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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 11, 2024 17:58:33 GMT
Good MOrning,
I'm sorry about your post, hate when that happens!
Forgot to say that yesterday I also CB'd a framed pointillism picture I'd done to donation station. Why, Because the frame had gotten a little dinged up and was not interested in redoing that situation. But I signed the paper covering the back with my shop name etc. as maybe someone would look/care.
Realized I'd not actually ordered the light timer, and that I can use the second one for downstairs lamp I like to have on at night. Yay. SO I did actually order them.
May have forgotten to mention DH did garage clean up re-org and that looks better. What is more is I saw more empty shelving on "his" side and there has been talk of further CB'ing of items.
Creative/Etsy: -picked up my three horse tack/spur edited photography card designs from the good printer. I like them, and it's a good thing cause they charged me to do the layouts, which I should have realized, it's a one time charge, but still, I can get more printed if needed but will not overdue it for now. -got downstairs table cleaned up, paper scraps picked up, paper put away, and that area is clean and clear for me to proceed with needle point work design which I am excited about getting going with.
I do have to go do an errand though, mail package to friend, get sale yarn from JOanne's which starts today, then I'll come back and do creative things.
Emptied the DW and washed three drawer trays, made an accessible counger top toothpick holder, with an actual toothpick holder we have, because DH uses a lot of these to cook a couple things in microwave.
Hope your day is off to a good start.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 13, 2024 1:25:53 GMT
WOW, my life took off and got so far ahead of me that just now I have finally caught up to it. Snow and snow drifts caused massive complications but all seems resolved. It drifted again today due to the strong winds so corrective measures were taken. It is supposed to snow again tomorrow evening which will be nice to have it on the weekend. Today I took Clair to her physical therapy appointment, ran a couple of errands. Also helped the construction crew figure out how to get water to the basement so that they could mix concrete. They brought a frozen hose. I have a hose hidden just for these occasions when it is imperative to have one that isn't frozen so all turned out. I haven't been downstairs to look at their progress. The completion date is now next Friday since they had a snow day yesterday.
I have been keeping all items picked up and put away properly, vacing as needed etc. Almost done with another picture.
Saturday - Wind, wind and more wind. Will the wind ever stop blowing LOL. I finished one picture and almost have another one done. The first one had the affirmation "Another Day in Paradise" surronded by a tropical theme. The second one is considered abstract aret--kind of like a woman that is part android. It had the strangest paper which caused my florescent colors to not work but since I was using various greys it still turned out all right so far. I have a coloring book of Retro Cats so I will probably do one of those cat pics next. I love them all so I can't make up my mind which one to do.
Today I managed to get Clair's physical therapy exercises integrated into my daily routine which, of course, made Sam and Buttercup feel left out so then I started a Rally Obedience refresher course for them--and Clair as well. If she was a student she would barely scrape by with C minuses since she does not like to concentrate on her school work and prefers to look out the door or rummage on the carpet looking for treats (that aren't there). I get such a kick out of this. Also she has some very adorable cute routines she pulls to try to get out of doing any of it. However she is Miss Personality Plus when it comes to Therapy work and is much loved in that arena.
Also ordered the supplies to make a simulated hill so that she can start the hill exercises since we would have to get in the car to drive to a hill which requires a lot of mumbo jumbo with a ramp to get her in and then also to get her out of the car on and on....
Tomorrow I am hoping to groom Sam while listening to a football game.
Hope you got all items accomplished that you wanted to and are having a wonderful evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 14, 2024 20:02:56 GMT
Good Morning,
Hmmm...sort of weird those contractors showed up with frozen hoses, how did they think they'd get their work done? Good thing you were prepared! Hoping that job continues to go well! The coloring sounds very fun. I think I already mentioned this is something my step MIL does quite meticulously and I truly enjoy looking at her completed sheets. Glad you are enjoying that and your pens. We've had wind, some crazy, but not as many days as you've had.
Saturday I got myself put together and went to an afternoon class at a shop/art class thing in the valley sort of near me, with the neighbor (she's creative, we enjoy chatting, but she is also intense personality and can lose patience with different things, easily, and can get snappish). Knowing this, I do not take personally, try to edit myself with different things, not go down the minutiae mile while speaking with her to not wear out my welcome.But I do enjoy her quite a lot! SO we went and did fuzed glass work shop making our own little winter scene night lights. I think they will be done on Thursday. It was fun excepting the gluing the pieces down because that is a glue that takes 24 hours to set and so while your fiddling with the little pieces...because it is a night light and small, there was lot of movement and correction that went on with the pieces because they actually weren't really stuck, even though the glue had been applied. Sort of strange...but I'm excited to get it back and plug it in somewhere!
Crochet: What to say...I LOVE The yarn colors I'm working with which are Brown, dark blue, light blue, tan, deep Teal Green, and a verigated type that features the blue, tan, brown and lighter green. I'm really enjoying the stitch pattern I've chosen as it has several chains that make the bottom border area and an upper border area....some of these pattern design don't have this...they just start and stop if that makes sense.That's fine, but the chain stitch borders give a more finished look and add interest in pattern to the thing which I like. Another good thing about this pattern is it lends itself well to color changes, so I can do up to three if I wanted to, two is kind of the best, and mix and match all these colors and it's really fun! So, what is my plan? Well, I've browsed a bit on Etsy, of course there are a ton of crochet drink cozies, thousands of offering, and I've not viewed everything of course, but, I do not see my particular color combinations, a few are close, but not same, so this is good. Also, I'm refraining from buying the little leather, or faux leather tags you can attach, because those little things really cost at least $1.00 if you're customizing a little picture, etc. My idea is to work up many of these as my compulsive personality is want to do, assemble them into sets of two, photo, list sell without added acccoutrements. I worked up tag and packaging prototype yesterday, VERY cute, and different from how other people do, and gifted one to my neighbor which had errors in completion. The finished packaged little thing as quite lovely! So I'm thinking I'll work through all my skeins like a nut, make tags, group, and list. This could increase traffice to my shop and is non holiday specific thing. Goal is have some of these up by last week in January..I'd like to have several color combinations coming up at once when I'm ready to go with it.
Needlepoint Update: This has not been going well. I got the stuff out, using the magnifier lamp, plus a light box pad DH got me for Christmas, working on transferring designs only to paper, harder than you think because the mesh/grid is so tiny, it's really just been an exercise in frustration. Positives are I have the 4" circle done and initially got the thing centered perfectly, then realizing there were just a couple areas that still needed clean up and further symmetrisizing. So in going to do those steps, using above tools, needed to just trace design I though, this did not go well trying to get design to the new sheet with tracing. This led to me stepping away many many times, to crochet, or work on jigsaw puzzles, and then coming back to it, sort of not wanting to come back to it. But...I think I have the answer now. Rather than trying to trace it, which was not working out at all (who knew it would be so problematic?) I actually need to make a stitch chart for myself, except it's a paint chart, and actually count the squares/intersection grid points of where the lines making the shape of design need to go to accomplish the basic shapes, (which are simple except there's lots of curves, the collar is the hardest). Then, I will simply have to use a pencil and draw it on the grid. This is what I'll be attempting today and though it sounds like pain, I don't think it will be any more so than what I've been trying to do up to this point. ONce the the basic shapes are down, which are only 5 each, the rest should be simple and fun, because it's really just the embellishment parts. I will be working on this today and fingers crossed, this goes easier once I write out the chart and goal is to report back tomorrow morning with how this went.
Decorating: I've been moving things around on the shelving, I'm loving how it's looking, I'm waiting for one more vase. The person at Michaels framing place said to check their site daily (which I'll make part of my morning routine) because a couple times a year they will have a 60%-70% off custom framing sale on the types of frame products I'm wanting to use for both pieces of art. So as they are large, I will do this! Sorry if I already talked about this!
Hope your day is going well!
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 17, 2024 2:22:47 GMT
Z, The glass project sounds interesting. I checked out some of this type of work and it reminded me of the artwork in the Bellagio--the ceiling cost 10 mill--can you imagine? The color combinations of your crocheting are ones that I love together! I actually managed to incorporate orange with those colors in a decorating scheme, so bold and fun to do! The alcohol markers have some interesting properties but only when the best paper is used--rather than those used to make coloring books. I could always transfer a design onto better paper and then play with those properties. I might do it if I like a simple design and will skip the more complicated ones since I might as well just draw freehand. My idea is to have FUN! with color rather than spending so many hours to get a creative piece myself especially since I don't have that amount of time. The needlepoint sounds challenging and for sure you have had many challenges learning new creative processes and succeeded. YOU ROCK!!!
Today I spent several hours catching up on little chores that piled up. We actually had sunshine today! Not for long but still it was incredibly fun to walk in it and not have to wear my hat or gloves and my bees came out, just a few of them and then I had to save some of them with their hypothermia glass which is rather nerve raking worrying about if they will recover or not. I am always amazed to see those poor lifeless creatures fully recovered and flying around in their glass ready to go home. Not much has been done this afternoon as I ran into..... editing. The day is not over so I will reset my mental attitude and forge onward.
Monday - Sunny day today! so I took advantage of it and raked the back yard grass that had substantial debris from the two windstorms. Yesterday DH raked La Mariposa and I got a good start on La Fiesta. I like to rake pine needles alot more than what I raked up today. The crawl space saga continues. Possibly they will finish on Thursday. I had them pick up the tarps before they left today that were laid down on the stairs since DH goes down there to inspect and those tarps are a significant safety hazard. Otherwise I had a stack of personal paperwork that needed to be attended to which I did manage to get through. Vac'd and cleaned windows were necessary. Fixed the dogs veggie packs for the week.
Tuesday - I spent most of the day doing small miscellaneous chores such as getting all flashlights in working order. Sent off one completed financial statement. Emailed my DB and replied to his myriad of correspondence about house remodeling of which he is a mega expert. The storage containers for my Ohuhu markers came today. Fortunately I already have them in good order so it won't be a nightmare to get them put away. They need to be laid sideways and these nifty (non plastic, Hooray) wood boxes are specifically made for that purpose.
Last night a significant amount of time was spent looking for a couple of classes. Found one just for alcohol markers and then one for color theory using 10 abstract art pictures to be created that go along with color choices pertaining to color theory. Today I ordered a few items to help with these classes. The most necessary item was paper from Ohuhu specifically to be used with the alcohol markers since the paper used in some coloring books will not produce the effects taught. IMO this is needed to really get the ideas learned and practice done to get the effects integrated into my projects.
The crawl space project is moving right along since more personnel has been assigned to the work. Completion date is back to Thursday. These have been, by far, the most pleasant and courteous construction crew I have ever worked with.
It seems I have a lot of small chores that have piled up so the plan for tomorrow is to continue working on them.
Hope you are having a wonderful evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 17, 2024 16:55:07 GMT
Good Morning, Good work with the daily chores inside and out. Yes, a tarp on stairs sounds very scary to navigate! Interesting with the paper, but I get it. That brand paper makes a pre-cut, scored, cardstock which is what buy to use for the base for my paper cut card making. It is very nice stuff!
Yesterday I took my car in one day earlier than planned due to snow we were to get today. SO that worked out well, I got a free new tire due to defect/slow leak in liner of one of mine.
Decorating: After this, I was driving down the road and went buy a furniture store. I went in, walked up and down all aisles, many times over, focusing on accessories, medium sized faux greenery, containers, vases, baskets etc. OUr builtins on either side of the fireplace do not go to the ceiling, and there is about 25-28 inches from top to where ceiling starts. Edited version is I wasn't sure if I wanted anything at all, or what, to set up there (which did look blah). After the recent input from my friend, this gave me more confidence and ideas what to do. I got a mix of all things previously mentioned, and a set of largish, set of 2, blue vases, which are a color glaze I love, also a set of 2 differently sized baskets (texture, natural, neutral) and a few other things. Then I went to HObby Lobby and got a few more things. Came home, got the stool out and started messing with all of this, got it all figured out, it looks FANTASTIC! I was able to combine some existing pots and pottery already owned with new purchases, purchases, added faux greenery here and there. Super happy with the result. Now, I can honestly say I'm done with the accessory shopping extravaganza. (except for needed framing projects).
We are getting our forecasted snow now. So I'm going to work on the needle point today, crochet, and my closet a little bit. This is the plan.
TaDas: -bed made -DW ran, kitchen cleaned -impromptu cleaning of three bathrooms and getting the guest bed made up thinking we might have guest last minute last night. DIdn't happen, but nice to have those chores done. -I've shoveled pathway to the front door twice today, still snowing, about 8 inches. -made some tags for the crochet drink cozies, I'm going to try to finish one more while still day light hours, get listed.
Need to fold and list the three Western Boot Spur and Heart Horse tack cards I had made also, will try to get done this afternoon.
Z.
Hope your day is off to a good start.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 18, 2024 0:25:16 GMT
Z, It sounds wonderful! I decorate with faux greenery instead of the real thing. Years ago I had a HUGE maintenance chore with living plants and although they looked beautiful I was extremely glad to get rid of the watering etc. Once a year I take the faux outside and spray them completely clean using the hose. I did try hand spraying them with a solution of 1/2 floor wax and water to make them shiny. The ones that I thought would benefit from this solution turned out gorgeous and the coating lasted for about 1/2 year. However, just giving them an extremely good bath makes them like new again. It's surprising what dust does to them and actually it can't really be all taken off with a feather duster IMO. Also great job keeping up with the snow shoveling! Today's Accomplishments: - Declutter Wednesday - Went through the freezer compartment and outside freezer to get rid of a number of items that will not be eaten since DH changed his diet last summer. Also grabbed a few useless items from the garage and decluttered them. Also two decorative pillows - Washed the deicer put down by the highway department off my vehicle windows. Changed the anti-mouse packets under the hood of my SUV, in the glove box and interior. It smells so bad, I can understand why mouse do not want to be around it. - Conferenced with DH about a requested proposal I am thinking about sending - Got all a.m. routine items done and dogs out for Clair's 3 PT walks - Discussed the work underneath the house with the foreman and got a guided tour of work done so far. - Made my annual list of office supplies needed for the upcoming Audit season and got them ordered - Called the furniture store again about correcting a warranty item on one of the new chairs - Tracked down one missing Amazon item online - Worked on another missing item that is being shipped which is a fresh item. It seems it got lost in transit so I am not sure what kind of condition it will be in when it does arrive - Started reading a book about digital marketing color theory. Interesting…. - Went around gathering up BC’s dirty balls, found 21, got them put in the washer. One load completed and put away! - Yesterday I figured out a schedule to get Clair’s physical therapy other than her daily walks done so that her rest periods were not interrupted. Just finished for today. - Fixed a computer problem after a rather long time. Hooray! - Simple batch cooking - Restored the construction in progress areas inside the house back to normal, removed the protective plastic, put the emergency hose back in a safe place so that it can’t be found to be used for regular purposes - Finally dealt with the light bulbs—decluttered ones I won’t use since I can’t tolerate some types of lighting. - Vac’d and dusted where needed
More of the same tomorrow and possibly I will get to the end of the pile up. Exciting!
Hope you had a great day!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 18, 2024 19:17:20 GMT
Good Morning,
Quite a good list of accomplishments by you yesterday. Great work! Yes, DH and I have continued to find things that need to CB'd from freezer and fridge. I'm trying to adopt mantra, "If you're not preparing it, don't purchase it" in regard to recipe ingredients to cut down on waste.
I'm very excited here this morning because some ideas, thoughts came to me, not sure I mentioned before.
Coffee, Coasters, Cozies: Crochet: So, I'm making these cozies and will list today, then I think, if they are "found/seen" on Etsy and are in shop section with the coasters, both items help each other get views. So this is exciting. Then I worked on the tag for the cozies, and they are cute! THen I decided to keep in sets of three, not two, lower price and free shipping. I see other seller offering that. I think probably most of the time this type of item is being purchased as a small gift on it's own, or to combine with a coffee gift card, this satisfies that. In regard to doing these, I have had revelations of errors I was making in counting stitches and placement meaning less pulling all out and starting over, which was happening a lot. So excited about that and the colors I'm working with. Coasters: I found my two other original art coasters I will get listed. I pulled out my individual "Nature" and "Vintage Auto", these are both very cute and I've been taking to shows, yet still they here are. So if people are seeing this shop section more frequently as well as looking for a lower cost gift item, then I can and will make these single coasters available. Ceramic Coasters: I'm reading how to make a minimum quantity order listing and will make the ceramic coasters available, at a higher price per two each, buyer has to select two, then they can mix/match what they want. ALso I may consider making a "seconds" listing option for the ones that don't have print protection on white portions. Pondering this.
So, I got none of the listing work yesterday, but I am ON IT today and I have sales numbers goals for 2024! It is happening!
Z
Friday:
-found, photo'd, listed 11 each single handmade wood, cork back coasters in two listings. One is "nature/outdoors" and the other is vintage auto/gasoline themed. This is better than them setting about collecting dust. -made the tags, photo'd listed 3 sets of crochet cup sleeves/cozies, changed shop section name to Coasters & Crochet Cozy...I might change this again. -photo'd the three sets of Western style, horse tack, theme card sets, those are listed. -crocheted one more set of three cozies and will get those up today and fix/edit some correction photos need done on what I did yesterday, this will take no time. The look great in my shop by the way and photos look fantastic with the rustic wood color I use for most of my prop photos.
Todos: -get 4th cup sleeve listed -do a different strategic style listing for ceramic coasters, see if helps increase traffic -take care of 1 head in sand issue -begin workibg on needle point project in earnest and nothing else till I get through a completed design
Hope your day is going well.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 19, 2024 23:45:00 GMT
Z, Those cozies definitely look very cute!!! I love the crochet items (and everything else!). What do you think is your favorite crafting project you do on an ongoing basis? You made me laugh about the head in sand issue---I can so relate. The ones that I find interesting are the ones that I totally ignore like they don't exist. However I am getting MUCH better about facing things head on especially since nobody is going to step in to rescue me. However, today a man (with wife) took my empty light bulb package out of my hands at HL and started searching for the ones I was looking for, which he found behind some nonrelated ones. So there is a possibility that phantom rescuers will in fact help me out. LOL The crawl space crew cleaned up the basement and departed. Just one more small item needs to be completed and didn't get done because the parts haven't come in yet. The foreman had the crew make me a stepping area so that I can get back in there if need be since the retaining wall is five feet high. This was very much appreciated, otherwise I would have to go in through the crawl hole and that is not something I EVER want to do. Hooray! that they are finally finished, almost. Yesterday I spent the day working diligently on getting my Ohuhu markers in the storage containers. Now they are in numerical order and this also matches the swatch sheets I made. There are 320 regular ones, 36 "skin" tone ones and 16 wide ones. I don't have the wide ones labeled and swatched yet but once I do they will fit in one of the storage containers. This was a big job but was possible since I had already organized them, grouping them in bundles of about 10 so I could do the swatching. Also worked on the garage--how does it get this way? I made great progress and was also able to take DH's set of golf clubs that he hasn't used in over 8 years to the donation center today. Hooray for that as they caused a strange sort of safety danger area near the garage door (for the last 8 years). Today I couldn't focus in the a.m. so who knows what I did. The new chair that was a warranty item got fixed by us after I talked to one of the employees who explained how to deal with it. This made me happy since I get to skip a service call. Took Clair to physical therapy and did a couple of errands. Right now I am going back to trying to finish up items that did not get 100% done.
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Saturday - I have had to create a stash and dash cupboard in the K for all the stuff that isn't getting done. Hopefully they won't get ignored for months since that is exactly what happens to the items in the stash and dash closet. I am totally derailed in the focusing department. I will overcome!!!
The day was spent working on a physical therapy contraption for Clair. This required putting two Yes 4 All Pylo boxes together which was a significant challenge for me. Fortunately DH came home and helped with the project. However I did most of the work which is the way I wanted it. The boxes were set side by side on the deck, then two dog ramps each six feet long were attached, then tall exercise pens pieces were put on the sides to keep her from being able to jump off. This created an uphill and then a downhill that takes the place of an actual hill. So now she can go up and down it as part of her PT exercises. I am really proud of myself for coming up with this idea! Of course the dogs on all the videos for PT haven't actually had surgery and they behave perfectly. A labrador's mentality is geared toward jumping so it is a difficult situation and has to be thought through so that all options for jumping are removed while the dog is in recovery.
I found a Facebook page dealing with TPLO surgery and it is a real godsend because only those ladies who are going through the recovery process know what it is like which is incredibly stressful and extremely difficult. One mistake and..... Also the statistics on the number of dogs that require the other leg done is truly frightening. Anyway, it has been enormously helpful just to read that we have a commonality. There are some very positive supportive people there. We are on day 66. Hooray for that!!!
I think I will color for awhile.
Hope you are enjoying your evening!!! Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 21, 2024 18:33:42 GMT
Good Morning!
Wow, that is a lot of markers! 16 skin tones!?!?? Whoah...but that's good because that's actually a hard color to find in pencils and paint, I get it! How fun! Great work with the physical therapy planning and finding that board. I'm sure that helps a lot! Good to hear the crawl space project is almost over with! Woo hoo!
Well...I will say, possibly, I have been derailed by crochet...lol. But I'm truly, truly done for the time being now. THere are still more color combos I can make with the color currently have, including solids, which I will do later. I feel I've given good descriptions, ideas for use and gift giving, and photos are great, thanks for viewing those by the way! I even added one additional photo to all which is the set with one of them slipped around a kraft brown cut paper card for example use. So I have one more set, which is already photo'd and I get to just copye the descriptions from the others so goes quickly to get listed this morning. I also changed shop section name and combined these to same section with coasters so both with help each other get viewed if traffic comes there.
Packaging To Dos: -all card sets recently made, hearts, cats, horse tack, etc. need packaged -coasters need packaged -Cup sleeves all need to be put in packages -once packaged, this stuff needs to go into the storage area.
Needlepoint: Yes, been procrastinating on this. Still a challenge how to approach (at least for me). But...I did view some more videos and possibly had an "aha" moment in regard to from doing that about getting certain points down, then working outward from there. So my goal today is to really, really try to get this to certain point so I have some designs I can be tweaking and coloring on the plane tomorrow for my trip to Brooklyn to spend 4 nights with sister then travel with mom back home. I was hoping to be further with this, alas...I will make a concerted effort today. I did watch these videos and will be interesting when sister and go to the painting class on Tuesday night together at the needlepoint shop. I will try to post on my trip.
THat's all for now.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 26, 2024 20:16:37 GMT
Z, Hope you enjoy your trip! It sounds like the needlepoint challenge is progressing and the attempts will probably yield surprising positive results when the needlepoint shop class is attended.
Is crashingly a word--apparently not. However I am going to use it anyway--I have been crashingly tired the last couple of days and dream of sleeping in just one morning. This will not work though because I have to take the dog outside on her leash in the early a.m. which requires full winter attire. Making lemonade out of lemons, I started getting her outside PT done and her first walk of the day accomplished. This created the benefit of getting done earlier with these things. Hooray for that!
Today I managed to get the newly created stash and dash cupboard cleaned out of all items, dealing with every one of them. It's fairly late in the day and now I MUST get some office work done.
Tuesday - I forged ahead with a couple of projects one being the flooded basement. It was an easy fix and pleasant (compared to some other incidents in the past) LOL in a reminiscing way about infinitely more miserable country experiences of days gone by. For sure if I was a city dweller NONE of these things would have happened. Tomorrow the crawl space contractor will come early in the a.m. to review the situation since it seems they caused it. However, DRUMROLL XXXXX there was nothing in the basement due to my work getting it cleaned out which made the clean up easy compared to how it would have been. DH stayed home and actually was a big help. Wonders never cease to amaze..... I am doing my happy dance about all of this especially if NOTHING else goes wrong with the crawl space contractors work.
Wednesday & Thursday & Friday - Kind of hazy again but here are some highlights: Called the fire mitigation contractor and made an appointment for him to come this coming Monday to make a few paths meandering through the tall bushes so that I have some other options because walking 3 times a day over 60 days has made me want some new trails to walk since there are four more months of these walks to look forward to. Thursday, took Clair to PT and went over her "at home PT" exercises with Laura which helped enormously. Called the Vet to make sure they know what they are doing at today's appointment since they tend to be massively disorganized at times but since they seemed to be improving I have stuck with them. Anyway, another 1/2 hour phone thing went on and fortunately I had email proof that they were the ones at fault which doesn't make any difference but I needed the ammo to get it straightened out. Also wanted to make sure they were going to clip Clair's nails which was another hurdle to get over. Wow---writing this kind of makes me realize I better change vets. LOL Right now I am working on office admin items.
Onward>>>>> Hope you are having fun!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 27, 2024 4:12:27 GMT
I’m sorry to hear the basement flooded! Eeks! But you are on it, prepared sort of I hope this can be resolved.
We are back, time was nice at sisters house, class was pretty awesome, learned many things. Before going, I was at a finalized design point of the armless one excepting the embellishment choices of certain parts so this was great. Then I’m almost to a finalized point with the one with arms and this is great also. This one can be holding hymnal book, candle or have praying hands. I should be able to be painting on a canvas by midweek. I spent hours at table, tweaking, retrying, these things at sis’s while chatting snd tv watching went on. It was a little maniacal but we weren’t doing anything else so was fine. I could participate while I fussed around snd I had nothing else to do.
Just got back, 5:00 ish today, I think mom is here a few days, so not sure what will do.
Z
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Post by michelle on Jan 28, 2024 1:29:17 GMT
Z, Glad you had a nice time! And that you forged ahead with understanding the process. Absolutely gorgeous day here today!!! I spent most of the day rearranging etc so that I can fit most of Clair's PT equipment in the house and was successful. Also had to fill in a place where a coyote dug in. This the first time this has happened since we put the reinforcing items in place so it was a shock. I have acquired so many fixit skills since then. Kind of amazing, actually. Otherwise it was an ordinary day getting the three walks in, doing the PT with Clair. The three walks give me 10,000 steps so some days when I have other outside chores the steps can really start adding up. I started one of my art classes and may work on it some more tonight. Tomorrow I will have to get outside and mark the locations for the walking paths since work on that will occur on Monday. Also I might groom Sam while listening to football. I can't tolerate watching it live but I do enjoy it so that I can work at the same time.
Sunday - Stunningly beautiful day!!! I did get outside today and mark the locations for the paths. Then I made a map so I can discuss this tomorrow. Otherwise, did some house cleaning, wild bee feeding and management since they showed up in droves again today. That's about it that's worth chatting about.
Hope you are having a restful evening!!! Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 29, 2024 17:17:42 GMT
Good Morning,
Sounds like you've had some pretty days there! Yay! Remind me the art class you are taking? I would like to here about that! My neighbors went to a watercolor class while I was gone and I'm not sure it was enjoyed. I will be getting more feedback on that on Thursday as neighbor will come for coffee. The new trail project sounds fun! Keep me posted on that! Also I forgot to say I like the word "crashingly" whether it's a word or not! But I hope you've not been feeling crashingly tired still! I've been using the word symetrisizing, which I'm sure is not a word, but that's what I've been working on with my designs and it's perfect.
My mom is still here from our return from Brooklyn on Friday. Not that Id've done much anyway, but it's factor. She will be leaving this morning.
DH Decluttering: DH has been on a garage, closet, decluttering roll! While I was gone he took a pickup truck bed full of garage items, surplus, and clothing to donate. Then he took another of his regular car fully loaded with more bags of clothing. Yesterday he spent more time in garage and purged drawers, wooden chest of drawers and some plastic container drawers of excesses of many things. Then discussion of stacked container drawers he doesn't like that are in an unuseable corner of front of garage beside the kitchen overflow cabinet he wanted to toss and then he wanted to toss a sort of heavy duty three tiered metal shoe rack that was by the door. His thought was just get rid of the drawers and the rack so we don't pile stuff on them or if we do address the items more frequently as to what's there and why. But the reality is, stuff will end up tossed into both of these locations whether those items are removed or not and they do serve organizational/containment purposes. So both of our goals should be not to toss stuff onto/into these things, keep things from the front of the drawers so they CAN be opened, etc. ...just be more mindful, both of us, about the use of these areas and keep them tidy. Also, I think I can use the drawers for some of my kitchen overflow storage and will look at that whan I go to CB the cabinet, see what I have. Also together we grabbed two sweaters from my side of closet that were actually his, and those went as well. Then he did some organization relocation of one chest of drawers from garage to his hobby room, he can use those drawers and that room can "take" that chest of drawers because we just moved a couple things.
Home Decor: The custom ottoman cover has arrived! It fit PERFECTLY and looks sooooo good. Absolutely love it. That whole living area is a much more pleasant place to be! The pillows are lovely too, i"m so glad I did not get larger pillows. The light reflecting off some of things I put on builtin tops makes them look more lively. gives some light. Picked up my small cut paper hummingbird artwork I'd got from Etsy last year, an 8x8 inch print, from MIchaels, which has all the colors I've been accessorizing in that room, and swapped out my barn for it on one of the plate racks/metal stands. It is great!
Needlepoint: What I've been fooling with now is the design options for parts of Angle #1. So I have about 10 options in the decorative strip that hangs down center, 4 collar options (it's a weird shape, so not much can be done in it) I need to design about 3-4 things for what I call the underskirt, and there will be about the same for the over skirt, also the skirts, both under and over, can also just be plain. So I'm hoping to finish up the skirt options today.
Scanning: WHen I scanned my images to make my own coloring sheets with for images to a page, weirdly, as I working with them...it reduced their size by 2/16 of an inch. How, I have no idea, so this was annoying because I didn't realize until a bit after working with them. Thankfully I had been using the counted grid paper for the design options and sketching on that as opposed to the blank coloring sheets which don't have the grid.counting from the original. So the roller on our own copier is not working. I need to just photocopy these, not scan, so I have coloring sheets for the options. Then I had interesting conversation with my hyper friend in which I gleaned, it didn't matter what I sent her to stitch, she was going to do whatever she wants with scraps on hand for threads. I've already seen a result of this activity which she did without permission from my design she downloaded from interenet picture, and it was not good, somewhat helpful to see, but a mess. Rather than go round and round (she is one of my best friends, but does not listen, maybe like me...lol) I realize I will probably put together a complete stitch kit which includes threads for her, so she stitches ONE design how it is intended to be. I will send her another canvas she can use scraps on and do whatever...I won't care as long as I have the other done properly. There all types of threads, and my sister who has more experience with , I need to talk with her about which threads are good, quantities, types, some can look like jewels as they have metallic or shiny threads braided into them. It might be that I do kits for all three people (two sisters and my friend) I'll be sending them to to stitch. ALso the quilting color design book I got from my sisters is so great for revisiting color theory and combination examples, it's going to be a blast to look at and implement some of those combinations.
Okay, do I do have some house chores to do today, which I'll start once mom leaves, and I'll get on with some of this other stuff.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jan 30, 2024 2:57:27 GMT
Z, All the decluttering and organizational work taking place, so exciting!!! Glad the custom ottoman cover turned out to be perfect. I agree about the larger pillows IMO they just get in the way. I really like the small lumbar ones and they are also actually usable for comfort. Is the author of that quilt design book Jen Wolfrom? I think her approach to color theory is so relevant and usable. The metallic thread must enhance designs incredibly. I have a friend who works with fabric art that is sold internationally and her work is truly something to see. I think looking at quilts etc in person is such a great experience. Just chatting..... The new paths are in, graded, and the bushes that were removed are buried. Hooray!!! These are such an addition to the paths that we have already. I have an idea for two more and if I can work them into the areas of interest the fire mitigation contractor will do them on Friday along with burying our current hole and creating another one for me to put pine needles etc in. He is such a help! Not much is going on with the art classes etc due to the extreme functional fitness occurring lately. I need to edit.... I will overcome!!! Today I worked on finishing a kazillion things that got done 60-80%. It will take me three days to get out from underneath this pile as long as more does not arrive that needs to be dealt with. Tomorrow I want to mark those paths for Friday's appointment with the contractor since it is supposed to rain on Wed & Thurs.
Hope you are enjoying your evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jan 30, 2024 19:49:12 GMT
Good Morning,
The book is called "A Fiber Artist's Guide to Color and Design" It is easy to understand and contains, many, many example photos/pictures of what is discussed. I just love it. I will take a look at the author you reference. Yes, I agree about the enjoyment of viewing all such things. I love quilts, felt artistry, so many different things. SO fun to look at. Horray on the new paths! Very fun.
All is well with me, but there is some struggling right now. I'm just going to try to focus on making positives steps in several areas each day. Editing.
Project: Spoke with sis, good I'd already reviewed her favorite store looking types of thread cause I knew what she was talking about. Most helpful, I will be able to do a kit for my friend and my other sister. I don't need to do one for one sister, because she "knows" what she's doing (unlike my friend who is new at this) and she has a ton of stock and will do how I paint it. On that note, I'm going to give this sis a gift certificate to a shop she buys a lot from to repay her for somethings she refused to let me reimburse her for outright in regard to the visit. That will be fun. I took the things to Staples yesterday and got them photocopied so I can do some more coloring. A goal for end of week or by Monday is to work up two very, clean designs, so I can submit them to see if they can be copywrited. While I wait on that after submitting, I can be working on the actual things. I reviewed instructional video again of steps and got some paper from Staples the person recommended for certain steps and will use.
Tadas: -running 5th load of laundry now -CB'd 7 shirts from my closet and 7 belts -moved some CB stuff to the car from laundry room, tin cookie tray, pie plate, wooden fish. -cleared off laundry room counter, machines, wiped down, swept it, moved some stuff DH set on top of cabinets, non decorative, don't like, to a spot where less of an eyesore -bed is made -guest bed is made and folded up -picked up/cleared MB closet floor of items -OMG...one head in the sand situation resolved I did not know existed my head was so far down in the sand...sigh..done, now I will begin on "HIS" situation I was thinking about in the first place! I am working on it now! -DH is continuing his organization/decluttering in his hobby room (the 2nd guestroom downstairs)
Z.
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