Midweek Update

Well, Ornery replaced the stool in the hall bathroom so we are sort of back in business in there.  Of course there are no doors on the bathroom so that could pose a bit of a problem for guests!

Here are a couple of photos of the room so far...

Sink area.  Bonus: all Ornery's tools are on the counter for the photo!

The shower area with the new flooring.  SOOOO much nicer than having carpet right next to the toilet and tub!

I got all the Christmas cards finished, the letter written and cut, signed and sealed the cards and affixed all the necessary extra postage.  Saturday those puppies will be on their way to their various destinations.  I don't think I have ever had them in the mail by December 1 before, but I feel quite smug about it!  Ornery still needs to sign the cards for his co-workers, but otherwise unless we get cards from people I didn't send to, I am done with that chore for this year.

Elizabeth and Michael have been blessed by numerous gifts from friends, family and co-workers, so I made some thank you cards for them.  I had several in my stash, but not enough, so yesterday and this morning I made a few more.  I wish there was more of a market for them, because I absolutely adore making cards!  They are such fun little canvases to work with!

Elizabeth came by for coffee and a visit this morning on her way to work, so I gave her the thank you cards then and she ordered several yardstick airplanes for her coworkers. She gave them to the guys she worked with at PolyVision last year, and they were a huge hit, so she figured she would do the same this year at her new job.  I plan to make some tags for them so they don't need to be wrapped, and since we only have nine made, I suppose I need to have Ornery cut some more of them for me this week.  I have two weeks before she needs them for the office party, but those days will speed by quickly if the past few are any indicator.

She also bought my last two wooden stocking ornaments for the two girls in her department (there are 13 men and three women) as well as a domino for the one whose name she drew for the Secret Santa gift exchange.  Her purchases boosted my sales significantly for the month!

Ornery is back to the drawing board once again in his investment house hunt.  He has bid on six houses so far since July and has not gotten one yet.  Last night he looked on line for houses instead of working on the bathroom floor since he found out yesterday that his last offer was not accepted.  He has showed a great deal of persistence with this venture, I will say that for him!  One of these days his offer will be accepted and then the real work will begin!

We have had a spell of fairly chilly days, so I haven't wanted to work in the garage to paint the mirror frame or the other little projects I need fresh air for, but the high Sunday is forecast to be 77, which is a mighty comfortable temperature at any time of year! So I am biding my time until then to finish that project.  Meanwhile, I have other things to occupy me and I suppose I should get busy with those!

Weekend in Review: End of Vacation

Ornery goes back to work tomorrow.  Bummer!

We sure got a lot accomplished this week, though.  Yesterday Elizabeth and Michael came over and she finished lighting the trees and I decorated them and cleaned up the mess in both the library and the living room.  I added a few touches to a pre-lighted wreath and hung it on the door, but I still need to rig the plug and a timer so it will go on at dusk and off at bedtime.  Ornery worked quite a bit on the bathroom.

Today I did a bunch of housework while he worked some more on the floor in the bathroom.  The toilet/tub area has tile down all the way just past the door into the sink area.  The carpet for both doors has been trimmed and the last of the patch work is drying on the areas where he removed the last little pieces of tack strip.  Tomorrow he should be able to finish the patches then lay more vinyl on Tuesday night.  I figure the rest of the project will take at least all of this coming week.

Once the flooring is down we will have to put the room all back together, re-setting the toilet, hanging up a new curved shower curtain bar, installing the mirror frame, putting back the baseboards,  re-hanging the towel and toilet paper bars, and changing out the shower head to a wand model with a filter built in. I decided to use the old mats and seat cover as well as the old towels as they don't really clash and it seems a waste to buy new when the old will work fine.

This week, other than working on the bathroom in the evenings, I hope to get the mirror frame painted and my Christmas letter written, copied and put in the cards.  I have the cards all addressed and stamped, so putting the letters in will be the last step before mailing.  Hopefully I will have them in the mail next Saturday.

I have a big mess in the dining room of all the fabric and pattern pieces for Elizabeth and Michael's tree skirt and stockings.  I really hope to have that all done by Christmas, although it would not surprise me if it isn't... There are a few other little fun projects I have in mind, so no telling what I will get up to this week!

The house is as decorated as it will get, and cleaner than it has been in quite a while.  Overall, I think I am headed into a new week looking pretty good!

The little tree in the library has all sorts of transportation ornaments--airplanes, bicycles, cars, motorcycles and a helicopter. We need to flesh this collection out a little more, but it is really cute in here!

The new arrangement of the living room to accommodate the Christmas tree.  It sure feels bigger!

Thanksgiving Break: Days 7 & 8

Ornery spent most of the day Friday at his sister's house eating and playing games.  I spent most of the day reading at home. It was quiet and restful.  Unfortunately, both of us had a rather fitful night, so Saturday started a hair later than usual, but not too bad.

We ate the last of the breakfast casserole from Thanksgiving Day for breakfast, followed by cinnamon rolls.  Elizabeth and Michael arrived at about 9:30 and she finished lighting the big tree, then I decided to go ahead and do the other tree in the library as well.  So, she fluffed and put lights on it, too.  They stayed for tamales for lunch, then I decorated both trees and cleaned up the mess.  Ornery laid some strips of vinyl on the floor in the bathroom after sanding and priming it.  Things are progressing right along with that project.

Otherwise, I think I have decided I am not really very socially adept, and would probably be better off not interacting with other people much.  I understand how challenging taming the tongue is and it seems best to just keep it caged!

Thanksgiving Break: Days 5 and 6

Wednesday:
Ornery worked on the bathroom most of the day.  The floor is just about ready to receive the flooring, the frame for the mirror is ready to paint, and unfortunately the old light fixture is staying despite our attempt to rid the world of its ugly self.

The sink in the guest bathroom is double, but it is only about 5 feet wide, which means there is really not much space between the two sinks.  The light bar above the mirror rests between two light fixture outlets, which means that there is NO hole in the middle of the sink but two holes about 12 inches apart.  That was a very unpleasant surprise!  Changing it out would mean cutting out sheet rock, rewiring the light, then replacing and smoothing the wall--yes the walls are smooth in there.  Oh, well.

Ornery also got the bike out in the afternoon and went for a very short ride.  He is (in his words) rather out of shape, so he didn't last very long, but it was a nice start.  It was the first time he has ridden in a couple of years, but we recently got tires replaced and had it serviced, so I think he plans to make a regular habit of riding it more.

I spent the day finishing off all my new dominoes, listing them on Etsy, then bagging them with ribbons and necklaces.  Then I did a little baking--made some cinnamon rolls from frozen bread dough, and baked one loaf for a breakfast casserole.  Then I made some chicken sausage and prepared the casserole so it would be ready to bake in the morning.

Thursday:
Elizabeth went home from work sick yesterday but seems to be fine today.  Their plans to go to Arkansas were cancelled due to a death in Michael's mom's family.  They will attend the funeral together Friday.

We woke up at about 5:30 for coffee.  As we were sitting in the living room we noticed the reflection of the sunrise on the neighbor's back windows, so we went to investigate.  Such a beautiful way to start the day.  Michael wasn't feeling great, but Elizabeth joined us for breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls.  Then she strung as many lights on the tree as we had.  Unfortunately that only covered about 1/2 the tree and no stores were open to buy more.  When she finished, she took her Christmas tree and went home, leaving us to take a nice little nap.  In the afternoon, we took the rest of her belongings over to her house, and I helped her finish decorating her tree.  So pretty!

Friday:
Ornery didn't work in the bathroom at all Thursday, and plans to go to his sister's house Friday afternoon, but spent a little while adding a bit more floor patch today.  We are off to the store to buy more lights. I sure had hoped to avoid shopping on Black Friday!

Thanksgiving break Day 4: I hear scraping

Ornery has been hard at it all day in the bathroom with an evil tool called a scraper.  He is almost done working to get the cement perfectly smooth and clean.  Next is filling up all the divots from tack strips and cracks.  Then the floor goes down!  Woot!

Meanwhile, I have spent a big part of the day in the studio working on some new domino designs.  I am really pleased with the outcome.  Should have some ready to go in the shop tomorrow.  I'll post pix once they are done.


We did take a break to hobnob with about seventy-billion people at the grocery store.

Good day

Thanksgiving Break: Days 2 & 3

The bathroom project hit a little speed bump, but Ornery did manage to finish all walls and the trim painting in both parts of the room.  He also took out the carpet and removed the toilet in preparation for scraping and putting down new flooring.  The only spots that still need paint are behind the toilet and behind the old light fixture, which is still in place, much to my dismay.

We shopped a bit this morning at Lowe's and Hobby Lobby.  We took a nap and I finished  downloading one set of slides, some of which I uploaded to Facebook.  I socialized a bit today with an hour long phone call to my sister and a nice coze when my friend Nita came over after her Toastmaster's meeting.

The living room is all set up for the Christmas tree and the house is pretty clean all over.  It has been wonderful to have Ornery home all day.  He is still my bestest friend!

What I did over Thanksgiving Break: Day 1

It's been almost a week since I posted, and it has been a busy week getting Elizabeth moved out and married off.  She and Michael tied the knot yesterday in Eureka Springs, AR at Magnetic Springs Park.  They spent Thursday and Friday nights at a B&B, and returned today, tired but very blessed by the relaxing and fun time they had there.

Today was Ornery's first day of a week long vacation.  I am going to try to recap all we do this week, as I know it is sure to be fascinating reading! HA!!

Despite the fact that we had nowhere to go and all day to get there, we woke at 4:30, raring to go.  We went to Panera for breakfast at 6:00, something we haven't done in about a month or more, then came back home to charge my phone and get some measurements. Ornery went up into the attic and got down all the Christmas trees while we were here, too.

Then we went to Lowe's to pick up some molding to make a frame for the bathroom mirror.  We also bought some light bulbs to replace one burned out in the kitchen--but got the wrong size, which Ornery discovered after climbing up there with the ladder to change it out.

Next Ornery moved the sauna from our room into the guest room which I had completely emptied on Friday.  It comes apart in about 8 pieces, and while it isn't really that difficult to do, it did take some time.

Next up was beginning the work on the hall bathroom.  We took down all the fixtures and doors, bagged up all the remaining stuff Elizabeth had left behind, removed the baseboards and painted the ceiling white.

I spent a little time with my new slide to digital converter and took care of about 100 to 150 slides.  Then, after dinner, we worked out in the garage: Ornery cut with his scroll saw, and I sanded both by hand and with my new Dremel tool outfitted with a sanding flap. Cool stuff!

Elizabeth called to report about their trip and let me know she would be coming for her car tomorrow.  The Realtor called to let us know we had a counter offer on a house we bid on last week.  The mail brought a delightful photograph of our little grandson -- his first one from pre-school.  He looks so grown up!

Stay tuned for more updates!  Lots happening around here these days!

Weekend in Review: New tools!

Whew!  We have done so much stuff this weekend I am having trouble remembering it all!

Saturday:

• Ornery finished the last of the painting.  Bam.
• We moved most of the rest of Elizabeth's stuff to Michael's house.  Only a few days until they are married!
• I completed a special order for 14 dominoes for a repeat customer.  Unfortunately, I ended up having to rework them a bit since the backs of the embellishments weren't smooth enough.
• Elizabeth and I finished a shawl she had been working on for Ornery's sister.
• Ornery took photos of the two shawls.

Sunday: 

• Ornery bought me a Dremel Tool and a new pair of nippers.  Between the two tools I managed to get the backs of the little gingerbread men smooth enough for them to stick on the dominoes.
• I wrapped up a shawl for Michael's mom
• I wrapped and boxed up the special order including a gorgeous special domino I made as a gift for the buyer.
• Ornery worked more on ornaments.  He is currently working on a piece of ebony and ivory. It is hard but it is very pretty.  

Monday my friend Nita is coming over with her rotary cutting tool to help me cut some pieces for Elizabeth and Michael's stockings.  My goal is to get the sewing projects done and all the stuff put way by the weekend because the following week we will be redecorating the guest bathroom and replacing the flooring in there.  That is the week of Thanksgiving and Ornery has the whole week off.  Of course that is also time to decorate for the holidays, so life is going to get pretty busy for a little while!

We hope to hear this week if our counter-offer was accepted by the bank on a sweet little house about a mile and a half from Zoe Cottage.  If it was, and if we can close by mid December, while Ornery is off over the holidays we will be practically living over there to get it ready to rent.  It all needs paint, but additionally we will have to do some tile work in the bathrooms and possibly replace some sheet-rock in the Master bath as there is some pretty nasty looking mold on the wall and ceiling near the window.   We are excited about the possibilities and hope it is really as nice of a place as we think.  

The tree in the back yard emptied of all its leaves this weekend.  The wind was very typical of what people think of when they think of the plains -- strong and gusty.  Sunday morning we had a delightful rain, but it is plunging the temperatures into the low 30's tonight and even lower tomorrow night.  I guess we are done with summer finally.

Weekend in Review: Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time always messes with my sleep pattern, but it comes around twice a year whether I like it or not, so I guess I should be used to it after all these years.  At any rate, Sunday seems to be eternally long and I am SOOOO tired!

We have had a busy weekend.  Friday's errand run took care of a lot of stuff on the to-do list, and motivated much of the activity for the weekend.  Ornery bought a knife sharpening kit and variable speed grinder on which to use it, then spent a couple/few hours sharpening every pair of scissors and knife in the house.  He cut himself on the grinder, I cut myself on a pair of scissors--par for the course, I suppose.

He also mowed then put down some winterizing weed/feed fertilizer on the lawn, replaced some burned out light bulbs and dirty air conditioner filters, and did a little scroll saw work on some ornaments.  He put the first coat of paint on the shutters and front storm door, and now only lacks a second coat on both those areas and the back door to finish up the exterior painting.  It looks fabulous so far!

I read through old recipe books and made some menu plans, and followed him around like a lost puppy on Saturday. :)  I also did a bit of Christmas shopping online and did my part to help the economy. I got the kitchen spiffed up and ready for a cooking marathon which took place Sunday.  I wrote a newsy letter to Ornery's brother, and caught up on Facebook.  Ornery was certainly more productive than I was, but we both felt good about the weekend's work. I was especially grateful for all his help in the kitchen with clean up and various chopping jobs.  He is pretty handy!

It was a nice added blessing to have Ornery off Friday afternoon, and he is also off for Election Day on Tuesday--a company wide holiday.  In addition, he will be off the whole week of Thanksgiving, but I wouldn't really call it a vacation since we will be tackling the guest bathroom, replacing the carpet with the flooring we have in our bathroom, painting, switching out light fixtures and shower heads, and adding some new decor. Hopefully it will be done before Christmas...

Finally Unpacked

I am not always OCD or organized, but when the spirit moves me, I can be rather intense about alphabetizing, labeling or color coordinating.  Sometimes I feel like I will go crazy if I have to look at a disorganized drawer, closet or room and not fix it.  It is better to just go with the flow when those urges hit or things can get ugly.

This week I have been in "one of those moods" requiring me to do some serious deep cleaning.  I have been looking at my studio and being troubled over some of the neglected containers and other spots for some time, and Tuesday I started in by moving the shelves out of my closet into the room and clearing off the work table.

When I sent the antique cupboard over to Michael's house, I had to find new homes for all my Etsy Shop inventory.  Now it is on the shelves and easy to access.

Wednesday I took it a step further and started going through plastic totes and reorganizing the contents into more usable configurations.  I filled up one whole kitchen sized garbage bag with discards.

Thursday I got serious.

The top shelf of the closet held several boxes of negatives and slides and CD's with photos stored on them. Two of the boxes had been taped up since we moved to Miller Manor almost 18 years ago!  It was beyond time to take care of those!  I got my little light table out  to view the slides and threw away hundreds, maybe even thousands of 20-30 year old slides, and some old negatives from the 80's that were taken with Ornery's medium format Mamiya camera.

In the midst of all that, I somehow got sidetracked with my box of beads, and had to spend two hours sorting and color-ordering those in some different containers.  Oh, the end result is lovely, and makes me itch to do something with the little jewels, but it will have to wait for a while, there are too many other projects waiting ahead of them in the queue. At least now when I open the lid to the box they are stored in, I sigh with satisfaction over their orderliness.  Elizabeth just rolled her eyes at me when I showed her...

Today I ordered a little contraption from Amazon that will transfer all those slides and negatives to digital media! So, I won't actually throw away the bag that contains all those slides just yet, in hopes that maybe I can salvage a few of them at least.  At any rate, all the photos we had of Elizabeth as a baby have been retrieved, and I will be working at creating a real baby book for her with those images once they are digitized.

No matter how quickly the images can be saved, the sorting and labeling of them will take me weeks, and then there is the job of putting the album all together.  It seems like a huge project--which is why it has taken me 18 years to begin on it!  (well, that and the fact that that little digital media machine is about 1/10th the cost today!)

Ornery is off this afternoon and we are going to do some long overdue grocery shopping and a few other errands.  One of these days I may actually get into the studio to do some art!