Tuesday-9am

Good Morning!

It's 13 degrees and a very gray morning--dark enough you need the lights on inside. 

I see a weather alert for a storm watch for Weds/Thursday on my phone.  I should probably at least watch the weather report once in a while, eh?  I normally get my temps and forecasts online because I hate to watch the news.  But if we have a snow/sleet/ice storm coming in I might not see Dagan and Leah tomorrow night if travel is bad.  We'll see. 

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The last of my (most spending in years) January packages arrived from my Amazon order.  Seems like almost everything came in separate packages this time from Amazon.  I found a set of pretty cheap clamps that I plan to use with the bookbinding...and Karma parked quickly on them like a hen on eggs.   

This funny little thing is called Fuzzy Fingers.  You slide a couple fingers in the backside here... 

...and use this to clean off your various screens...phones, laptop, tablet.  It really does work well--even if you might have to hide it from your cat (or dog)--LOL! 

The last of my new nail polishes arrived.  An OPI with actual opaque color called Java Mauvea (may even be a bit dark for me--lol!) and Mabelline Bold Gold (which I knew I could use in art or crafts--really shimmery).

I can't forget to show what I am drinking for T Stands For Tuesday--my mug filled with hot Sumatra black coffee next to my new clamps arranged like a black & orange snowflake--LOL!  

I've been doing things like laundry--the not very exciting, but necessary, stuff.  Today I'm finally making that 13 bean soup with the ham bone and some fresh bread.  Caroline will be here this afternoon.  Karma is snuggled with me on the chair purring loudly and gently touching my arm...because she wants me to pet her and not type.  I might do that for a while before I go chop onions.  ;)  

Have a super day!

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"Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries."

Corita Kent  

Monday-8:45am

It was a gorgeous, sunny, spring-like day on Friday.

I saw 33 degrees on a bank sign! 

I made it to Federal Housing, met my new worker, and am all set for another year. 

You may not believe me when I say that as soon as it hits above freezing up here you will see people with shorts on.  Can you see this guy getting into his car?  And that was on Saturday when we only got up to 26--but the lingering memory of lovely-melty Friday must have inspired his Saturday wardrobe. 

This big box arrived.  Whoohoo!  

What is it, you ask? 

It's an over the door paper drying rack!

I have to wait for my tool girl to arrive on Wednesday--LOL!  But how exciting!!  I have so little surface space here and a cat who will walk or lie upon anything you set on the floor...if I hang this over the porch door we will have a place to dry lots of handmade paper, gelli plate papers, art papers...ahhh!  If it's too obtrusive to hang there all the time I can hang it behind my bedroom door when it is not in use.  We'll probably have to find some kind of sheeting to put down when we are drying handmade paper so it doesn't fall through when it is damp or get wire groove marks on them, but I am thrilled to have this contraption, I tell you!  This was my special Christmas purchase.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!  :):)

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 A smaller box arrived from Amazon, too.  I finally got a Corner Chomper!

I wanted one because it says it can cut chipboard and leather, etc...for book binding. 

I've kept hearing about Daddy Van's Furniture Polish.  If you have pages of an art journal that stick together because of mediums you've used--well, apparently you can rub some of this on the page and they won't stick?  And if that doesn't actually work...well, I can always use it on my furniture--LOL! 

And nail polish!  Neutral, very plain nail polish.  My kind of nail polish.  Sheers.  Barely look like you have anything but clear on--LOL!  I love them!!  Left to right they are called:Barre My Soul, Rosy Future, You Callin' Me A Lyre?, and Hearts & Tarts.

 I can get rid of the rest of my thick, old polishes--whoohoo!  I'm all set now and have high hopes that I can be inspired to put on lotions and cuticle oils more often and stop picking at my poor, dry fingers.

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Oh!!  And I found out that glitter polish pretty much requires a jackhammer to remove.  It laughed at nail polish remover and held its ground violently...for a long time.  I had to quite literally scrape it off--awk!  Is there some secret removal system I don't know about?  Good grief!  I had a similar problem with the dark red nail polish (but nowhere near as bad as with the glitter stuff)--took forever to get that off, too.  And I even had a base coat on both the red and the glitter polish.  Funny.  I have endless patience for many things, but not nail polish removal--LOL!  ;)

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Well, I finally got the art table cleared off again.  

 I am "done" in the living room...

...but have to confess... 

...that I cheated.  I didn't go through every shelf and am not actually done reorganizing, but that's because...

...I wanted the craft table cleared off...

...so I could do this. 

I needed to be able to get out the big paper boxes to organize those.  I grouped up all the 140 and 300 pound watercolor paper into one box and all the other assorted papers (mixed media, drawing, and the 90 pound watercolor paper) in the other box.  I took out one sheet of all the new papers and a few of my older papers for my planned paper torture--LOL!  That's the next step on my bookbinding path for 2014.  ;)  Whew!  Done!

Karma had to smell my new slipper socks, of course. 

They were officially approved for foot petting.  Miss Karma does love her foot pets.  

Oh-oh!  Heard somebody in the hallway. 

They went past.  I'm safe.  Now--back to some foot petting.

Since I am going to need my porch door for the new drying rack...that was incentive to get the wreath ready for a trip to the dumpster.  Which meant wire cutters and saving the bow, leaves & berries, and pine cones to recycle for some kind of door hanging for next year.  Looks pretty naked, doesn't it?  You didn't think I wasn't going to recycle parts, did you?

Today is laundry, hauling things to the dumpster & garage...and that might well do me in for today...never know.  Tomorrow is Caroline and Wednesday Dagan and Leah are coming over after work and I plan to make a potato/corn/ham chowder and fresh bread.  All this activity is why I have basically not been around much online--or should I say still!  But that means I'm feeling pretty decent so I'm counting on you all to forgive me when you don't hear from me for stretches of time.  I'll be sure to blog, though, so you know what I'm up to and that Karma and I are okay.  :):)

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It's 16 degrees and we might hit 20 today.  Feels quite warm, comparatively speaking.  Well, I'm off to switch loads of clothes and take a trip into the great outdoors.  ;)

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"Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."

Paulo Coelho 

Thursday-8:30am

I saw bits of blue in the pre-dawn sky...

 ...but it generally looks like a dark morning.

These icy landscape pictures are for you, Mersad.  :) 

Mersad is a talented young photographer living in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  For someone who travels and takes award-winning pictures of scenery, I am puzzled as to why you would request more glances out my window--LOL!  But I am more than happy to share my view of the world, Mersad...however small.  You can visit Mersad here.

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We're having a heat wave...a tropical heat wave! (Remember that song?)

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No lie!

It's 15 degrees right now and we're expected to get into the 20s today!  For the next week we can expect more of the same.  They're thinking maybe even hitting the 30s a couple of those days...whoohoo!! 

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Okay...I have a lot of pictures to show you today, so I'd better get to it.  ;)  I was able to order more in January than I have for years!  I made my last payment on my jaw surgery in December (hallelujah!), Santa was kind (thanks Mom and Dad!), I also won an Amazon gift credit from Janie on her blog, and my grocery order was $50 less than I expected (but there was nothing essential that they were out of so I'll be fine).  You know how they say you shouldn't go to the grocery store when you're hungry?  Well, you shouldn't shop at Dick Blick when you're creatively starved, either--ROFL!  

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I saw inspector Bob in the morning (always a delight--such a nice man).  He had no sooner driven away than my Dick Blick three boxes arrived with FedEx. (Those two rolls in the front are black and red faux leather for bookbinding covers--and all the bottles are on an old paint rag because they were frozen and I didn't want condensation all over the glass table top.)  

So exciting!!  New things I want to try.  I do watch quite a few youtube art and craft videos. 

I'm sure you're not surprised.  ;)  Saw somebody using this little tool with the five brushes (for faux woodgrain, I believe) on their gelli plate. 

I want to try mixing some of these alien sounding paints (except for the teal)... 

...with these thinning/flowing mediums for some really cool effects! 

Can use those mediums with any acrylic paint...and thinner sounds great to someone like myself who was at least somewhat used to watercolors and has been having a difficult time getting used to the very opaque (dead) acrylic craft paints.  ;)

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Don't ask me why I put this in my cart months ago.  I will have to do a search to find out how to use it--LOL!  But does it not sound dramatic!?

I have never tried clear gesso. 

But have used so much regular white gesso that I needed to restock. 

Envelope glue...for when I make my own envelopes.  Always wanted to try this...especially now that I have an envelope punch board. 

I couldn't resist the baby (6" X 6") Gelli plate! 

And I got lots of different kinds of paper for journal making!  I have planned to start making journals this winter because in 2014 I hope to be able to make them well enough to sell a few on our neglected etsy shop.  (Leah is making coconut oil lotion bars and has some little travel sized ones for sale so far.)  I LOVE making the journals...and that takes me long enough...but you know how long it would take me to actually use them up--ROFL!

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So I told you that I wanted to try all kinds of paper, right?  You may recall I already bought some mixed media sheets.  Well, hang onto your hats...LOL!  I bought some tablets...marker paper...

...bleedproof paper specifically for ink/pens...

...another manga pad with paper that markers aren't supposed to bleed through... 

...some Strathmore ready-cut hot press watercolor paper... 

...and then there was the final box to open with all the bigger sheets!! 

And I was too sore to do it for a couple hours--LOL!

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In the meantime, one bottle of nail polish arrived in the regular mail (Amazon). 

Now, there's a little story behind this crazy multicolored glitter nail polish.  A few months ago I ran across a nail polish on Amazon called Clown Puke!  No lie!  The name alone has been cracking me up ever since.  I knew I had to get me some clown puke!  I wasn't sure I'd even put it on my nails, to be honest, but I knew I could use it in art or card making, regardless.

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But Clown Puke is on the expensive side--as you can see here and they also charge for shipping.  I found this Kardashian nail polish for less (obviously a Clown Puke knock-off, right?  ROFL!!)--so I got it instead.  I guess these crazy glitter polishes are usually painted over white or a dark nail color, but mine is over clear.  It's still quite zazzy and sparkly, I must say.  Even only on the one pinkie nail. 

I know.  I am soooo easily entertained, aren't I?

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This little phone holder/cover thingie actually arrived last week, but I forgot to take a picture until I was going to use it last night to go over to Dagan and Leah's. 

Took over a month to get here from Hong Kong... 

...but I love it! 

How can they sell them--see here--for $3.45 with no shipping costs...from Hong Kong?  It was supposed to be red and it's more rose colored, but for $3.45--who cares!  I hope it holds together.  (Was so nice not to have to worry about hitting cell phone buttons while it was in my purse last night.)

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Anyways, I finally worked up to opening the big paper sheets box!!  On the top is a stack of Strathmore watercolor paper (15 X 22").  Oh, and when you buy the single sheets you often have to order a minimum of ten.   

OMG!!  I am in love!!!  Look at this Ingres paper!! 

Ever since I was first learning to make journals (4-5 years ago) and saw the Ingres and Stonehenge papers that came in all these wonderful colors, I have had it in the back of my mind that I would LOVE to make a journal with multi-colored pages.  I had no idea if the paper would be good for anything other than drawing with a pencil--but I didn't care.  I knew I had to have some one day!  And here it was--the gentle, soft Ingres (18.75 X 24.75")--in my hands! 

And the Stonehenge!!  (22 X 30")

Sturdier...more substantial...with a smoother surface. 

Oh, and in those two Canson plastic bags were--drawing paper and bristol paper.  Whoohoo!!  Do you know what this means?!  I shall be forced to take one sheet of each (write on a back corner which one it is in permanent ink) and totally test the living hell out of them all!  ;)  I need to know which ones can stand juicy watercolors, acrylics, mixed media, inks, markers...and which ones can't.  I need to know their eccentricities and preferences...especially if I might sell any journals with any of these papers in them, right?  Ahhh!  It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.  :)  
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Going to be a fun winter!

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Okay...Dagan was picking me up after work.  Leah texted me to bring a cart along.  Said I'd need it when I was brought back home because she had a couple cases of ginger ale (she didn't like--recommended for nausea, I think) and they were sending food from dinner home with me, too.  I wanted to use my big folding taller white cart that was in the garage.  Much easier to fit in the car than my little green metal one that doesn't fold, right?  

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So, I grab the empty boxes to drop off at the dumpster as long as I'm going past and head out to the garage.  I put the key in for the automatic door opener...nothing but a creaky, strained groan.  For those of you who don't live in the cold country...the door was frozen to the ground.  So, first I had to kick the snow away from the bottom of the door.  Then I had to literally kick all along the bottom of the length of the garage door--try the key--no go--and repeat.  Finally--after the fourth attempt--the lovely loud crack (music to the ears) and an upward leap--could hear the cold metal engage and the door creaked slowly open.  Ahhh!  Life in the north.  ;)

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Anyways, last night was our Christmas dinner and they still had their tree up.  We usually have a dinner some time after the holidays when things have settled down. 

We had a scrumptious, comfort-food dinner!  Ham, augratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli with cheese sauce...with some baklava later for dessert. 

Yes, I do eat meat with Dagan and Leah a few times a year.  Usually it's been chicken.  I haven't had ham in years...local...smoked...and it was delicious!  They sent some of everything home with me--and a big meaty soup bone!  Bean soup is coming soon!!  And I'm thinking potato/corn/ham chowder...?  Strict vegetarians and vegans, please don't hate me.  This is the most meat I've had in the house in over three years.

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We had to take a belly shot of Leah, of course.  There will be updates, never fear.  ;)

And I even had a few Christmas presents!

A couple candles and a pair of slipper socks (on my feet as I am chatting with you). 

When they went to IKEA last time they saw this tall colander and wondered if it might work inside my big pot to boil the noodles right inside the colander--so that when the pasta was done I could just lift the colander and drain the noodles right there without having to lift the heavy pot of boiling water across to the sink?  Then I could wait and let the water cool off before I had to move the big pot.  So, I am going to try it.  But right now, I am thinking bean soup with ham--LOL!  

 (I think after I dropped the big Pur water container they must have worried I might drop a big pot of boiling water one day, ya think?)  How sweet of them.  I hope this works.

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Blurry!  Guess I'm still not used to the newer camera.  Anyways, it's already out of the box so I don't want to retake it.

It's the OPI natural nail strengthener!! 

Aha!!  I was hoping Leah would get this for me!!  We talked about it when we were shopping that last time...even stopped at the beauty shop place, but they were closed.  I have actually ordered some colored OPI nail polishes this month in neutral shades from Amazon.  Hoping that starting to do my nails and wear polish again (I go in streaks) will encourage me to leave my poor-dry-peeling-cuticles alone and not pick at them till they bleed.  A few of my clear polishes were still good, but the older colored ones were on the gummy side and wouldn't even dry anymore.  I guess they don't make nail polish to last over a decade--ROFL!  Not much of a girly-girl, am I?  It was definitely time for some new polish.

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So, there you have it.  Was a busy, busy day yesterday. 
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So chilly in here when I woke up that I cranked the heat up so it would kick in.  Karma slept next to the heat register under the table there.  As you can see, there is still a little bit left to deal with on the craft table, but then I am done in here.  

The bedroom is next...but it might be easier to just close the door for a while and let my body rest a few days...or weeks, right?  Maybe play with some paper?  LOL! 
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I shall say goodbye for now.  Leave you with a picture of what little sun I've seen this morning.

I am sore so have had to take breaks and it's already noon and time for lunch!  Today I won't be up to much of anything at all, anyways--no soups or paper torture.  Especially because I have the Federal Housing appointment tomorrow afternoon.  Going to be a quiet day. 
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The wind is pounding against the building.  Karma has retreated to her chair and is having a wild adventure in her sleep.  The building is crackling and creaking...kind of thawing out, I suppose, with the warmer 17 degrees and 2 degree wind chill factor--LOL!
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Enjoy the rest of your week!!!  No promises, but I'm hoping to catch up with everybody over the next few days.  :):)
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"Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed."
William Saroyan