made by General Electric mainly because I'm very impressed by the sound they put out. It's a lot better than you would expect, especially out of something that's at least 20 years old. I grew up with a really crappy alarm clock/radio, and so I assumed they all came with bad quality speakers because of their small size. The one on the left I own, and the one on the right I'm selling in my vintage shop. Another thing to love about these radios is the beautiful wood grain finish that just makes them look so cool and so very old-school.

And today I started using Picnik, an awesome online photo editing tool. I used it to make the simple collage above.

There have been lots of church thrift sales this month. In the photo are some items I'll be listing soon in my vintage shop. They're treasures I scored at a church rummage sale I went to yesterday. The little dog figurine is made by Blue Mountain Pottery. He's very cute.

This week I prepared a meal with non-fish meat for the first time since 2002, which was when I cut out beef, poultry, and pork from my diet. So what did I use? Turkey sausage. I used to love sausage. Turns out I still do.

This past January I decided to start eating meat again because the doctor put me on a diet that restricted certain foods due to a bladder condition I've developed. So in order to make things easier when I eat out at a restaurant or someone's home and be able to keep my new diet, I've chosen to eat meat again to widen my options.

So far, I mainly eat turkey. That's the only meat I really crave. I've forgotten how filling meat is, and I find that I need to eat smaller portions when eating animal flesh.

This is a project that I worked on last fall when we moved into our new apartment. Our kitchen being tiny, we needed extra storage space for our appliances, cookbooks, and what not. And we were on a tight budget, so to Ikea we went to pick up a couple of Gorm shelves. After a few coats of paint (which took almost a month to put on!) this was the result.



I was too quick to choose the colour for these shelves. One valuable lesson learned was live in a space for a while before making major decisions on decor. So these shelves will be repainted this summer.

I've harboured a secret ambition to be a farmer since my university days, maybe even earlier than that. Alas, I only get to "play" farmer when I volunteer at the UBC Farm. The season is about to start and volunteers will get to work on the fields come May.

I don't know where my romantic notions of farming come from. Maybe it's from the books I read growing up. Who knows?

Living in an apartment limits my farming aspirations to the balcony. But it faces northeast so it only gets a wee bit of sun in the mornings. For the time being I've filled the planter box I made last summer with colourful little flowers that are thriving - to my utter surprise. In a couple months I may plant some herbs. And maybe even some lettuce! We shall see how they do.

Yay, my Easter Tree is finally done! Just in time. These eggs were addictive to make. Easy, quick knit, just the way I like it.