Stretching Time and Reading More

I need 48 hour days. I know I'm not alone, many people need more time than they have to do the long list of things they have pending, but things are getting a bit ridiculous for my measly four-six hours a week of "me" time. I won't count writing in that short window of time, I can write in the mornings at the coffee shop or grab a quick 20-30 minutes during my lunches as long as Chickie is working with me (otherwise I eat at my station on the sales floor - I hate Mondays...). But for artwork as well as customer repairs, etc., my Wednesdays are my only choice and that's not much.

Barbara Lewis taught torch firing enamel beads and
components in my "Floral Cascade" class. This is
hers - mine wasn't as pretty or professional. But I
have things that would work well and want to play some more.

We have to get back to work on the small house and get it onto the market. I'm rather adamant about it. We need to fix up and paint the garage, knock down a poured concrete wall to the garden area and either rebuild it with bricks or blocks of concrete or slope the soil to the sidewalk. The sidewalk slabs should also be replaced, but I think that's a bit over the top and would love whoever buys the house to deal with that on their own. DH will probably try to replace it and give up mid-project *sigh*. The interior still has some ceiling work to be done, the walls still need painting and the kitchen/back pantry floor must be replaced with new flooring. For that I'll hire out. The front porch needs to be cleaned and carefully looked at. We might also have to replace some locks, although I'm not too sure about that. Finally we need to clear everything out of the house, arrange to get the hardwood flooring refinished, and rent a large container dumpster so that all of the trash we've been storing in the garage can be dumped. Then we can get a Realtor over to view the property and get it on the market.

This isn't my house, it's a block away from mine. I know that I could make
my little house look just as cute, though, if I put some actual
work into it. But I'd rather just sell it. I'm tired of the extra expense and the
physical labor of routine maintenance.

But on my creative side, I have the beadwork challenge which is starting to come together in my head, and my enamel work. I also want to continue working on my graphic art, I have enamels and a torch head coming so that I can continue playing with torch-fired enamels and I have formulas for etching solutions to continue working on copper and silver in electrostatic etching techniques. I need to clean up my craft area, reorganize it both for functionality and clearing space so that I can move my silver bench to my home within the next year or so, and my retirement goals seem to be in stasis - not really getting anywhere fast. I'm a bit frustrated - actually a lot frustrated by that turn.

I am an expert in tips and advice, but nobody really deals with a crafter
who has interest in eight distinctly different crafts in a limited amount
of space and the need to have each craft accessible and organized. Oy!
Just hang me now...

I have already mortgaged my soul for next year's Bead & Button Show, sending off my registration for a Master Class with Andy Cooperman. I haven't done a Master Class in several years - they are VERY expensive. But my roomie Shruti said that she wanted to do another one next year and I have wanted to take a class from Andy for quite some time. I can pay it over time to my credit card. But ouch! It's a serious chunk of change!

Beau Anderson and his mother, Sage Holland taught a Master Class this year
on glass beadmaking. My roomie, Shruti, attended their class and was in love
with both teachers and what they taught her. She wants to take Celie Fago next
year while I take Andy Cooperman. We'll see if we get chosen in the lottery for
tickets/places in the classes.

I'm running late again, so time to add pictures to this blog and get on my merry way. I hope you have a truly fabulous and colorful day because color is everything!