Happy Birthday, Ornery!

Having a birthday so close to Christmas means Ornery's birthday often gets overlooked or lost in the shuffle. Elizabeth was determined it would not happen this year, and had mentioned earlier in the year we ought to pick a different date to celebrate his special day so he would feel honored.  With moving and all that has gone with it, that never happened, but she was still stubbornly clinging to the notion that he needed to celebrate big.

Since he isn't one for being the center of attention, we opted for a smaller celebration, and a big gift. He got it early and has already broken it in well!

He has been like a kid in a candy store ever since he got it, and is looking for projects to use it on. Between that and the new cordless set of power tools he got from me for Christmas, he has really rounded out his tools this year.  It is hard to believe that he got his first saw (the scroll saw) less than a year ago, and now he has a whole wood shop set up! At least he has been using these tools, and since projects I come up with challenge him to learn more about them, he has not minded taking them on.

These days if we want to chat with him, we need to head to the man cave because that is likely where he will be.  Happy Birthday, Ornery!

Working Wednesday

I started and finished a custom order of ten teal clipboards today. I worked from 7:00 to 4:00. All I lack is taking them to the Post Office. It sure feels good to have those done!  When the buyer ordered she said, "I need ten for now..." so I think I may stock up on a few of those clearance bolts of teal ribbon from Michael's before they are all gone!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has been weaving away on her second shawl on the new loom with the Corrs on the stereo. She has had an extremely productive week off already!  We are planning a trip back to her old place to gather the rest of the things she wants to keep this weekend. She is brushing up her resume to see if she can find a job a little closer to town to alleviate some of the forty minute commute each way. If she can't find something else, she will continue with the drive, but it would sure be nice to find something closer.

We seem to have all adapted very well to having her live here. It is open ended as to when she will move out, especially since she hopes to find a job in town and that would help her decide where to live. We have had lots of light-hearted moments as well as thought provoking discussions and just quiet moments together.  Ornery is enjoying having her around and is looking forward to some jaunts to the park with golf-discs and maybe even a day hike or two in the spring.

Life often takes interesting twists and turns, and we never really know how our days will turn out.  It is always reassuring to know that God's grace is sufficient for us to handle any circumstance that seems bigger than we are. We have all been relying on that grace a lot lately!

Weekend in Review: Christmas

Lest my previous post make you think we didn't really celebrate Christmas this year, I wanted to disabuse you of that notion. Friday night the three of us sat on the couch and watched Christmas Vacation. I know, it is corny and slightly off color, but it always gets a good laugh and helps keep everything about the holiday in perspective.

Since Elizabeth had the day off on Friday, we did a little running around and got some more beading supplies for her and a start on some polymer clay for me. Then we came home and played in the studio--Elizabeth with her beads while I made some cards.  We also cleaned house--everything except my room and bathroom got a cursory (or better) cleaning. I put away everything Christmas related except for the trees, which will come down today.

Saturday morning I was the first one up, and before anyone else got up, I had made a journal for Elizabeth.  She is doing a lot of introspection right now, and I always think it is good to write out your thoughts, dreams, goals and so on. Ornery spent all day working on Elizabeth's loom, which he completed that evening. She was very excited with the finished project and in fact got some yarn out first thing Sunday morning and had a whole shawl woven by bed-time! Part of the day we spent in the studio making "hat pins" for my cards from beads and wire.  They really turned out cute!

I had a delightful surprise on Saturday when the UPS man brought me a brand new pair of Clarks shoes to replace the pair that fell apart!  I was really surprised they sent them as I figured the old ones were just worn out and not defective, but they must have felt otherwise.  I LOVE the new pair, actually both new pair, as I used the 30% off coupon to get a black pair when we were in Florida at the Clarks outlet store. These new brown mules are very comfortable and actually fit and feel better than the ones I tried on in the store and purchased!

Sunday morning I got up early and baked banana bread, started the crock pot with some stroganoff for lunch and finished off the laundry. Ornery was pretty sore from all his bending and sitting on the concrete floor working on the loom, so I gave him a neck and shoulder massage, then ran him a hot bath in the gigantic tub. I was surprised that there was enough hot water for the rest of us to shower, but there was.

After I got out of the shower, I put my hair on curlers. It was really wet when I started, but I figured the curl would hold better if I did it that way. By the time it was dry, Mom was at the door, and I raced to remove them and ended up with a HUGE fluffy 'do! Of course none of us thought to take any pictures of the day except early in the morning when Elizabeth was sitting in the middle of her loom on the floor in her pj's with her hair pulled back and messy at which time I was forbidden to locate any camera or apparatus which could record her glorious attire for future observation.

Mom, Elizabeth and I worked a couple of jigsaw puzzles, and we ate a nice dinner of stroganoff, crescent rolls, green peas and hominy.  Then I whipped up a "Southern Pie" which is like a pecan pie only instead of nuts it uses Grape Nuts cereal. We ate it with a little frozen yogurt for a nice finish to the meal.  Ornery spent part of the day in the Man Cave working on Elizabeth's box. He finished the fret work on the lid and got the sides ready to start on. Mom didn't stay very late as she needed to get home to pack for a trip, but in all it was a pleasant day.

Today we all have our respective plans--Elizabeth will be putting fringe on her shawl and taking it off the loom, Ornery plans to work on the box some more, and I will take down the last of the Christmas stuff and work on getting a few more things ready for photographing to put in my etsy shop. I will be doing a giveaway on Oops, I craft my pants blog on January 2nd as I celebrate Miller Manor Designs fourth birthday. Before then, I hope to get my shop spiffed up a bit with some new product.  Ideas are running rampant, but the execution has been a little challenging. This week I really need to buckle down and get to work!

The special order for 10 clipboards is awaiting the arrival of the boards (which should be here in a day or two) and then I will be busy on that for a couple of days. I am not really looking forward to tying all those little ribbons on--I recall that was a tedious chore--but I am grateful for the order and hope I have a lot more of those big sales in 2012!

Christmas Eve Eve

Elizabeth is off for the rest of the year starting today, and Ornery's last day before the long weekend is today, although he will work from Tuesday through Friday next week.  We have already done all the Christmas giving we plan to do, and other than having Mom over for Christmas Day so she won't spend it alone, we don't have any plans. We have discarded the traditions we didn't really like (turkey dinner, big family gathering, etc.) but we haven't really put any new ones in place.

This is the first year ever I won't be stuffing stockings or opening any gifts on Christmas Day.  I don't know if it is good or bad, but certainly different.  I like the stress-free feeling of already being done, but somehow it feels a little funky to have nothing planned to celebrate on the actual day. It has been a month-long celebration, so I don't feel cheated in any way, but I don't think I want to do this every year.  In all it has been an out-of-the-ordinary year.

Ornery and I had a nice long visit last night as we started going through a Darren Hardy book on goal setting.  We discussed our dreams (which we will have to search for to resurrect) and passions (which don't seem to be riding very high in either of us at the moment).  We talked about what changes we wanted to see in our lives and began thinking about how we will go about making them.

When I started the year, I had high hopes for great personal growth, starting a business venture, and weight management.  In the end, it seems like all we got done was sell one house with all the preparation involved in that, and move into another and make it "ours."  Rather than lose weight, we have both added more and rather than grow personally, it seems we have digressed and lost a lot of the ground we had gained before. It seems at almost every turn my expectations have been unmet, and that has left me feeling rather flat.

While our health has not declined, we have not really improved either, and even our latest foray into the nebulous world of RBTI is not turning out as great as we had hoped it would.  We have decided to take the good from the experience and move on rather than attempt to force our lives into a mold that would be uncomfortable at best and impossible at worst to maintain. It seemed like a great idea to have a "norm" to aim for, but the routes that are suggested for reaching those perfect numbers are beyond what either of us are really willing to travel.

This little funk I am in is likely related to just really being tired and needing a nice long respite from big projects--at least I hope that is what it is!  I am glad Ornery and I are both on the same page of wanting something more from life, and it will be interesting (and I hope exciting) to see what comes of these evenings of introspection and forward planning.

Meanwhile, I think it is going to be fun to spend time with Elizabeth this week.  Ornery is almost finished with her new loom and is going to make a tripod stand for it. We are going to Hobby Lobby today to get some different gauge wire for her beading, and I am going to look at some polymer clay. If the customer who queried about ten custom clipboards follows through with some $$, I will have a pretty big job coming up, and if not, I have a lot of ribbon coming in that I will have to find a use for! I'd like to get some new stuff in my etsy shop, which will require spending some time in my studio.  I won't mind that at all!

Finally unpacked!

It took me a few days to get everything put away from the trip--there were even a few things left from the ornament exchange! I think I am finally caught back up, and even managed to take care of a few things that arrived while we were gone--like this new curtain in the utility room...

The purple rug obviously doesn't really go with the rest of the room, but it is comfy on my feet so until I find something I like for that spot, it will remain in its clashing goodness. :)  The curtain doesn't really hide the shelves, but it does distract the eye so you don't notice the vacuum cleaner and stuff that isn't attractive. I am hoping to put a back splash of blue and green tile around the sink someday, but it is not very high on the priority list right now. We use the sink a lot and the faucets seem to splatter quite a bit which isn't very good for the sheet rock surrounding it.

We bought a curtain rod to go with the curtains I found for the new guest room, but we also bought some paint, and it seemed like a better idea to wait to hang them until we got the walls painted. The wood blinds don't cut a lot of light or insulate very well against the temperature fluctuations outside the window and if we have a winter like last year, we will certainly want all the insulation we can get!

Yesterday I got my hair cut at a new salon.  It was quite an experience to say the least, but my hair feels and looks great. I had a deep conditioning treatment to help overcome the effects of the last couple of perms, and it really was worth every penny. The salon seemed like a scene from an MTV video with clothes and hairstyles that left me wondering what I would look like when I was done, but the stylist was really good (only 18!) and I felt very pampered.  I know if I go back again I will need to schedule a whole afternoon for my experience as just the haircut, shampoo, (which came with a ten minute head, neck and shoulder massage) conditioning and style took over two and a half hours.

Mom came over last night and took the three of us out to the Olive Garden for a Christmas dinner.  Then she came over and visited for a while.  It was a pretty long day, but it really feels good to have that hair under control again!

Neighborly Christmas

We have done a variety of things for our neighbors over the years at Christmastime, but time really got away from us this year and we almost didn't get anything done!  We only gave to four families, the two next door and the two across the street.

The box has some home-made caramels inside, and each family got an ornament for their tree and a greeting card as well.  When we delivered them, we were met mostly with suspicion as we haven't really been all that sociable since we moved in. Hopefully now that we have our house mostly like we want it, we will be out in the 'hood a bit more.

I made a few Christmas cards to send to those who sent them to us, but we aren't even doing a letter this year.

Pictures from our trip

Ornery took these photos from the condominium we were staying in last week.

 If I didn't know better, I would say this looked like snow!  It was certainly white sand and it hurt to look out on it without sunglasses.

There was obviously not a lot of activity on the beach, although one day we saw a half-dozen surfers in wet suits frolicking in the waves.  Some of them were pretty good considering there was not a lot of wave action.

The patio. The whole back wall of the condo is windows, so from the entry hall to the living room one can see the beach.

So peaceful.

Weekend in Review: Home again

Ornery and I left Zoe Cottage on Saturday morning a week ago for a trip to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. We arrived there on Sunday and spent a few hours that afternoon with Ryan, Ale and the grands, but that was our only time to visit.

While he was working on simulators at the base, I did some pre-tax-time work on my etsy books and read. We spent the mornings together, sometimes just in the condo, other times we went shopping. At thrift shops I found a "new" Gateway computer keyboard to strip for crafting, and an old Monopoly game. We also shopped at the outlet mall in San Destin where we got some amazing deals on shirts for Ornery and a purse and shoes for me.  We also went to the Scrapbook Clearance Center where I found some pretty cool deals on a few craft supplies.  I didn't spend a lot, but I got a few things I had been hoping to find.

Rather than spend $100. for a night in a hotel on the way home, we drove straight through on Friday, which was a day earlier than we thought we would be coming home. We left there at about 7:00 AM and arrived home at 9:00 PM. Home never looked so good!

Saturday we went to Lowe's and bought a few things for some projects, and then Elizabeth and I spent a few hours in the studio--she worked on some jewelry and I covered a journal and made some cards.

Today she and Ornery are building a new tri-loom for her shawl weaving; this one will be a bit smaller than the first, and since Ornery has "real" tools now it will be made much better as well.  The two of them have spent a lot of time with their heads together to figure out the best design and assembly method.

Meanwhile, I have been redesigning our logo, printing out greeting card backs and creating a new business card. Once I get it all ready, I will take my computer over to Office Depot and see how they want the image downloaded for printing. I tried to do it online, but I couldn't figure out how to save the image to its specifications.

I also have laundry, grocery shopping and a bit of house work to catch up on. It is nice to be back home with things to do. I am looking forward to the coming week with lots of ideas and time to experiment with some of my new goodies.

So Many Choices...

I want to take some online classes this winter and spring. There are a lot of choices and I am having a hard time deciding which way to go.  Shall I venture into textiles with this series of 20 workshops?  Or shall I stick with paper crafting and add an art journal emphasis and go to this?  I am pretty sure I really want to take this class, which is considerably more expensive than the others but it really speaks to me.  If I enrolled and "attended" all the classes, the fees would be the least of the expense because each one will have supplies, and as with any new medium, the start up can be fairly costly.  I also want to start working with polymer clay and have no supplies for that craft, either.

So many options!

Weekend in Review: Nada

Saturday morning Ornery and I went to breakfast at Panera and on the way saw the lunar eclipse. I thought it looked like a big fat guy sat on the moon and squashed the top of it. :)  It was the first time I had seen one of those.  I have seen partial solar eclipses, and noted the eerie shade that covered everything until the moon passed by, but I had never seen the earth's shadow over the moon.  The moon was full or nearly so, and in the early morning light it was easy to see the "indention" on the top of it.

As for the rest of the weekend, I sat. And Sunday afternoon I got to hold my new granddaughter for a couple hours while she slept. That was my weekend in a nutshell.

Laundry is Fun?

Okay, it's not really FUN, but it has increased in appeal about twenty times now that it is only a couple of steps from the closet to the washer and dryer. I can sort it on the floor of the closet and as soon as I pull it out of the dryer, it can go right on the closet bars, alleviating the step of hanging it in the laundry room then hauling it all half-way through the house to put it away with multiple trips per wash-day. I don't know how many minutes of my life I have added to do more pleasurable things, but I am sure it is a significant amount!

Now, if I could just make those shirts iron themselves...

Focused on cards

Yesterday I made 50 Christmas cards. I am pretty sure that is some sort of a record for me. They are nothing to write home about, but they are cute for flat cards (as opposed to three dimensional which is my preference) and all have little trees cut out of map scraps stuck on in varying quantities and positions.  No two cards are exactly the same, but they are similar in that they have one of two sentiments, "Joy to the world" and "Peace on earth" and all feature the aforementioned trees. Otherwise, the background papers are all different, and none of them are Christmas papers.

I lightened the burden in my scrap drawers a little by using pieces for the backgrounds, but I really do need to finish going through those to bring them down to a reasonable collection.  I should make myself use only scraps until I can fit them into a small box. If I did that, I am sure I would have some very interesting cards to show for my efforts.  I got through one of the four drawers a few weeks ago, tossing pieces I didn't care for and punching shapes out of the pieces that were too small to be otherwise useful  before throwing the rest away. I ended up with a number of tags and little flowers that I used for the ornament/cookie exchange and a much more manageable amount in the drawer.  Unfortunately, it was one of the least populated, and I dread going through the big ones.  It might be time for a different system.

I just want to mention here how much I am loving my new studio. It isn't as big as the other room, (by six inches one direction) but it feels a lot roomier for some reason. The closet is like a dream, and I have noticed about a hundred-fold increase in the frequency I access things in it.  Actually, the access for everything seems easier in this space. It is good I like it because I am sure spending a lot of time there.

When Elizabeth came home from work we ventured out into rush hour traffic to pick up some envelopes for the cards, some fabric for Mimi, and some books on beading at Hobby Lobby.  There were several other errands I needed to do, but as I said, it was rush hour...

Today I will mail Mimi's package and finish my errands--grocery shopping is the main one. It has really gotten cold so I tend to avoid going out if I can, but one does need to eat, and even if I decided to go on an extended fast, Ornery and Elizabeth might revolt if I don't stock up!

A Little Different

Yesterday I worked on the special order for a friend. She wanted dominoes with a school theme for her grandsons who just started pre-K and kindergarten this fall. The set of embellishments I had seen before was no longer available, but they had some crayons I thought I might be able to use.  While I was there shopping I also picked up a few other embellishments and tried some new ideas for backgrounds.

I have never done any with pale backgrounds before, nor have I ever glued two together like I did with the owl and tree. I thought they were okay, but definitely not in my usual style.

I also got some little cars. I ended up taking them all apart to cut off the loop on the back, then gluing the parts back together. No matter how hard I try to get the loop cut even with the backing, there seems to always be just enough of a bump to keep them from laying flat on the domino. The glue I use works pretty well, but it is better if I don't have to rely on the tiny area that sticks out to hold the embellishment on. If there is a large surface glued down, the embellishment is permanently affixed, but the small area leaves a bit of wobble that can sometimes work loose.  The penguins did not work well, but I thought they were cute.

Here are the promised photos of the finished rooms...

 The picture is hanging too high on the wall, but there was already a nail with a hanger there and it is in a stud, so taking it out would leave a rather significant ding in the wall. Someday I will change it, but at least for now the wall isn't bare.  We are really loving that lamp...

 Here is what I did with the quilt my sister sent to me.  I love the bright colors and the little spark it adds to the brown furniture.

 My end of the closet. I cannot express how delightful this area feels now. There is still a bit of room for storage, should I happen to end up with more junk than I currently own...

Ornery's end of the closet.  He already has the requisite amount of junk to fill his side.  We will keep the off season shirts on the lower rack, then move them to the tall side when the seasons change.

 This is the view you see when you come in from the garage.  Turn left into the kitchen, turn right into the utility room. The picture isn't really what I want to keep there, but it needed something to break up all that red and was what I had on hand.

The new shelves are all lined with tiles and I have moved in a few things. I am not in much of a hurry to fill it up! I plan to find a curtain to hang in front of the shelves to help keep the lint mess down, as well as cover up the contents. It isn't very pretty, but certainly handy!

Weekend in Review: New Phase

The entire year 2011 has been run at a hectic pace--at least much faster than I prefer to live my life! I am declaring the year 2012 as the Year of Peace. No new big projects, a leisurely pace and a simple life. I know that I cannot predict all the things that may come, but I am going to make a sincere effort to do everything with no worries, no deadlines and no stress. We'll see how it goes!

It feels like the year is finally over since the cookie and ornament exchange have now been cleared from my calendar. The whole event from the beginning planning stages all the way till the end was a headache without a cure. I had fun making things, but I have enough other reasons to craft without going through that again. If I start making noises about hosting (or participating) again, Ornery has been given permission to put duct tape over my mouth so I can't agree to anything!  The event has run its course for me, and I am ready to try something different next year.

The weekend has been spent in quiet pursuits. We have gone to bed early, slept in and done quiet tasks.  Ornery has been working on the website for Grace and Righteousness Ministries, Elizabeth brought in the last of her clothes and things from her car, did some laundry and spent time on her computer, and I lined the new shelves in the utility room and moved a bunch of stuff from the pantry to their new homes.  Then I organized my hanging clothes which had just been put in helter-skelter after the renovation and did the laundry, filed all the papers and receipts that had piled up and planned out the coming week. Nothing was done with vigor, but I feel good about heading into the new week.

I got a special order for two dominoes at the exchange, so I will need to go buy some parts in the morning, then I have some cooking and a little crafting to do. Otherwise, I am going to lay low and regroup.  Ornery and Elizabeth go back to work in the morning after having little "vacations"-- if you can call all the work Ornery did and Elizabeth's move vacations!  He was off eleven days, she was off three and a half. She is taking all the cookies she got from the exchange to work to share with her co-workers in the morning.

Three more weeks until Christmas and four left before the new year. I am ready for both.

The Party's Over

and I am going to sleep for a week. When I surface, I will photograph all the finished projects.

Belated Finale

I didn't get a post written last night with the progress from the day because it was our last night together and we spent it visiting, dining, (Olive Garden), and playing cribbage. Chuck and I played several games, but he ended the tie with a skunk, so he won six to four for the week. That last game was brutal!

For the most part the projects are complete.  Ornery still has a few little things to re-install like hooks and door stops, and we need to paint the new door, but my attention is turned toward the next major events: Elizabeth moving in and the ornament exchange, both of which occur tomorrow.

I will take photos once I get everything cleaned up. We did get moved into the closet last night, and it is so much more usable for our needs. I love the floor, and the lower shelves for all my junk. The top shelf on my side is almost empty, and there is still an entire empty shelf on Ornery's side as well. We had room for a chair in there, (for putting on our shoes) the hamper and the scales.  I am going to put my purse hanger in there instead of just inside the garage door.

Speaking of the garage door, the little alcove between the kitchen and the utility room got a fresh coat of paint when the utility room got one. It is just pretty cool looking!  We used the same green from the hall, living room, etc., on the walls and ceiling except for the wall that greets you when you open the door from the garage, which is now that brilliant orange vermilion color! I need to find something to hang there to decorate, but it is sure an exciting way to enter the house!

Charlie, Chuck and Mimi left at about 6:00 this morning. I will miss the help and companionship, but not the projects!  Ornery plans to start after the first of the year replacing the carpet in the bathrooms with the same flooring we got for the closet.  We left the threshold off the doorway into the bathroom so we wouldn't have to just take it out again. Eventually we plan to put that floor in the studio and hall bath, and will need to paint in the guest room and both bathrooms, but not this year.

The laundry is humming, and I am getting ready to fire up the vacuum cleaner, dust cloth and mop. I still have to fix the food for the exchange and get things ready for Elizabeth to bake her cookies tonight so we can move her tomorrow. We are only making one trip in three vehicles in the morning, but it will take a little while to get things settled in and tidy before the ladies arrive. It will be a very busy couple of days!