This week at our house

new acquisition this weekend, Princess Sewing Basket

Time again for the Happy Homemaker post, linking to (familycorner.blogspot.com)

The Weather
hot, way hot, hotter than an oven and dry. Plants wither, Milo doesn't want to walk, I haven't got the energy to walk. I thought CO would be nice, and cool, and clean.  It's so very hot, pushing 100 for week after week. It is mid September and it's still in the 90's and cooler means 80s which apparently is all we can hope for. So many people say it's so much hotter now than when they grew up here. When will humans wake up and clean up the air?


Book I'm reading
trying to finish the mystery from last week, because the Rhys Bowen book I ordered, latest in Her Royal Spyness series came in. Yipee! But I fall asleep before finishing much at night, then wake up an hour later, and 10 times a night now. For the last week, waking every hour.
 I'm tired y'all.

What's on my TV now
I am waiting for Dancing with the Stars to start. And This is Us. For now, I am often watching BBC shows on ACORN, or Amazon prime. We are watching the recent series Brokenwood out of NZ right now, and I just love the characters, writing and acting. It's a mystery show. Then there is 800 words, out of Australia... a quirky comedy that is just fun to watch, sort of in the genre of "Northern Exposure"

On the menu for dinner
As you know from last week, I just am not into cooking now. We had some rotisserie chicken last night, and I pulled the meat off the bones to use in a casserole tonight. I like sauces from Trader Joes as a flavor base, with meat and vegetables, and want to spend just about no time on food prep. It hurts to stand up at the stove, and I lost my cooking mojo. Plus I really prefer to paint, quilt, draw or write.

On my to do list

Always a long list to get a home set up. I want to spend a lot of time this week in the studio rooms.
We went to IKEA (again) for shelving units yesterday. I wanted DH to build some more like he built for me in MD but he seems reluctant, so I got some metal ones yesterday for the materials closet that:

1. are sturdy and won't out gas since they are metal
2. were inexpensive
3. could be assembled in minutes
4. will fit into the existing closet
I can't unpack if there is nowhere to put anything, so this will give me a place to put things for now. If I hate them, they can easily go in the basement later and be replaced with ones DH builds. I didn't want to build in shelves because of resale, a new owner would want room for clothes likely.

I also got some more Antonius baskets for the frames we bought last time. The IKEA near here is always ALWAYS out of stock on half of what we want.
I need to do mundane things like laundry, mopping, dishes, watering the plants, but I know you aren't interested in that stuff.

also to do
eat better, drink more water, clear off the dining room table.

Bwaahahahahahaha! Like that will ever happen!

In the craft basket
you mean the studio? a big mess. Stuff pulled out of boxes waiting to be gone through.
I need to start working soon, as I took on another challenge, this time with Alida to interpret a famous artist work/style. I've done about 16 of these already, and they are such a learning experience for me.

I do each one in a 12" format, onto peltex so they are slightly firm, in the style of an artist, and most include a poodle somewhere. I decided to do Vermeer this time, but considered Warhol, Afremov, Mucha, and Rennie MacIntosh, so I have plans to do them later.

I'm in the research phase, where I look at the paintings, read about the artist's life, read their quotes, decide what about their work makes them different... I sketched out my plan and just want a place to work so first step to that is sorting and setting up.

Looking forward to this week
I have a date to meet a friend at a quilting event in Longmont. It will be fun to see her and be surrounded by other makers. Plus I am in the mood to indulge my love of fabric art, so I'm excited to see what is out there for purchase.

I am not looking forward to the vet visit tomorrow. Milo must have allergies, like us, and the vet is insistent on doing expensive treatments.

Every week I hope I'll have less pain. Every week I think my prayers will be answered and I suppose since this has been going on so long, and my wonderful PT is back in MD, it's likely hopeless, yet I still sort of hope it might happen this week.

Tips and Tricks
We bought a table and chairs this weekend at a yard sale.

 It's not beautiful but it will do for now to paint and bead on in the living room.
 The owners were asking $40 for the set, as they were finally moving in together after 6 years of dating, since the man's daughter was leaving the nest for college. See how people tell me their stories?

 Anyway, I asked if they were into bargaining, and they said yes, and hard as it was I offered $25 for the set and they took it. We figure we can always sell it at the Spring 'hood sale if we find a perfect set before then.
When we cleaned it with some Dawn highly diluted, there was a cloudy film left, which we learned was the hard minerals in water here, binding with water. Oy vey.

I then used the wood feeder that I used on my antiques right after we moved, and it's really good. Some of my antiques look actually rich and shiny now, and it's almost removed a water stain on the treadle machine.

It smells of oranges and beeswax... love that.

Lessons learned this week
I went to an estate sale, of a crafter who hoarded supplies.

after days of sales, and purging, still full

It was a small home, in a very modest neighborhood of small homes,  chock-a-block full. She must have purchased one of every book published on about 10 crafts, had every kind of kit, about 10 sewing machines including a long arm, about 12 boxes holding gallons of fresh water,  knick knacks, furniture, etc. The person in charge of selling it all said half was already disposed of before the sale. The sale itself had gone on two days before I found it and the house was still full.

It was a serious jumble to try to see anything. So many sewing/knitting/beading/items jumbled together in boxes. A tremendous number of binders with patterns filling them. Books falling everywhere. SO much costume jewelry. All after days of selling and the initial purge. The salesperson wanted to sell everything individually instead of lots or bins. Ridiculous! That orange bin above was waist high to me, full of paperbacks.

I learned to be more selective in my stock of materials, and to periodically let things go if they were mis-purchased and no longer needed. I learned to try to limit my plans to be more realistic.

I related to this woman, it's hard to turn down a deal, even I got a collectible princess sewing basket and two little beading pamphlets, and it's exciting to think of the projects to make, but none of us can possibly make all the projects we've bought materials for. Most crafters are gatherers at heart.

Still... it was sad and overwhelming. I wonder how she felt living in the mess. There's a lesson in here somewhere. I must have purged half my craft possessions before leaving MD, but there are a lot here in boxes to go through.We need enough to create with, and enough to make us feel happy, but maybe too much is draining.

Devotional 
I hope to meditate this week, to try to center myself amid this crazy hectic life I'm in recently

I do a post every Thursday and things I really liked this week. I used to post more Art but have been waylaid this year with the changes and will get back to that. Trust me! 

linking to
https://www.shabbyartboutique.com