Pip

we’re all sensitive people, with so much to give

Pip: He is a doll. Truly. He is feeling so much better.

Pip

Plants: I set aside a few for a teacher who wanted some for her classroom. And put them in cute little pots. It felt right.

Avocado, Spider, Succulent, Wandering Jew

Progress. We are fixing some flooring in need of repair. I’m trying to find some old tongue-in-groove fir, 3 1/4″. This flooring is common as dirt but I haven’t yet found it around these parts!

Flooring

Plans. Taking a break from an overstuffed schedule of sewing for clients, I… sew for another client. In this case, a project to donate to a local auction. 

Auction

Perfect. Turns out the kittens are way into Ralph’s beard. Like really into it.

home dec

Today one of my little household projects came to fruition: new curtains for my bathroom. I think… well… some of my friends might have heard me swear I’d never sew curtains again. Maybe I even shook my fist. Nevertheless, I am pleased with these. The fabric was only in my possession a few hours before it was sewn up. Last night our friend E. accompanied Ralph, Nels and I up to Olympia where I found a really lovely seaweed-y floral on sale:

 

I also picked up the framing job I’d coupon’d and saved up for – for a screenprint by my friend Robin:

 

So. Bathroom pix it is. Above one of the doors, the little figurines a friend dropped by a little while back – love them!

 

A sculpture up by the light – also by Robin:

 

The little enamelware cups I use to store a few items – our bathroom is very small so we need to be creative to keep things tidy:

 

And of course – a figure of the Buddha (above our mirror). I have been (slowly) collecting Buddha figures that reflect the character or sentiment of the room they adorn. I think of our bathroom as being full of light and water, so a wooden effigy seemed apt:

It’s wonderful having a space that feels calm and nurturing.

we r ok

Standing Tall

My lovely daughter – standing tall.

Kitchen Sink, Frosty Morning

Cleaning my sink – morning, cold outside.

Backyard, Frosty Morning

The backyard.

My Hot Little Sandwich

My hot little sandwich! Sleeping in until an astonishing hour.

Patience

Hutch tries his hardest to control his mind, waiting patiently for me to take a picture. HE WANTS TO BE RUNNING SO MUCH. So much running. Running running running.

Flag Flying. Dog Pissing.

A majestic fort, complete with “flag”. A dog marks his territory.

For Bun-Bun

Nels retrieves bedding for Bun-Bun.

"The Seasons", Four Drawings For Jessah

“The Seasons” – a set of four drawings Nels completes for his new “nanny” J.

D.I.Y. = J.O.Y.

Say It Isn't So! #DIY JOY

Our “new” hi-fi, tested immediately upon re-assembly. Ralph put on Hall & Oates because he is not an asshole.

Say It Isn't So! #DIY JOY

Say It Isn't So! #DIY JOY

(a little of the “Before” piece)

A few years ago we picked up one of these Magnavox record cabinets from Freecycle. It was one of those… well, people who know furniture could describe to me the construction and materials, as wood and furniture products aren’t my specialty. Not too glamorous, built well-enough, handy for listening to vinyl or the radio. You know what else, these cabinets have that feature where you can stack multiple records and it will play them through. This is rare to find today, but a feature I really enjoy.

I don’t remember what made me think we needed another one of these pieces when we spied one at Goodwill. I do know I’d long wanted to refinish a record player and take it out of the assy-brown region, and I liked the lines of the second piece more than the first. We dragged another home for $20, swapped the decks, and put the first one back out to Freecycle.

As we contemplated refinishing this piece I looked around at a lot of paint and surface options. I became more and more interested in using oil-based paint, which has so many advantages. We used a Glidden Porch & Floor paint and even as it still cures I’m so thrilled with the depth of color and the hardness to the paint. I guess I’m a little worn out from years of living in eight-layers-of-latex rentals.

Much like my sewing work, I enjoy playing with color and seemingly dissimilar styles and patterns. For the main color of the piece, I used Granny Smith Apple and for the sliding top, Early Morning Sun. Just so you know, of course, the colors look different whether looking at my monitor, or at the paint chip by my side, or the actual piece of furniture – which is very green despite my bush-league photo efforts, here.

The oil pant is so glossy it gives you a blurry-photo optical illusion in this photo:

Say It Isn't So! #DIY JOY

For the speaker re-cover, we looked through a few of my stash supplies and couldn’t get over how much we liked an Anna Maria Horner velveteen, which I’d found on sale for $15 a yard. I used a half yard with no waste, ripping on-grain then finishing by serging in case we ever decide to (carefully) dismantle and wash the velveteen.

So the total project cost a little under $50. $20 for the record player, $20 worth of paint and thinner, and $8 for fabric (we did not need to buy brushes or sandpaper as we had them already). However, I always think these cost estimates are goofy. They never include how much time one spent on a project, and don’t include the “hidden” costs like – how we had to buy a full gallon of paint in order to get the color we wanted. Anyway, we had a great time and I learned just a wee bit more about paint, color, and design.

Say It Isn't So! #DIY JOY

it’s late.

N.

My son has been having a rough go of it today. His friend texted him nasty things using even nastier words. The tension you see here, will be remedied with warm milk, hot bath, and so many cuddles.

***

Flowers, Candle, Incense, Shrine

 

Fresh flowers. Candle.

R.

 

Ralph.

N.The Boy, again.

 

this just in: blue vinyl chair solves all my problems

News: the July/August issue of Natural Child Magazine is out – and one of my pieces, previously unpublished elsewhere, is featured. I highly recommend any works published by this independent company as run by Wendy & Rolf Priesnitz. Wonderful stuff. And honestly, I think my own piece is pretty good. I hope you read it! I’ll publish it here at the blog in a month or so. If I remember.

***

Now back to blogging.

(massive laundry pile, dishes need to be done. But:)

Blue Vinyl Chair

Blue Vinyl Chair

I found this chair today. I went mad for it. It was more than we could afford, since times are tight. I begged Ralph for it. He bought it, but then said I couldn’t pester him for money for nine more days. Can I make it that long?

The chair is metal-embossed: “The Elegant FIRST LADY by Belvedere” (like this). It works. As in, the dryer works, the timer works, it adjusts up and down and has an auxillary power outlet. It’s also a pretty deep blue and vinyl so the cats can’t shed and dander on it. We have about four thousand percent more pet grooming on our hands with Hutch’s real estate, BTW.

Blue Vinyl Chair

Blue Vinyl Chair

I took like a hundred pictures of my kids. They were too beautiful for me to cull any photos. The kids dried their hair after their baths. Nels especially enjoyed it all, although my first picture doesn’t do it justice.

I love the freedom our family has. Stuff like this, like it is one of those incredibly fun things about family life. It’s wonderful stuff, truly.

i’m not dead yet

But, I have been exhausted.

Pictures from lately. I would take a lot more pictures except I don’t have a camera bag and I’m nervous about bashing the camera or scratching it. I even know what bag I’d like. I’m waiting. Picture me with my fingertips together.

So, I really enjoy my new space. In fact it’s almost just like I’d have imagined a home way back. Clean and spacious and usually smelling of tasty things to eat and I have to confess, incense and sage smoke from my various superstitious or religious or whatever practices. Anyway, everything’s the way I like it, except some day I long to be able to buy furniture. Everything you see here was given us.

Living Room

I also need curtains. It’s like a fishbowl of Hogabooms right now.

Dining Room

Dining room; usually eighteen fat cats are on the rug. I’m still working on building our dining room table and then it will be like a MEAD HALL WITH MERRY KNIGHTS RIPPING INTO TURKEY LEGS.Oh and BTW you also can see at mid-left the only garbage can in my house. The system WORKS, I swear.

Kitchen

The kitchen – far easier to work in than the last home. Yay!

Sewing Room

Sewing room table (and handy pin-jar made by sodipop!)! I can’t show you anything else because there are SURPRISES in the works! Another set of windows without coverage. We’ll fix it… when we have scratch.

Making Chai

Making chai!

Y A Lado, Una Torta De Desabrada FANTASTICO

Mexican food before heading out for a snow day at a friends’ place. The kids had enchiladas and tacos frijoles.

The kids are really amazing. They helped me a lot today. I was thinking about it and realize they help me a lot. Like today I left for a Board meeting and my hands were full and I asked if one of them would open the door and they both jumped up and helped me out and giggled and gave me kisses and hugs. My kids kiss and hug me EVERY time I leave the house. I tell no lie. Nels does it several times in fact. Today I said, “You little shit, I’m late, get in the house!” Etc.

But yeah, I made sure to thank the children today for all their help. And they said, “You’re welcome.”

And now time for a movie date, and snuggles and good-night.