The Great GORP Project

Shoot the cow. . .

 

(pic from www.fortstreetstudio.com)

Remember that? Shoot the cow. .. what a weird saying. I don't even know why I typed it, I was trying to think of a witty title for my post about finding the MOST BEAUTIFUL AREA RUGS ON EARTH, and wham, out came shoot the cow from my finger tips and a flood of memories from my pre-teenish years when I used to say that instead of swearing. . .I then fell into a good decade where my mouth should have been washed out with soap hourly considering the F bombs that were freely falling. . .I'm so glad to say that years ago I squashed the habit and only slip on occasion. . .whew. . the roads we travel. Swearing is a funny thing. .. now that I reflect, a lazy way to communicate perhaps. . .although I have to admit, hearing an unexpected, well played swear sneak out once in a while from someone who usually doesn't indulge in the practice throws me into fits of giggles. . ..on the contrary to hear it continuously flowing makes me cringe.

In the middle of the afternoon on Friday, Lisa (our rockin office chick, and yes, I believe she'd be o.k. with me calling her chick;) and I had a conversation about trying to stop saying "what the heck" because we were noticing our kids starting to repeat the saying. . .and it just seemed wrong to hear it coming from your 4 year old. . call me a prude, but there it is. We then discussed alternatives. . .one that has rolling around in my brain has been "what the knockers!" . ..cause it's just fun to say. . . not intending to refer to the female body part, but we both agreed that's kinda what came to mind. . ..and hearing that come out of a 4 year olds mouth wouldn't be any better. . .ohhhh the problems of the modern day mommy;) I guess "what the knockers?" is out. . ..any suggestions?

Man, how did this just turn into a weirdo post?

Here are the (insert booming voice here, followed by diminishing echo) MOST BEAUTIFUL AREA RUGS ON EARTH. . .EARTH. .earth. . .earth. .

This one is called Glimmer (aptly named cause considering they don't post prices on their website, the hope of it being in my price range of under $1000 is but a glimmer. . .) Fun to admire anyways.

www.fortstreetstudio.com

Don't they just look like works of art? And although I once found a pretty cool way to replicate some toy boxes a while back. . .my rug weaving abilities leave a lot to be desired. . .

All I can say is SWOON + YUMMY x ORGANIC = these rugs!

Steppin out!  

Lookie Lookie:)

Look who just got delivered last week!!!!!! I'm beyond excited. .Hellloooooo Mr. Mixer. . .you will be my partner in crime when we are pumping out the gorp bars:)

I definitely need a name for this sucker. . .Hmmmm. .. .

Yeeeeee Haaaaa!

Gorp update: I'm madly writing all the text/copy for the website this week, the exercise tips, the nutrition info, product details, general blabbing. . . .it's waaaaaaaaay harder than I thought, my brain is hurting and might be colaborating with my skull on a prison break. . ..!

So text me if you see my brain hightailing it down main street:)

Taking Pause!

Well. . .now that I've recovered from those blasted dips, crackers, cheese and chocolates dive bombing my intestines. .. it's time to get back to business. .. and some nice clean eating/living.

This may be challenging since we are embarking on the Dyck Family road trip in T-3 seconds/4 am tomorrow morning. .. but the tuna sandwiches are made, celery sticks and yogurt packed. . so those dang whoppers can stick it in their ears. .. I'm not giving in to your luscious juicy goodness with double cheese heavy all. .. except if I'm on the verge of starvation. . which might happen just once or thrice?

While we are gone there will be Gorp goings on's like a photo-shoot for the front of the packaging. . .I can't believe I'm letting this one happen without my supervision/uninvited input;) But these branding folks have really proven their metal. .. so time for me to let them work their magic SANS Colleen. Ouch. It hurts just to type it. . .growing stinks, letting go stinks more. . .but being a micro-manager reeks. . so I'm settling for stinky. . and pray I am stretching my delegating muscle. . .which feels quite cramped at the moment. . .

The house will also be surviving SANS Colleen. . .tiles will be laid, holes drilled, fridges installed, all without Moi? But I do have a trusted awesome guy type of builder friend who is keeping vigil for me, and a mom to do the nightly checks. . and a pretty darn awesome crew to keep things in line. .. so I need to let go of that too. . .who knew a vacation could be so painful before it even begins?? Oh well. . .as soon as we go over the border and my cell phone is out of range. . I'll relax. . .who knows it might not even kill me??

The blogging may suffer a bit but I'll do my best to plug in and rant and rave. .. :)

Happy New Years Everyone. .. get your resolutions ready to rock and roooooolllll. . .I have a feeling 2010 is going to be full of surprises. .. .and maybe some more of that dang growing crud too. . .

Here's the latest on the black house project:

 

The antler chandelier was hung the other day and I'm happy to report that I'm speechless. . in the good kinda way. . .this was one risky design decision that paid off:)

 

The view from the ground against the black ceiling. . .AWESOME. .. so to all you nay sayers about the black ceiling move. . .Ahem. .Grant?! Your wife isn't THAT off her rocker, yet. .. give me a few years:)

Oh and I have some homemade toy chests to unveil as soon as this train stops at a place with internet. . I'll be sharing. . .until then. . .adios amigos we be travell'in. . .
 
 

A Quickie. .

Happy Sunday! And thanks for all the comments on the house. ..I have literally spent hundreds of hours planning, searching, browsing, scavenging, price checking, sneaking peeks and designing my spare time away over the past THREE YEARS. With no design experience to speak of. . I'm pretty much just shocked when I see it all coming together and I had no idea if what I was doing was going to work out. Or if those questionable 80% off deals on the internet were going to pan out?? But I am beginning to think that I'm not crazy. .. so apparently that's a good thang!

I just had to drag my dear sister into the cold cold warehouse to sneak a peek at the antler chandelier that Grant hauled back from the city for me. . .(One of the many things that drives G crazy about me is. . ) I can never wait until it's appropriate to open a box. . .I sport a measuring tape and utility knife on me at all times. . .just in case I need to rip into a package or measure some random item at some random junk yard sale that I randomly come across during my random day. . .quit smirking. .. I happen to know I'm not the only one;)

A risky risky design decision. . a rustic antler chandelier in an ultra modern home???? I won't know for sure until it's up. .. and then it will be there to stay. . so I better love it. ..pronto!

Have an awesome day. .. and yes. .. we will be having a house warming party for sure. . just as long as you promise not to swing wildly from the chandelier. . .. that's my spot;)

 

Hair cuts and House!

There's been a battle brewing in the Dyck house for the last few months. ..all to do with Ozzy and Leo's hair. . .or more like their excess of hair. .. . I'm in favour of the long super cute shaggy look but Grant is partial to the ugga crew cut ;). .. . .After a long arduous battle. .. Grant won . . .so being the good wife that I am. .. I complied and pulled out the scissors. . .

O.k. fine. . .then I ruined EVERYTHING and my boys looked like the Beatles on a sugar high. . .so I called in reinforcements. . before Grant got home (lest he think I purposely thwarted his win!. .. .thanks mom:)

Mr. Clean. .. just waiting for the next hair to drop so he can whisk it into sweet oblivion:)

Hmmmm. . .why do I get the spooky feeling this is a picture of the future???

Now for some BLACK HOUSE PROJECT PICS AND PROGRESS SHOTS!

YUM. . .tabasco flowers are popping up in my entrance. . .
 

Sweet light from Varaluz lighting.

Living room storage and bookshelves. . the glass doors on the face of the cabinets I found in the back of some old shed on our old property by the river. .. reclaimed to perfection and a new life thanks to the handiwork of my sweet painter and awesome finisher:) (And to think Grant called me crazy for dragging these things from place to place not knowing at first what I was going to do with them. .. see my dear, your wife isn't always a nutter:)

Sweet honey Elm. . .from landfill diverted trees here in our very own Winnipeg. .. At least they will live a while longer. . .www.woodanchor.com!

Vanity. . .this is the Heath tile I found on a major clearance and bought it sight unseen on-line. .. it turned out GREAT:)

 

   Bathroom in progress. . .

Well. . .we may not make the Christmas deadline. ..but maybe we will?? As we hurdle towards the day we celebrate our Savior's birth I am trying to keep the true meaning of Christmas on my mind and in my heart and lay down the angst of deadlines combined with the constant rush. .

Time to slow down and soak up this season. . .let's not let it slip away with only new stress wrinkles to show for it K? There. Deal. If only the twitch in my eye would listen once in a while. . .come on dude. . quit it already. . .;)

Rock. Slow.
 
 
  

 

Yester. . what?

Yes. . Good morning beautiful saturday morning. . .I'm late with my post yet again. . .but if you would have seen the harvest moon last night you would understand why!

Today is a house update day! I'm stoked, I'm holding my horses, (and yes they are giant style stallions not those mini pony dudes) and the (building-ish) design decisions are coming to a close. This is where I find out if what I've picked is gonna gel. ..

Whoop:)

This is a picture from the stairs, catching the cork installation in the dining room and kitchen.

This is a close up of the rocking cork. . it's called Iris and when it's layed out it looked like an organic winding river. . .that was the plan. Sweet.

(source: APC CORK color: iris)

Above and Below: Tyler II and Tabasco flower cement tile from Mexico. . .remember not to pay duty at the border. .Na-Na-Na-Na NAFTA!!! They are going on the landings in the entrance, mudroom and in the bathrooms. This is one design decision that turned out WAY better than I imagined. . these are green, these are unique, these are the epitimy of my floors rocking out:)

I'm hot for Tabasco flower. . an edgy flower, who knew?

 
 
Vintage Capiz shell light off of ebay (30 bucks goes a long way some days:) In the soon to be Gorp shipping area!

 

Old fashioned globe light posts from www.Rejuvenation.com, these folks make awesome reproduction lighting. .. .plus it's awfully affordable & high quality. . .

 
  
Future site of the Gorp Bar packaging and assembly line of Glory! Yeee haaa!

Paint Colours used:

The yellowish colour is Monroe Bisque by Benjamin Moore

Bluey green is Raindance. . .again BM

And the best white ever (with no wonky undertones) is Chantilly Lace. . .by of course Benjamin Moore.

An awesome furniture store I've come across is www.roomandboard.com check it out. I didn't get a shot of the Elm flooring yet. . but it's a coming. .. and of course you can source it at www.woodanchor.com! (NO BIAS HERE:)

And of course. .. the biggest question in lighting design to date. .. is the bleached white Elk Chandelier cool or am I a fool? I guess we will see. . because I'm soooo putting in my order today:)

This house designing/building journey has been 90% fun 90% crazy work and 100% a test of my character (aka. . learning to deal with all the trades, asking "stupid" questions, learning how to stand up for myself. . .learning to be patient. . .and learning how to learn what I don't know. . .which in this case was ONGOING:) From building codes to electrical nodes. .. he he. . .I'm glad this sucker is almost put to bed.

Have a rocking weekend. . .Hello Saturday. . .I see you staring at me Sunday. .. time to live.

 
 
 
 

Black is the new Black. . .

A little update on the progress of the Dyck Family Farmhouse makeover/rebuild after the fire/Black House project:

 

Welcome to our Black House! I haven't done a house update for a while so here it goes. .. a few random pictures. . .words and rambles. . .we've been building this sucker for going on two and a half years while we've been hiding away in mom's basement. .. thanks mom! I am super excited at the prospect of having closets again. .. yelling and wearing pajamas till noon? and basically feeling like a grown up ;) It's been a long road building this thing, but full of lessons. . delayed gratification (which is such a character builder. . ya hooo?) and opportunities for grace and family bonding.

We tried to go green where we could with Geothermal heating/cooling, wool insulation, reclaimed brick from Chicago office buildings, passive solar heating (aka lots of south facing windows with awnings), concrete floor heat, cedar from old hydro poles, and tonnes of reclaimed wood from a little company by the name of Wood Anchor. Some folks hate it. .. some love it. Black metal siding isn't for everyone, nor are black ceilings or the flat roof or box like appearance. .. but?

I scavenged the old doors above and refinished them and painted them with black lacquer, then added antique reproduction crystal knobs. .. yummmmm. Got the doors from Old House Revival in Winnipeg!

 

This is the view from the very top 3rd floor down to Gorp headquarters in the basement. .. I can only imagine how many broken toys I'm going to find down there.. . maybe we will implement a nerf only rule?

 

Georgies room. . .the antique chandelier is also from Old House Revival.

 

The soon-to-be roof top viewing room and entrance onto the roof top (mosquito free-according to Grant!) deck. Grant has this theory about getting "above" the bugs. ..I guess we will see?

 

Nerdy/Fantastic reproduction antique lighting. . .once again. . some love it, some hate it.. . I LOVE IT. You can find it here: www.rejuvenation.com a very cool place to shop for period lighting.

I also sourced some sweet tile from a place called Original Mission Tile in Mexico. .. they specialize in patterned concrete tile that is sort of old world Cuban/Mexican in appearance. It is manufactured with 100% natural materials including the pigments, they don't contain any lead, and are 100% recyclable. . .I chose a pattern with large red flowers. .. hopefully it is hauntingly gothic and awesome and not 1960ish weird?

Gorp Headquarters!!!! Energy bars to be manufactured here. .. very soon!

 

Decorating is going to be challenging. .. mid-century modern meets Quoi?? I don't know. .. but I need to pull it off somehow. .. I need to find some eye candy for inspiration. . . . .

Ohhh. . here's some. .. I might try and construct this plumbing pipe canopy bed for Georgia's room? Hmmm...

 

(via www.apartmenttherapy.com/)

Ahhhhh.  .. love these glass light clusters from Refer + Staer. .. LOVE.

Next post is an official report on the first ever energy bar cutter trial! We had the machine custom designed and built at a local welding shop. . .the extrusion method customarily used to form bars turned them into sludge.. . so this little bit of risky engineering was required. .. hey, we farm, risk is in our blood;)

Christmas is a coming. .. Christmas is a coming. .. sorry to bring it up but it's my mantra until we move into the house. . BEFORE CHRISTMAS. .. one foot in front of the other.  .. who needs closets/and or space anyways. . ummmm. . .

brain stretching and house building. . .

Grant's contribution to our quest not let summer suck the smarts out of the kiddos. One of the many reasons I love this guy. . . .someday they will know how lucky they are.

 

I have a sneaking suspicion they will be able to beat me soon. .. I should probably take my own advice and do some brain building activities of my own. .. .I don't think sucking down Dr. Pepper Slurpee's and riding my bike at the same time counts. .. . darn it!

 

Haven't done a house update for a while so here are some shots of the staircase going in and the fireplace/pantry bricks. The wood is of course reclaimed thanks to a handy little company called Wood Anchor, and I sourced the bricks from a place in Illinois, they are from old office buildings in downtown Chicago. You can see more at Brick Salvage.com It's called brick veneer, so only the 1/4 inch face of the brick is salvaged so you get all the character without all the weight. Sweet. ..

 

(side shot)

 

(shot from the basement. .. the first black ceiling you see is the second story ceiling, the one at the very top is the look out room that leads to the roof top deck.) I can't believe it's all coming together!

So even though the "official" move in date has come and gone (several times!) , it's been worth the wait. I can already hear the laughter around the dining room table and smell the homemade bread baking in the oven. .. . there is much to be said about delayed gratification. . .which reminds me of a study I once read about. It analyzed a group of children and their ability to delay gratification, then followed up with them years later to see where the kids ended up in life. .. it was truly fascinating. They placed each kid in front of a plate of marshmellows, they were told that they could have a marshmellow immediately or if they could wait until the experiment facilitator came back (15 minutes later) they could have 2. The angst these kids went though was shocking, it ranged between body shakes, uncontrollably stuffing marshmellows into their mouths, to closing their eyes to banging their heads against the table to even petting the marshmellows and drooling. .. .all this in 15 minutes of wait time. I'm sure you can guess that the general result was that the kids who could successful delay gratification were substantially more "successful" adults. . ..now we all also know that the term successful is subjective, especially in our must have it culture, but still. I buy it. I'm sooooo going to start implementing some serious wait time into my kids lives. .. o.k.. ..mine too. .. we could all probably use a dose of wait time.

Have a fantastic Sunday. .. Monday, I can smell you already. .. take a shower or something. .

Rocket!

Great Gorp. . .we are almost there!

O.k. . . .first of all I should stop saying I'm going to blog when it is completely plausible that time will escape me. . SORRY. . I'm sooooo not doing that anymore. Done.

Secondly. . .I heard a rumor that the drywall is being mudded right now as I type. . .now it is just rumor. . .I'm learning that with this house project time is not something I'm good at judging. . .anything can and does happen. . .however. . .the kids are going to the Robert Munch play this afternoon with their Oma so I'm heading to Menkes Parcel to pick up a few goodies for the house. . .(namely a Herman Miller coffee table and end table.  .Whoop!) I found them here, it's an online antique store on ebay called Pish Posh. . .awesome!

I'm also trying to find various industrial kitchen items for the Great Gorp Project kitchen we are in the process of setting up in the new house. . .so if you have any tips for finding USED 3 compartment sinks, Hobart mixers, stainless steel work tables, or large sliding door fridges. . .I'd be much obliged. . man. . that stuff ain't cheap new. . .wowsers. .

I can't spend mega cash on finishing the basement. . obviously. . .it's a work space first. . but I did want it to be a little funky. . so I found these old school hanging warehouse and barn lamps online (www.barnlightelectric.com) and found such cool (and inexpensive) funky/industrial stuff that I'm thinking of using some of the lighting on the main level of the house. . stuff like this. .

 

and this. . .

 

And best of all it's different, economical, heavy duty. . AND high quality. . .what more could a gal ask for?

I also just ordered some samples of reclaimed brick originally from an old downtown Chicago factory. I'm planning on using it on the fireplace and various random walls in the house. . .it looks like this. . . (www.bricksalvage.com)

I thought it was pretty cool. The picture below is the scheme I'm trying to combine and bring together with the above lighting and brick colour. . .the cork floor is called Iris. . and the cabinets will be dark charcoal. . I'm struggling with the paint. . .I can't believe how hard it is to pick out a shade of white and a shade of grey.. .who knew gray could read as purple, pink and green. . .it's totally freaking me out. .. I could wreck this whole design scheme with the wrong grey. . .ACK. Strangely. . it may just be the hardest decision about this whole house project yet. . .weird. .

 

I'm still bucking the idea of hiring a designer. . .not after the first one charged me $300 for drawing up a contract where she laid out how many other ways she planned on charging me. . .. ACK . . .I can't do it. . .(now I'm not painting all designers with the same brush so to speak. . .I just don't want to risk another $300 on a half hour meeting that could very well lead to nothing. . .I'm scared. . I've got designer-phobia. . ..)

Oh well. . .I'm still trying to find the perfect flying tractor logo for the packaging. . .nothing yet. .

The search continues. . as does my ever expanding list of new years resolutions!! Get Ready. .Get Set.

2009 is nigh. .

Testimony and Tidbits. . .

I can't believe I found this. . cake combined with The Office?? How did I get so lucky on this Saturday morn? No more wondering, just listen and enjoy!

Go coconut oil go. . my sister phoned me this morning to testify to the wonderment of coconut oil. . I blogged about it here. She rubbed it on her baby's head (Hi Remi!) and his cradle cap is practically gone. . she rubbed in on her scalp and it helped her psoriasis. . then she went and rubbed it on her arm pits and is using it as deodorant. . .and no, this is not something she did for kicks.  .she read about it. . .so yay for coconut oil. . .like I said before. . you will never have to buy expensive creams again. . it sinks directly into your skin and does it's magic. . you can also use it for diaper rash! Oh and if you want to reduce the size of your pores and use an all natural skin toner just pick up some witch hazel. . it's natural, works awesome and is CHEAP! There, I just saved you some real $$. Perfect for days like these :)

I have had a few inquiries this week about the natural counter top product I was raving about a few posts back. . it's called paperstone and you can find the website here.

Oh, and I need an opinion about this hanging pendant.. made from capiz shells. . how 1970's eh?! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU THINK I'M CRAZY. . .Can I put two of these over my island without looking like a cheese head? PLEASE LET ME KNOW . . .PLEASE.

 

I just don't know. . .

AND. . here are some more local Christmas shopping ideas. . .do tell if you know of any gems I haven't mentioned!

Sweet Truth Gourmet Candy. . .all I can say is YUMMERS.

Rigby Orchards - has all kinds of berry products (especially raspberries, my fav!) Including Raspberry wine. . cool.

Shepherds Dream - all natural wool bedding products. YOU MUST READ ALL THE AWESOME THINGS ABOUT WOOL.

Spoon Carver - This guy is from Morden (i think) He hand carves super cool vintage spoons, my sister bought a coffee spoon from him at a farmers market last year and it is just plain pleasurable to handle. . weird maybe. . but I speak the truth! Look at this sweet baby bowl and spoon, both naturally finished with flax oil.

 

And here's some food for thought this glorious day. . .

We accept the love we think we deserve.

Do you think it's true? It reminds me of a Beth Moore Bible study we did in the amazing Bible study I'm blessed to be a part of. It was called Believing God. . and the basic premise was the question. . Did we REALLY believe what God says about us. . including how He feels about us?. . .It was really quite heavy for me.  .I found out that I easily believed that God loved everybody else no matter what they had done in their lives. . but me. . no. I had a really hard time believing He could really love me. . really. It was a major blockage in my relationship with Him and it kept me from going forward in intimacy and trust. A major revelation to say the least. .

I think the statement above may also apply to the human relationships in our lives. . if we aren't feeling loved as much as we want to be maybe. . just maybe we should work on loving ourselves first. . just a thought. . and that brings us full circle to the song I had you play at the beginning of this post. . I WANT TO LOVE YOU MADLY. I love this title and this band because they remind me of Grant. . he always tells me he loves me madly. . .I am a lucky girl. . .This weekend I'm going to do everything with a little bit of madness. . good, slightly manic, exuberant madness!

Thanks God. . for your persistence with us thick headed humans. . .

Thumbs up!