Monday, July 8, 2019

The week ahead

Welcome to this week's Happy Homemaker post, looking at the week ahead.

The weather in Aurora CO
hot and raining. It has rained every day here for months, in dry Colorado. The bugs are everywhere, the humidity is high enough to make sweat roll down my back under my shirt, and there is the ever present thread of damaging hail
we had three sessions of hail on July 4th, luckily none here larger than marbles but north of us got big ice. Ours piled up but melted when it turned back to just rain
there is always a silver lining and a rainbow...
We don't really need to water the grass...

As I look around the house
I  woke scratching bug bites in the night, so I slept in til 7 this morning. As I look around I see a lot of dust to clear up, some kitchen towels to wash, my paints and paper to do a morning painting,  but my coffee cup is more alluring. I imagine I'll have a piece of bread and melted cheese for breakfast, and wear shorts and a cute summer shirt as it's hot and muggy.

Gardening
lobelia, creeping jenny, and celosia
 My interpretation:

To Do
Always lots to do. The daily chores, which I don't mind as I love to be home.
My house is a crafter's candy store of supplies so they are always singing their siren song, "come play with us"
decide if Milo absolutely must go in to the vet for his ears. They seem to flare up with each new pollen or season. Of course we both must take antihistamines here.
really look at the house with fresh vision, and clear out a bit of accumulated debris from the busy weekend we had. Two craft shows, a trip to Denver, and Colorado Springs, two parties on the 4th, washing off the covered back porch from bird poop as they use it as a freeway, stopping frequently to use the rest areas. We totally powerwashed the porch on Saturday but it's got more on it today.
We have to figure out how to stop them without ruining our view.
I would like to sew a lot this week, as I went to two quilt shops over the weekend and have some new toys.
Despite the rain, I still have to water the vegetables daily in their containers. I have some beans growing but no visible tomatoes or peppers, no zucchini or eggplant yet. wah.
back to the dentist on Wed. and try to get him to understand the pain I've had since he worked on me



watching
frustrated that I know who the bachelorette chose, and she's already broken up with him and the show is still dragging on. She is a hot mess, and needed therapy IMHO, which I would have happily watched instead of her bungling the chance to have a nice guy. We finished the first season of Agatha Raisin, and there's one more shorter season to watch. We've been watching Time Team, and the history of Stonehenge from BBC. I like Songland, boy are there a lot of really fine songwriters out there!
I'm watching Youtube tutorials on drawing and painting, and we caught up on podcasts while driving this weekend, of "the futility closet" which has interesting stories and mysteries solved by the husband and wife team.
The Good Witch is taking a vacation! (said by Hallmark announcer with a sing-song voice) so not that. Still like watching Master Chef.
Have you noticed shows are saying they are "new" but are re-runs with some stupid tweets at the bottom?

Reading
my nightime novel is Past due for murder, third in the librarian series. The author has a MA in library science, a second MA in liberal studies, a BA in theater and writes engrossing mysteries.
I'm trying to catch up on my magazines, and maybe look through a few quilting books this week.
All the airborne debris here has made my eyes itch and be blurry so less reading going on.
"Growing things"
Art
Painting daily, on paper and fabric. I feel the need to encourage non drawing people to try some of the techniques out there to allow you to create. Being creative is healing. Hearing loud noises and coping with other stressors is injuring us, so we all need to heal ourselves to the point we are able, to meditate or do deep breathing, to do some craft or building, to slow down and allow others to go first and facilitate kindness.

showing great restraint in the number of sparkly stars added!
I finished my table runner with gold sequin stars, and started this month's pink blocks for the online scrap challenge. I made three "mug rugs" to send friends. I want to finish the orange lady quilting this week, and try out some new fabric paints I got this weekend. It was so refreshing to go to the quilt stores and see the lovely supplies.
I was very excited by the high quality art at the Cherry Creek event. I got lots of ideas to try in my medium, and interviewed three artists for posts here later.

Conversation at a party
A neighbor asked what we thought of the area... we talked about many observations we've made as newcomers, one is the lack of kindness on the road here.
She responded in the knee-jerk reaction most people have, with no basis in fact, that the bad drivers are from CA.
Then she went on to complain about people driving 45 on a road with the limit of 55, and how she tails them and honks but they won't go faster! She was raised here. I just got more and more frustrated that she missed my point, that people drive unsafe speeds here, on bad roads with no dividers. That DH has had two accidents because of people running into him, that I've been flipped the bird many times for being in their way, that I'm just about the only person letting people merge into my lane on the highway. I find, around Aurora and some parts of Denver, that people are aggressive and blame others. She's just the latest to complain to me that someone is in her way!
No self awareness.
No allowance for others, no kindness, no grace given. And I've lived and driven in the DC area, and in Florida where there are lots of transplants and tourists.
She liked to blame an outsider when she was the problem. Kind of a trend. Made me think of how I can show more kindness and grace to others, even her, just to balance things.
If someone moves into your area listen to their take on things, as they bring awareness.
oy.

I know the post is about the happy homemaker, but this is part of my life, so I share it here.

Inspiration :
The Dalai Lama says: “All problems must be solved through dialogue, through talk. The use of violence is outdated and never solves problems.”

Inspirational quote seen at the art festival:

Eat More Ice Pops
linking to
happy homemaker monday
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays



18 comments:

Jean said...

I think we'd all be happier if we ate more ice pops! What a fun shirt & quote. Love your "growing things" art, very cheerful. There are bad (and good) drivers everywhere, best not to put too much thought into that one, I think. Of course, I'm probably one of the bad drivers though I don't tailgate (dangerous!). Hope you have a great week ahead!

Sara said...

A great quote to start a new week! We've had an unusually humid summer here too. Woke to pouring rain this morning and now the sun is shining and it's a sauna. We used to live in a really small town (150 people) with 90+ year old drivers who rarely stopped for stop signs, didn't signal - etc. One old guy told me once "everyone knows where I'm going". LOL Kids in town called him Road Packer because he had his regular routes all day long - driving about 10 MPH.

Rebecca Knox said...

Wow! Crazy weather for the 4th of July! Glad the hail wasn't any bigger than it was! I LOVE your interpretation of the potted plant! Beautiful! Love the 'growing things' and the finished table runner with the sparkly stuff added! That's awesome! Hope your week is off to a great start! Blessings!

Tails Around the Ranch said...

Ice pops can solve a lot of problems. 😋Hope you have a happy week with minimal driving issues. Personally I think there are a lot of drivers from out of state (yes, California but more from Texas) who are not great at it but mostly the problem is there are just too many people on the road. Period.

MissPat said...

My observation on drivers in Denver (from a week-long visit 4 yrs ago) is that they all go too fast, but then I have the same observation about drivers in TX and FL, so perhaps it's a universal issue. I got A Murder for the Books at our library, but haven't started it yet and it's due in 2 days. I'm in the middle of Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, so I'm hoping I can renew both of them. It's been too hot in the house to sew, so I'm falling behind on a lot of projects. It's also too hot outside to work in the garden, so the weeds are winning. You'd think I'd get more reading done wouldn't you. Heehee.
Pat

LA Paylor said...

the roads haven't kept up so there is even more need for polite drivers, as aggression makes it all more dangerous. Populations continue to rise, so there is more need for civility in all sectors.

collettakay said...

Love the table runner! Have a great week! I hope you can stop by:

https://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2019/07/happy-homemaker-monday-7819.html

Colletta

Julierose said...

Loving that lobelia painting--hard to answer a question like that about where you've moved to! Unfortuantely in New England also if you weren't born here in 1666, you are an outsider, an incomer
amazing isn't it? Well, we could use some of your rain--it's been hot and humid here...hugs, Julierose

Daydreams In The Desert said...

I love your art and craft projects, and I especially loved your comment that your supplies call their siren song. Isn't that the truth! I would love to sit and quilt all day but I must go and do grown up stuff first! I hope you have a great week!

Jodi said...

Your paintings are gorgeous! And the Bacherlorette..... how do you know who she picked... just don't tell me... and yes she is driving me bat shit crazy! Did you say you are watching Big Brother? If so...lets talk! Have a great week!

Norma Schlager said...

My son lives in Portland, OR where they are supposed to be the most courteous drivers in the country. And they are. Too bad about the aggressive ones that you have to encounter.

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

Ok-so that lady needs to drive in Sun City to gain some patience for other drivers. We have to be defensive drivers around here-allowing others to cut us off, etc or get shot!
I love your flower pot. We have pigeons on our street leaving gifts but I detest cleaning that up but of course I do. So disgusting and dangerous the diseases they carry.
We haven't had rain for 48 hours. Your rain looks so pretty.
Take care- mary

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

days without rain not hours-gheeze.

Sandra said...

Love your painting, it's beautiful :)

I live in TX and constantly get tailgated going the speed limit and even 4 or 5 miles over, they still tailgate, try to push me to go faster. It's so frustrating. I honestly think it's a problem all over the country, not just specific to certain states, people want to rush and drive fast and have no patience for road safety.

Have a wonderful week.

Luludou said...

There are bad drivers here... and I won't say it's the tourists... because it is NOT - local drivers are the worst.
Hot and humid here too, longing for Fall temperatures.
Have a great week

Lisa said...

The weather has been crazy. From snow in June to massive flooding and now the gulf is already looking at a possible hurricane by the weekend! Lovely rainbow capture and your paintings are always full of color and energy. I've not watched The Bachelorette this season. Did you sneak a peek at Reality Steve's spoilers?! If "hot mess" is going to be the norm, I'm not sure I'll be tuning in for the future. People who fail to see their own shortcomings and cannot extend grace to others really make me shake my head in sadness. They will never be happy in this life. Oh, and for bug bites, I've been using a blend of peppermint and tea tree essential oil. It seems to take the itch away. Hope you are doing well. xoxox
https://peripheralperceptions.wordpress.com/

Felicia said...

Wow that is some crazy weather, it's just been hotter than hell here in the south. I'm so ready for winter.

Drivers are bad everywhere now days it seems. We do a lot of traveling between Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas and no one uses any common sense. They all seem to be in a huge rush to get nowhere.I can't help but laugh at the aggressive drivers who push their way through traffic only to be passed by me a few minutes late because I'm being patient.

Hope your week is going well.

Angie said...

LA - love the picture of the tree in the rain - the light is amazing! And your paintings are an inspiration to me - I must find time for more drawing!