Creative Happenings

My room from the Doorway

I decided that in the interest of my blogging every day- one of my intentions for 2017-

I needed a topic to talk about for each day of the week.

So Monday is for Musings, Messes and Memories

Tuesday is a Creative stuff update.

Wednesday is for Wanderings.

Thursday for History stuff.

Friday for finishes-man I hope there's one each Friday!

Saturday for catching up on what I'm reading,

And Sunday for an Intention Check up.

Of course, that's fluid.

My room from the closet door

Since the only creative thing I've been doing for the past month

is unpacking boxes and finding a home for things

-the unpacking is mostly finished, the homes are still being negotiated-

I'll show you the first floor of my new home.

You've already seen the second.

My room from the desk

First up is my bedroom, which is probably the least put together of any room!

Then comes the living area and kitchen.

From the top of the stairs

The second floor doesn't make up the ceiling in the living room and dining room.

Just a really high open space which I love-although I may feel differently once I have to air condition it!

Also from the top of the stairs

Living area into the dining area
The window showing here now has my prisms hanging in it and I'm happy to say on sunny days I have RAINBOWS!

Fireplace!  Gas logs.
I can lay on the couch on sunny afternoons and read while enjoying the sun like a cat!

Dining area and part of the kitchen.
I am no longer cut off from the haps in the other rooms like I was in the other house.

Love my great tall windows!

And the kitchen.
A bit small but mostly I only cook for one.

So that's it!

I'm pretty happy with it but it remains a work in progress.

Yesterday, the canned food traded places with the baking stuff!

I still can't walk through the garage but I'll get there.

Now, I just have to remember what "Normal" life is like!

Monday Musings-Hidden Figures

Official trailer for Hidden Figures.

Last week I went to see the movie Hidden Figures.

Such a wonderful movie.

Funny in places.

Telling the true story of three genius women at NASA in the 60's.

I think I'll go back and see it again.

Maybe this time I won't leave the theater in tears.

These women were African American in the 1960's.

Being a woman in Engineering, Math or Computer Science would have been trying enough.

Getting respect hard.

ON top of that these woman and countless others at NASA during this time had to 

Walk to a "Colored" restroom-not allowed in any others and there was only one.

Ate in the "Colored" lunch room.

Drank from "Colored" drinking fountains and coffee pots.

Fought for promotions, and were paid less.

They worked hard, very hard.

I cried for two reasons:

1.  In sorrow for the loss of all the brilliant minds just because the color of their skin wasn't like mine.

2.  In fear that we are headed back to those times.

There was a Black woman seated near me-there were only about 8 people in the audience that weekday afternoon-and I said to her "I don't ever want to go back to that!'

Tears rolling down my face.

She comforted me saying "We won't, we've come too far" then she hugged me.

A total stranger.

I wish I knew her.

I was only 12 when John Glenn orbited the earth. 

I remember it because they let us watch the space shots on TV instead of having class.

I've tried and tried to remember African Americans of that time.

I lived in a mostly white suburb of Kansas City, I never met a "Colored" person.

There were no "Colored" children in any of my schools.

Seriously, I don't remember anything.

I must have been oblivious to any kind of news or lives outside mine

because in May of 1968 at the age of 17 I had never heard of Dr Martin Luther King until he

was killed.

I feel somehow complicit in that history.

There's no hope for me to see it without tears, I'm crying now.

Command hook failure!

I used large Command Hooks to hang my thread on the wall.

Next day this is what I find.

It isn't the first time Command Hooks have failed me

but it will be the last!

I think they'll be hitting the circular file.

If I can't depend on them to do the job then I won't use them.

Threads back sitting on the cabinet until my next trip to Lowes, sigh.

Women (and men) March

Today, I did something I have never done before.

I attended a protest rally.

A sister march to the one held today in Washington DC.

Women's March on Washington-Kansas City.

We didn't march anywhere but had a rally.

(As several cities had to do as well since turnout was so large.)

They said we had 10,000 people here.

I must not know what 1,000 people looks like as I would never have guessed that number!

The crowd was made up of women of all ages, all races.  

A surprising number of men (I'd say close to 50% of the crowd).

Some of whom were not with a woman!

Reading the signs was entertaining.

Listening to the speakers-including Kansas City Mayor Sly James-was interesting.

Unfortunately, most of the signs and speakers listed the things they were against.

None gave any concrete, practical way to stop the stripping of the Affordable Care Act

or the civil liberties of immigrants, women, LGBT, minorities etc.

Did I come away believing that what we did today made a difference?

No.

Did I come away believing that we could make a difference?

No.

Still I have some hope for the future.

At the moment.

Fence!

While I did spend time today fixing odd little things:

Screwing feet onto the couch,

attach the cookbook shelf to the wall,

hooks in closets etc.

Sorted some odds and ends.

The big news for today is-FENCE!

No more tie outs!

I don't know who's the happiest Quinn or I!

It was really funny but Quinn didn't realize she wasn't tied up

for quite a long time!

Now she's happily running all over the back yard.

Safely.

Guest Room-Done!

The view from the door.

 Today, I set up my guest room.

It was on the list for today but I had extra incentive

as my youngest son is coming to spend the night!

I hadn't worked in there at all

but there wasn't much to do.

I still have three shelves to put inside the cases 

but I ran out of pegs.

I have some more,

somewhere.

Just after I've purchased more they'll turn up!

The bookcases have lots of empty spaces.

I've given away quite a few books and have more in the

"let go of" boxes.

I also have quite a few in my bedroom.

That's my "Twisted" quilt on the bed.

The view from the opposite corner.

No artwork on the walls yet

as the first movers broke both the glass and the frames 

for two of the pieces I want to put in here.

I also plan to frame some of the retro postcards I picked up

on my trip.

Wonder what room I'll finish tomorrow?

Finally! The Studio!

The View from the door.

I now have one room really and truly unpacked and set up. 

 It took more days than I even want to think of!

I think it takes longer to do this than the kitchen.

The actual sewing nook.

 The little white cabinet of drawers is new. 

 From IKEA it's on wheels- not that there's space in here to move it about!

It holds all the tools of stitching

Some patterns

and paper crafting stuff.

The thread rack still needs to be mounted on the wall.

Part of the home office.

The tall oak piece under the tv holds my printer in the top part,

paper and other "office" stuff in the  bottom.

It's really too large but I love the piece and find it difficult to part with.

The other end of the room-with Grace.


The closet is the true reason I decided to use the room for my studio!
Cause it looks like this:

On the right of the door going in is where I store fabric on hangers. 

Mostly smallish pieces

but at the moment I have the fabric for the 365Challenge hanging as well.

I have the fabric primarily by color.

Behind the fabric are several shelves which hold my craft books.

At the back is a four drawer file cabinet.

On the left are things relating to miniatures.

Knitting,

Cross-stitch,

And just stuff!

Now, if I can only finish the rest of the house I might be able to use it!

Seeing a light in the boxes!

Man, I've been MIA from blogland!  Bad on me!

The staging area!

Mostly, I've been moving, sorting and unpacking more boxes.  Surprise!  On Sunday, the kids helped me by moving all the bankers boxes into the house.  I think there might have been 50-geesh, I have too much stuff.  All but 9 of those has either been emptied or moved to the proper room for emptying.  The pile for letting go of is growing, although not as fast at it should ;)  Today, I brought in the rest of the boxes from the garage-not true there are still some in there but they will be staying there for a while or they contain artwork which I am NOT ready for!  I can actually walk through now.

This is the end that held all the boxes!

This end still has a lot of odd things.

Monday, I had a full day running errands with two doctor's appointments, Quinn had fun at camp-lucky girl.  I have surgery scheduled for February to remove the cataracts from my eyes.  I'm going with the multi-focal replacement lens so at most I'll need light readers.  It will be a different world, seeing without glasses!

Tomorrow, I'm heading off to IKEA for a skinny bookcase to hold my cookbooks, will have to let go of some of them for sure.

There is a winter storm forecast for the weekend-ice, yuk.  I want to have everything I need for the weekend so I don't have to go out.  Purchased ice melt and tube sand for the truck today so I'm good. Maybe I'll get enough done to actually sew on something!  That would be nice.

Boxes, more boxes

I finally got enough put away in the kitchen to cook dinner!  Meatloaf and mashed potatoes!  I love meatloaf, it's not cool I know but I really do.  Plus, it's so much better than cereal!

Still have things missing from the kitchen and until I find them I can't finish in there.

Spent some time moving boxes etc to get the trash bin out as tomorrow's trash day.  It will stay outside for a while or maybe always.

Found the box with my quilts in it-also the sheets etc for the guest room!

Moved more boxes to find as many "Studio" ones as I could.  Slepped some of them up to the studio. Even put some things away after dusting them off.  So progress, I guess.  There are several more to go up tomorrow.

Tonight it's supposed to snow!  Depending on the station the forecast is 1-4 inches.  Usually, the heavier stuff stays north of the river but you never know.

Tomorrow, its more of the same.  Have to get more done as the family is coming for Tanya's birthday dinner on Sunday!  Think I'll have the boys carry in book boxes!

Tuesday's Endeavors

I tried yesterday to add a post but my new internet connection just kept dropping off.  It was so slow I gave up!  Today, for no particular reason it seems to be working much better-go figure.  My oldest geek boy says that computers hiccup so I guess that's what happened.

I am down to the last bit of the kitchen boxes that I could easily find. Everything has to be washed after spending 5 months being packed and in storage so it's taking forever to put things away.  The dishwasher has run almost constantly for two days.  At least tomorrow I should be able to clear the counters and move on.  I am missing quite a few things that I know go into the kitchen, guess I'll run onto them as I sort through the boxes.

I moved all the empty boxes and totes to the basement for the time being.  Adding empties to the garage would just be insane!

Tomorrow, I'm headed up into the studio on and off.  It will be easier as nothing will be washed just put into clean drawers and onto shelves.  It's just toting all the boxes up the stairs that will be tiring.

It has turned cold again, more normal, Quinn is spending more time in the house.  I am really looking forward to the fence being finished the end of the month so I can just open the door for her!  She will love being off leash!

Time to fold/hang some clean clothes while I listen to the TV!

Monday Musings and Messes!

Since this is the first of January!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours the very best in 2017!

Now to the rest of the story.  No picture-I'm too tired to get the camera and everything is such a mess!

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the day--The Refrigerator now fits in the hole! I didn't even chip the formica.  Whew, that was a big one.

I did move in many boxes of things marked "Kitchen" and managed to find the dishes, no glasses (except champagne flutes) or everyday silverware yet.  Lined some of the cabinet shelves and loaded in canned goods. This is where I really need to pare down.

Set up the guest bedroom as far as the big pieces go anyway.

Lucas came an set up my internet-I no longer have to use my personal hotspot all the time.

Quinn and I had a rousing game of soccer in the basement.

I posted my Intentions for 2017 on a separate page-you can get them out by clicking on the tab.

Very ambitious-likely too ambitions but I'm aiming for the moon if I miss I'll land among the stars!

Now, I'm going to go set up my printer, take a shower and go to bed. So very, very tired.