Monday, October 15, 2018

the week ahead # 6

Welcome to this week's Happy Homemaker post... and my "week ahead"

The weather in Aurora CO this week
cold. Like many places in the US we went from hot 90's to 30's in a moment. We had snow 5 times in 8 days and yesterday we got about 4 inches or more. Last night was supposed to dip to 10F. We dug out the cuddle duds long 'wears and the poodle's sweater
can you just see my sweater?
and went for a walk in it. Might as well since it went on all the livelong day. It is supposed to go up to the 50's this week though.

                                    Breakfast
Yea for strong coffee! It's sunny today, which makes for a nice change, and we have bagels purchased Saturday at the bakery because we knew the snow was a comin' so I'll have one toasted.

                           As I look out my window
the snow is beginning to melt, the sun is bright giving me hope for the future (we went through 7 days of gloom here in "sunny" colorado which reminded me of my life on the East coast. Milo and I slept in til 8 when that sun came right through the blinds and said, "get up already!" I also see doggie noseprints all over the glass door, ewwww.

                        as I look around the house
the words from an old Bette Davis movie come to mind... what a dump! 
why am I so messy? I am still holding on to the fact that I'm not unpacked yet, but suspect I'm just messy and have a high tolerance for stuff sitting around. I type at the kitchen table, so I look into the family room, which has horizontal surfaces which collect books, magazines, pens, blankies, dog toys,people toys, etc.

                                             to do list
Well, number one, dammit is get the garage door opened. The torsion spring broke and the cars are trapped inside and dh can't get to work. Life is a brat. We got a home warranty when we closed on the house, and so far they are virtually useless. The AC went out in the horrible heat wave and they didn't even call back. Now they want to send Sears out in 5 days! I would not recommend buying a home warranty because of the delays.

Otherwise I continue to seek control over the house. My body wouldn't cooperate last week for the studio set up, however we did change out the summer clothes for winter, which is a big deal of lifting bins in and out of the spare room. Done! and I got a start on going through the boxes in that room which holds a lot of studio stuff.

I got Milo groomed this weekend too, had put that off for two extra weeks of hair growing so that done, I moved the grooming table up to the studio area to help me sort stuff.
That's my inside goal this week, get garage door fixed and get dryer lint cleaned out, and finally get back to making art.
Whew, that won't be hard.
Oh, and figure out how to use the new dremel tool toenail grinder on Milo's claws.
Oh, and all the other daily things that come up... handle those

                       Currently Reading
I finished the last fun romp of a book, and have started on the next in my Tea House series by Laura Child. Set in Charleston (how I love Charleston!!!) ( I grew up in Florida, and lived in MD until recently) the owner of the teashop finds her ex boyfriend floating in the new aquarium and works to figure out what happened. Agony of the Leaves 

                      On the TV 
well, I'm enjoying dancing with the stars and despite not knowing most of them, I like the ones new to me, and do not like the ones I recognized! Just goes to show
1. You do not have to be well known to be fun to watch
We are on our last season of "800 words" a series made in New Zealand. I LOVE this show! I found it on ACORN on roku, and we've watched series one and two and are on three and hope they are still filming new shows and I am in love with the characters.
Did you ever see the old show Northern Exposure?  This reminds me a little of that feel. A modern family loses their mother in an accident, and moves from Australia to NZ and finds a place to belong in a quirky town.

                      what I'm creating at the moment...
what I want to create is my new Halloween Pillow kit

purchased this weekend at our local quilt shop. They had double stamp days, for each dollar spent they stamped 2 on my card, so I splurged. Got the kit home and found out it didn't include the floss needed for the embroidery.
just one of my random sketches... "Idea girl"
ack, back into the archeological dig that is the studio space.

I had hoped to artfully decorate the yard for halloween this weekend with whatever made it's way into the garage but then the ground froze. We moved plants and pumpkins into the garage to wait for this week's 50's to return.
Creativity... what a concept!

                                            tips and tricks 
We moved from a teeeeeensy little master bath to a mongo ballroom of a master. It's cold after a shower so we pulled out the portable heater, and turn it on for evening showers. Quite nice! And I got out my terry robe to put on after toweling off, which keeps me warm while I make myself beautiful for bed.


                               Lessons learned this week
I met a lovely woman house sitting for her son, several months ago. She was walking some dogs, and impulsively I stopped the car and asked if she would let our dogs play sometime.
Now most people might shy away from some stranger doing that!

Not Fran, she gave me her number, and we did get together and I now count her as a new friend.

I like to think Heaven put us together. Like a lot of kindred spirits, we have important things in common and like people in general, we are quite different. It's the important things that matter.

She is a caring woman who was elected to the State legislature for the maximum four terms, and worked hard to take care of people while in office. Both parties loved her, and worked with her. She still works hard to help the State's citizens, despite being of a certain age and retired. She is smart, funny and kind. When she visits her son's house, now on market (sad face) she calls and we get together.
She called on Friday, and since DH had come home early we all walked and chatted. Her son travels and she came over to check on the house and found a totally empty fridge so DH offered to make her lunch. She happily accepted and we got a chance to catch up while she had an impromptu sandwich.

Food is love in many cultures, which I forget.  Because dh thought to offer and Fran accepted, we made a deeper connection by sharing our home with her. Sharing brings people closer.  On a grander scale, sharing resources brings citizens closer. On an even larger scale, cultures sharing with each other brings us all closer.
It's the same concept... sharing and understanding, counting on each other brings understanding. Understanding brings connection which breeds a happier world, no?

I'm thankful that Fran accepted our offer of hospitality so I could realize this lesson.


Here's hoping for a successful week, one of growth and health and laughter.

linking to
pictorial-tuesday
happy-homemaker-monday-
all-seasons-



16 comments:

easyweimaraner said...

it's crazy how the weather changed over night.. from t-shirt to fur coat ;O( I can't wait to see your halloween creation, I bet it looks fantabulous!

Sara said...

I really loved Northern Exposure and have been sad that reruns haven't been on any of the zillion cable channels we get. Good for you - initiating the meeting with your new friend. And yes - food is love. I don't enjoy cooking unless it's for a group.

Tails Around the Ranch said...

LOVE your idea girl sketch. It's soooo you! Have a super week. It's a gorgeous cornflower day in our hood and the sun feels so good after yesterday's chill.

Lisa said...

I saw a phrase that said, the temperature went from 90 to 40 like it saw a state trooper. Cabo and I did walk today; it was in the low 40s, but sunny and quite nice. I'd like to think I would have been a Fran if you'd stopped to ask me if our dogs could play. I think I need to get a grooming table with a head harness. Cabo's fur is growing out and he doesn't care for the slicker brush. I hope you get the garage door fixed soon. And, love your art ideas! xoxo

Luludou said...

Snow? yikes!
How fun to have new friends. Have a great week

Angie said...

Love the idea girl sketch - you know, this is how I am going to picture you from now on! LOL! "Sharing" has been a hard concept for me over the years - growing up with six siblings, there wasn't a lot of 'extra' of anything, so it is quite a bad habit to think of everything as a pie with only so many pieces … sometimes when a neighbor comes to the door for an unplanned visit, it takes an effort of will to invite them in - terrible, isn't it?

Su-sieee! Mac said...

I love your Idea Girl and the "archeological dig" comment cracked me up. That's what the people who come after us will say about our house, especially the yards.
Meeting kindred spirits, even if for 10 minutes, and sharing are what life is all about in my book, too.
10 degrees! Brrrr.

MissPat said...

We went from 80's to 40's in the space of a day. No snow here yet, but flurries are forecast for Wed. night into Thurs. No accumulation though. At least it was 64 and sunny yesterday, so I got all pots of geraniums moved inside and the bird baths cleaned and stowed for the winter. Ugh! I'm really not ready for winter. It would have been nice to have a few 60 degree days to enjoy autumn.
Love the girl with the curlicue hair.
Pat

Jean said...

I much prefer that last photo of the sun shining through the trees to the first photo of the wagon in the snow. Always wonderful to connect and meet new friends. Hope you get the garage door fixed soon and have a wonderful week!

threesidesofcrazy said...

I LOVE the wagon picture! What a sweet story of meeting your new friend. Have a GREAT week.

Danice G said...

Sweet story. Seems like nowadays finding truly friendly people is kinda difficult. So sorry about your house woes. Our family has been there, for sure, with one thing breaks and then two more, lol. Hope it is all repaired very soon.

The Joyful Quilter said...

OMG!! You got snow?!?! I've got an iris blooming (AGAIN!) by my mailbox. For the THIRD time this year!!! Same plant.

carol l mckenna said...

Crazy weather is right ~ not ready for that 'white stuff!' ~ Lovely creative works here and busy week you had ~

Happy Day to you,
A ShutterBug Explores
aka (A Creative Harbor)

denthe said...

So much snow already!? Brr, I hope we don't get any this year ... That must be very frustrating not being able to get the car out of the garage and having a home warranty that doesn't do the job. I hope you'll get it sorted out! Your life lesson this week is very wise and very true. Connecting, sharing, understanding, ... that's what it's all about. Have a great weekend!

Jodi said...

That pillow is going to be cute! Bummer that that there was no floss in it! Have a great week!

R's Rue said...

Love.