Wrapping Things Up

It's New Year's Eve and that's usually a time for retrospection and forward planning. I can go with that trend :-)

DH and I celebrated the conclusion of a very successful year-end sale
with dinner at Chili's yesterday evening. We each had a Patron
Margarita and chicken enchiladas with green salsa sauce.

The chicken enchiladas with green chili sauce and cheese were
really fabulous. Although they were unlimited (we could have
had more than the initial three), we were good and passed
on that. We're still trying to lose weight - LOL. 

A year ago I started to work out with the goal of self-improvement very high on my list. Last December I was in the mid-190's for weight and was feeling crummy, sluggish, and quite unhappy with myself. I joined the YMCA in late December 2014 and started attending in January 2015. I was at the Y a total of 247 times in 2015 and have lost a total of 48 pounds. I still have another 30 pounds that I want to lose, so I'm not there yet, but I have a really good start. Now to make a schedule a habit that I can't live without ...

I love playing with fire, and it's rather necessary in a lot of the
metalworking that I do. Setting up a safe place where I can do that
is one of the goals we have while reworking our space. 

I attended Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee again, and had a great time playing with stone and metal. I didn't do a single beading project, but I did play with fire, and that's always the perfect play thing.

I didn't get an opportunity to do a lot of individual art projects, but I started planning and working out my holiday cards really early this year and was very happy with how they turned out. Almost all of them have now been received and the feedback has been very positive. The wheels are already turning for next year's card.

We sold the small house late this year. It was one place I had
been thinking about possibly using as a studio, but I'm actually
really happy to have it out of our hands and into the hands of
our house flippers. They've had a large trash container in front
of it for a few weeks now and they're doing some serious work. 

Cleaning - since we began the long-awaited update of our house with new carpeting and laminate, we're cleaning and organizing in our craft rooms. If we can ever retire, we need to be able to fit our assorted interests into the space we have, not rent studio space elsewhere. It's been wonderful to have the dual locations of the shop and home for our work areas, but if we're retired, we won't have the shop any more. What we have there, has to be able to move here. Shoehorn, anyone?

Happy New Year to all of you - my friends and readers. It's been a
great year and 2016 promises to be even better. Now ... off to the gym! 

As we enter a new year, I hope it is a year of happiness and fulfillment for all of you. I have a beading project in the works, a lapidary project in the works, I'm continuing to wake up at the gym every morning, and I think I'm very lucky - I'm married to a stubborn man, but he's one of the good ones. Here's hoping you see the year out in style and have a very Happy New Year. I'll be watching "Sherlock" tomorrow night and I'll be posting again on Monday the 4th of January! Happy New Year to all!

Happy Cyber Monday - Farewell to the Small House

It's Cyber Monday here in the USA (and perhaps also more world-wide). That's the cyber equivalent of Black Friday - deals for on-line shopping that run for one day. I have a few sites I'll check out after dinner tonight, but as usual, I doubt I'll buy much of anything. We're pretty well situated and don't really need anything under our nonexistent tree this year. DH wants to see a movie for his birthday (he's a near-Christmas baby) so we'll do that, but we really don't need lots more stuff to fill this house.

Farewell to the Small House. As of later today, it will
no longer be ours and we will be taking a nice check
to the bank. Huzzah! 

Speaking of house, today's the day. At 9:00 am we meet at the title office to sign the documents that will move ownership of the small house to Ross instead of us. We're very relieved. We should be just in time, too. We're supposed to be getting our first real snow of the season starting this afternoon and going overnight. For the first time in more than 20 years, we will only have our own house and the shop to shovel and that will be delightful!

The small house is small - only 900 square feet of finished space with a full basement (those of you who live in areas of slab housing need to remember that we're in a tornado area here. Basements are essential and can be life-saving.

The two built-in bookcases in the living room/dining room
are really lovely and very antique. They fit exactly around
the old-fashioned archway. 

One of the things I really loved about the house were the built-in hand-made bookcases in the main room. They fit snugly around the archway and can be switched so that the opening can be as it currently is, or into the room beyond. The woodwork in general is superb in the house - hardwood window frames, solid doors, hardwood floors and built-in cabinets that are also hardwood. I'll be curious to discover if they will keep all of the wood when they re-do the house, or replace some of it with more up-to-date features.

There's a long l-shaped attic behind this swinging door.

Across from the one is this smaller attic in what used
to be my sewing nook. 

The final hidden attic was behind this built-in bookcase that
swings out in two ways to open up the way into the hidden space. 

The upstairs of the house has a low ceiling and lots of attic cubby space. There is a house-long attic behind that white swing door in the 1/2 bath, a second smaller one across where I used to have my sewing nook, and a third longer one behind this built-in bookcase in the large room. I always thought it would be the perfect hidey-hole, but we never found any treasure.

I had a Wild Mushroom and Argula pizza. Fabulous! 

DH had the Maximus - lots of meat on this one. He said
it was quite tasty. 

We toasted the end of an era with pizza at Pizza Luce. He had a personal Maximus and I had a personal Wild Mushroom and Argula. They were SO good. Even with pizza and Thanksgiving, I ended up the month down one pound. Of course, that's actually up two from just before my turkey binge, but any weight lost at this time of the year is a win-win. Now to start December tomorrow and see if I can avoid problems during the Holiday Season. Have a great Monday!

Catching Up - Not Going to Happen!

Still running hard just to catch up, but that's normal for me at this time of the year. Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US and right after that begins Black Friday and Small Business Saturday - two days where we run annual sales. We only run two annual sales, one after Thanksgiving and a second after Christmas, so these days are rare and our customers really enjoy them. But there's a lot we have to do before we're ready to go. Today will be my start - I'll try and carve out some time to compose the email newsletter that I'll send out to our customers early next week and locate my staple gun that I use to decorate the store with garland.

It's that time of the year - crazy time. I'm working on personal projects,
accepted one small writing challenge that may or may not happen, and
of course am trying to sell the small house, arrange holiday gifts, and
decorate the store. I need another me! 

DH was having some computer problems on Tuesday and asked me to take a look for him. Although I wasn't finding that there was any difficulty opening the program he had problems with. I did clean up his hard drives. It didn't seen necessary - there was ample space on them, but it never hurts to get rid of temporary files and clean up a bit. I'll be talking with the Tech Services contact at his broker this morning to find out why the information they attached to their message didn't open properly, and I'll also take a look at their secondary sending - another thing that didn't work properly for him. That's scheduled for 9:00 am.

Home inspections are pretty straightforward, and they're buying
the house to remodel and flip it so they already did their own
preliminary inspection. It shouldn't be a problem. 

The house inspection for the small house is scheduled for Friday so Ross will drop by and pick up the house keys earlier that day. It's the second stage of the three things that have to happen before we get our check and sell the house legally. The house is structurally sound and I don't think we're in any legal problems with pipes or other possible things, so that will probably go smoothly. I checked out several antique dealers yesterday with items from the small house that we thought might sell, but only came back with $12 which DH told me to keep to pay back my time and gas. I'll put the other items back into the house and the flippers can trash them or sell them as they see fit.

Here's a map of the AVERAGE winter temps for states in the US. See
the arrow at the top? It's pointing to my state - Minnesota. Yes, we can
get some mighty cold temps here, but I'm in the southern third of the
state and we're not as cold as the northern part. Still, winter is a
definite time for bundling up. 

Winter temperatures are finally starting to poke their heads out. It was a balmy 55 F yesterday when I went to the gym, but today it's 35 F. Quite the difference. I'll add another jacket to my fleece hoodie and cut quite the fashion statement. Here's hoping all of you have a wonderful Thursday.

Snoopy - Feel Good!

I'm really running late because too much to respond to in this morning's emails. But here's the short and skinny. ... The Peanuts Movie is delightful, funny, and very enjoyable. Chickie and I had a great time with our free popcorn and $2 hot dogs, laughing throughout. I got home 1/2 hour after my normal bed time, so I'll be feeling it later this week, but it was well worth it. If you have a chance to catch it, I recommend it.

The Peanuts Movie has it all - the kite eating tree, Snoopy the writer as
well as the WWI flying ace, the Little Red Haired Girl, and of course,
Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and the rest of the gang. It's great fun. 

Today is my "day off" and my schedule is filled and busy, busy, busy. It's been raining for the past two days and will still be raining today. I hate getting soggy while running around town, but I have no choice.

These might be the easiest forms I've ever had to fill out. 

I had to laugh a bit. The title company sent me documents to be filled out so that we can complete the sale by the end of the month (Elfscribe - we're selling an old house we've owned forever, not buying a new one - at least this time, LOL). I chuckled. We purchased the house in the late 1970's from my father-by-marriage and it's been paid off for more than thirty years. The title company wants the mortgage company - we never had one, it was on contract for deed because it was a family transaction. I'm afraid these documents will be rather boring for the company - LOL.

Have a wonderful Thursday. I'm off to the pool and a good swim to wake me up, then I'll dive into my crazy, busy day.

Peanuts and an Update

We signed the Purchase Agreement for the small house first thing yesterday morning, so we're still on track for an end of the month closing. The next thing on the schedule is the city inspection followed by the title transfer and then we're finally done. Tomorrow I have to collect the last few things from there - items that I'm taking to the local antique shop corner to see what they will offer me. It's not much - some pictures where the frames are rather nice and a small washstand from the late 1920's. Nothing of any real value, but if they want it, they can have it and a few more dollars would be helpful.

Tonight we're going to go and see the "Peanuts" movie. I adore
Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang, so it will be a fun time. 

Tonight I'm taking Chickie out to see "Peanuts" at the cinema. Her birthday was earlier this month but our schedules just didn't mesh, so tonight we're celebrating her birthday. It means I'll be tired tomorrow, but that's OK. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for a good friend.

There is something so nice about getting a new mattress and box
spring. A new bed is a fresh beginning and finally a bit of support
for a sleeping body. Chickie has needed a new bed for years, so
this was a great gift. 

Her Dad bought her a new mattress and box spring for her birthday and they were delivered yesterday morning. I had an unopened pack of top and bottom sheet that were the right size for her new goods, so I offered them to her and she was happy to accept. It will be a radical concept - her having a bed once more. She might actually get some sleep! NO!!!!!

Since Chickie has two kittens, this seemed like a good pic. Here's
hoping she got a good night's sleep (for a change). 

Here's hoping you have an excellent Tuesday. I'm looking forward to a very busy day, but busy days can be very good indeed.

A Video, Small House Update, and Music - What a Monday!

A writing friend of mine posted this the other day and I finally had a chance to take a look early this morning. I'm going to post links two ways because sometimes the places I post can be picky, and it's well worth the less than five minutes of your time to watch, listen, and think about. A bit heavy for a Monday? Maybe. Or maybe it will start your week out on a good note.

If the embed doesn't work and you would rather try a link, here's a link to click on. If you would rather search, I searched on "Label" and chose "I am NOT Black, You are NOT White". Take a listen.

We're into the final stretch on the small house. My goal is the end of
November. We'll see if we manage to meet that goal. 

In other news, DH and I worked hard at the small house yesterday and finally have cleared it out to our satisfaction. I have a few oddball things to take to the antique stores on Wednesday and see if they will offer me anything on them, and we're signing the purchase agreement this morning at the shop. Things are progressing and I'm pretty happy about where we're at. I would love to have this sale settled before the snow flies so that we don't have to do any shoveling.

Although my neighbor and I have come to an understanding
over the past few years, it wouldn't have happened without
our putting up a fence clearly marking the edge of the
property. 

I told my next door neighbor that we were selling the house to a flipper who would renovate the place and put it back on the market. She was a bit surprised, and thinks it will be odd having people over there now. I'm just delighted to cause her a bit of discomfort after the years of property boundary issues I've had with her. Hallelujah! I won't be bothered with her crap over my fence, her rusted out barely running cars parked in front, and her trash can on my property behind the house.

Most earbuds are sweat resistant, but not truly
waterproof. These are totally waterproof and one of
two types made for swimming. I had one of these
and the pin wore out. I'm hoping this pair will
last longer, but I needed it so I'm very happy to
have my music once again. 

Finally, my new underwater ear buds arrived ahead of schedule so I'm back in business in the pool today. I'm SO happy - I'll be swimming to my tunes once again and that's the best thing EVER! Have a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow.

Art Deco Style

There's something about Art Deco that just soothes my fur. The design elements, the proportions, the solidity balanced with reaching for the sky, and the elements of finely chosen materials, colors and metals, all combine to make me happy. It's almost disturbing. Where most people would get excited over a beautiful field of gently waving brightly blooming flowers in a gentle breeze, I get excited over the design of the Chrysler Building in New York. But, that's just the way I am. I adore architecture and part of architecture is form and design. Thus, when I went to MIA on Sunday, the only floor photos I took this time were of some Art Deco furnishings to share with all of you.

I'll start with this. An inadvertent selfie in the mirror of
this fabulous lighted table with shelves. I adore the
tops of the lights and how they balance the shelving below. 

Moving along, there was this wonderful "music cabinet" made
of rosewood and ebony with walnut accents and steel drawer pulls.
I'm not sure what the interior looks like, and I suspect it would have
been highly improper of me to have attempted to open the bottom
section, but I was sorely tempted. 

It's a bit large to be a bathroom scale in my house, but
I'm totally in love with it anyway. The textured metal of
the uprise, the carefully placed dial, and the perfect
choice of lettering form and words for the bottom. Who knew
a scale could have such beauty? 

It's obvious that this is a stand with multiple shelves,
but I was trying to discern it's function. I finally came up
with a telephone and mail stand. The phone book would
go on the bottom shelf, the phone at the top, and
the mail on the shelf cradled by the upper bent wood framework. 

Finally, a link and shoutout to CuriousWombat for the photos below. Last week on LJ and FB she posted a photo of an unusual Parisian doorway that I adored. At MIA on Sunday, I noticed that they had the exact door in miniature - a model of the door. I had to take a photo of it and its accompanying description to share with her and with all of you.

Here is the model of the doorway itself. It has wonderful leaded
glass that almost appears owl-like, and here it is surrounded by
elaborately rendered plaster. The selfie was
unavoidable since it is relatively small. 

Here is the description for the door. I thought is was quite amusing to
come across this after I had just been overwhelmed by her photo
 of the actual doorway in Paris. This is for you, my friend. 

So there you have it - how I spent my Sunday.

Yesterday DH dropped the purchase agreements over to our attorney and the suggestions and corrections he had were quite minor. I've got an email out to my flippers to see if the corrections/additions are OK with them, but I think we're still on track to get the small house sold by the end of the month, and at the latest, absolutely by the end of the year. So, as I head off to the gym today, I'm actually rather optimistic that soon one less thing will be on my plate. Happy Tuesday to all!

Progress

Progress is being made. I know I have many pans on the stove (irons in the fire sounds a bit dated), but this week quite a bit got done.

Sometimes things can seem overwhelming. Chipping away at tasks
one small step at a time will often be successful when looking at the
overall burden is too much. 

I had my second meeting with the home flippers and got the basic purchase agreement from them. After a day-long cool down period, DH looked it over and actually didn't have any problems with it. He'll take it to our attorney on Monday morning for an educated look-over and if that's OK, we're good to take the next step - sign that agreement and get things into the pathway to have the house sold by the end of November. Getting rid of the small house would be a tremendous burden off DH and I would be ecstatic. I love the house, but it's been time to sell it and move on for more than twenty years.

Our small house is quite similar to this - small, older, and in need of a lot
of work. We've been working on it on and off (more off than on) for more
then 20 years. I think it's time to move on. 

I have four stages for my Solstice cards and I'm progressing. I'll have to pick up the pace soon, but almost every day I'm getting some work done. I have a long way to go, though, so I'll have to pick the pace up. Stage 1A - Complete. Stage 1B and 1C - Pending. Stage 2A - In process. Stage 2B - Pending. Stage 3A - Pending. Stage 4A and 4B - Pending. That's a lot of "Pendings" and December is coming up quickly. I have to push and get these done on time. My only deadline is that they be postmarked by Solstice. They don't have to arrive on time, but it's nice if they do - LOL.

Delacroix's work influenced many well known painters.
This is his "Bride of Abydos" from 1857. 

DH and I are off to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) tomorrow to see an exhibit and a Van Gogh. The exhibit: "Delacroix's Influence: The Rise of Modern Art from Cezanne to van Gogh" actually runs through early January, but we'll be working on Sundays in December, so thought we should grab it while we could. I'm not 100% sure if the loaned Van Gogh (Irises) is still on exhibit, but I really want to see it if it is.

So a cultural weekend is in line for us. Here's hoping all of you have a wonderful weekend too, and that you make progress on your own personal projects and goals.