Here is another little project I am working on based on a pattern I bought here. I have scaled these down to 25% of the original size to see if they will make good ornaments. I hope to have them finished this weekend. 
A couple more additions to the house lately. We found a simple hanging wine rack for the kitchen ($10 at IKEA) which frees up more counter space.
The mirror is across from the kitchen and it makes the room seem so much bigger. I love having a full length mirror downstairs.
I finished putting these cuties together last night while Greg was working on mixed tapes (I mean CDs). This is a REALLY simple project. I originally saw it in the current Making Memories Christmas idea book as a way to use up scrapbook paper. Well you don't need to be a scrapbooker to make these. 
The photos don't do it justice but the curtains and pillows match and are a slightly darker hue than the blue stripe on the wall. We are going for turqoise accents (sheets and tray on the dresser). It looks best in natural light but I can't take photos with the blinds up or it will wash everything out.
There are a few things that need to be touched up but for the most part this room is done. I find it so much more soothing with the muted colors. Since we have been married our bedroom has always pulled double duty. It has been a bedroom and a library and an office and a storage space. This is the first time our bedroom is just a bedroom so I wanted to make it a peaceful place to be. Mission accomplished.
As you may have read in the comments our neighbor who was caught in the explosion died. It is very unfortunate but I am thankful they pulled her out of the house alive and perhaps she got to speak to her loved ones before she passed. Here is another article in the Times that quotes me. Apparently I was also on 1010WINS, a local radio station. I hope they didn't make me sound like an idiot.
About 4 firetrucks came to my house to investigate. I talked with the firemen and explained what happened. They ended up breaking into the basement apartment below mine and found it full of gas. They said there was a leak on the street so they shut off my gas main and the one on the street. The smell decreased but didn't go away completely. The firemen slowly left as ConEd showed up and took over. I went back inside to put food away and regroup. My basement neighbor found a locksmith to fix his broken-in door. I was sitting at my dining room table on the phone with NetFlix discussing with them how I received a mailer with no DVD in it when all of a sudden THERE WAS A LOUD EXPLOSION AND THE ENTIRE HOUSE SHOOK! I saw my neighbor and the locksmith run out the front of the building so I ran out my back door. There was glass all over the back drive. I ran around to the front of the house (with the NetFlix operator blabbing something about a free DVD for my trouble). Then I saw that there was black smoke pouring out of the house 2 doors down. The fire department was already back and trying to get in to the house to put out the fire. It was a gas explosion 2 doors down. I could have been killed. If they hadn't aired out the basement apartment in my building it could have blown too. I was shaking and called Greg who was almost home. That is when I found out there was a woman in the apartment that exploded. I prayed they would get to her fast. They pulled her out just as Greg got home. They brought her up the sidewalk and past us. Her skin was burned and falling off her body but she was alive. She is in critical condition last I heard with burns on 90% of her body. I cried.At that point everything went nuts. There were over 35 emergency vehicles on our street and in our neighborhood. Firemen, police, EMT, EMS, auxiliary police, hazmat, anti-terrorism squad, community resource teams, red cross, and coned. They evacuated all the buildings on our block and pushed us back farther and farther from our homes. They couldn't find the leak. The reports came and tried to interview us. I refused to be on camera but a lot of people said things that weren't really accurate. Greg and I went to a nearby restaurant to use the bathroom, eat, talk and wait. We went back to the police line and waited for info. I ran out of the house with no coat, no wallet, no phone, just my house phone which didn't work that far from my house. We were both pretty cold. Eventually we found out the red cross had set up a disaster area for the residents who were evacuated. 
It was warm there. We spent several hours in PS199 (grade school). We met many of our neighbors, very nice people. We ate snacks and drank hot cocoa. Our city councilmen came and talked to us and kept us updated. We arranged a place to sleep with a friend just in case. Around 10pm they came and told us we could go back home. We had to be escorted home by a police officer. Luckily I had left my doors unlocked when I ran out because they broke down every door on the block that was locked checking for fire and to air them out. The fire commissioner came to talk to me because he found out the 911 call came from my house. He was very nice. I explained to him all about my tofu turkey I was making when this all happened. We are home now but we can't sleep. Good thing since ConEd is still outside jackhammering the street and working to get our gas back on. I am wearing a red cross blanket because it is very cold in here.
I am so thankful to be alive today. Greg and I agree that it doesn't matter tomorrow if our table cloth matches our napkins or if the tofu turkey turns out. We really just want to be together and thank God for so many blessings. Please pray for the woman 2 doors down in the hospital tonight that she will be well taken care of and would recover. And say an extra prayer of blessing on the woman who knocked on my door. She didn't have to and if she didn't it could have been much worse.
Yesterday Greg found a giant water bug (fancy name for roach!) in the bathroom and the same thing happened. It was listless and didn't run away. He smashed it with a book. We are pretty sure someone in an adjoining apartment or building has been spraying or using poison and now the poisoned critters are coming to our home to spend their final days in comfort. I hate that about poison. The pests die in the walls and in hiding places and then you can't figure out where the strange smell is coming from. This happened to us in the Bronx when our neighbor used poison and a poisoned mouse finally died under our fridge. We couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from and then one day it went away. Until we got a new fridge and found the petrified remains under the old fridge. So today I had to go out and buy traps. Good old spring traps. Not poison or horrible glue traps. We prefer a quick death but hopefully these were isolated incidences.
Homemade Seitan Turkey
Well this weekend when we finally had heat I leaped at the chance to get it done. Now I don't LOVE painting because, well it is hard work. All that cutting in and mess. All the plastic and painters tape which always comes unstuck at the worst moment. And the fumes, ick. But I LOVE the finished product so I plowed ahead. I told Greg he didn't have to help but suggested he hang out and keep me company. First it was hand me this, get me that. Then it was fill the holes and take down curtain rods (after all that isn't painting right!). Well eventually he was painting too and I am very grateful because it meant getting the job done in half the time.
I went with beige/tan walls below the picture rail and a blue/green/grey above. The blue color matches some curtains and pillows I bought at Target. At first I thought the colors ended up being very masculine but now that we are hanging curtains it is looking more feminine. The colors are very warm and relaxing but unfortunately we haven't been able to sleep in the room because of the fumes and have been camping out on the living room floor in sleeping bags and camp pads (the air mattress is on loan to a co-worker). Boy am I getting too old to sleep on the floor. My back is so stiff from the hard surface. As the room comes more together I will have more photos!
Managed to get the utility closet organized thanks to a big rolling Sterilite container from Target. I forgot to take a before picture of this. It was so bad we had to climb over stuff to dig out tools and paper towels. It is so much more user friendly now. In fact the landlord asked if I had a mini screwdriver and I was able to find them in no time since they now have a permanent place to reside in a drawer and not in the bottom of a bin covered in other tools.
Next, I found a purpose for our little third room! If Tori Spelling and my sister can do it, why not me too. I made it into a wrapping paper room for the holidays. I used it to wrap our angel tree gifts today.
I purchased some bins to organize the office closet. I used these labels to mark the bins and added a little black and white paper to coordinate with the curtain. Turned out so cute!
Lastly I received my extra paper trays in the mail and set them up. Not super impressive photos but I am glad to have more paper storage.
I also did some cleaning, bought paint and hardware for the bedroom, and took some much needed walks. I also had a very nice lunch with my buddy Alice followed by craft store shopping. I bought some stuff for a fun Christmas project. But first I need to work on Thanksgiving!
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