2020 Archives ⋆ Page 5 of 5 ⋆

Spring, Remodel, and That Bug!

Posted on March 15, 2020March 15, 2020 by ihaveanotion — 4 Comments

In my head, I have posted several times… written long notes about life, the farm, sewing and tools and of course the remodel. However, I seem to have the best ideas while my hands are full or otherwise occupied, so I apologize if I have led you to give up on me.

This Spring

has me anticipating what I will find out of doors as the weather warms. I found several areas with daffs!

A clump of daffodils — Spring Surprise-Daffodils

This Remodel

has not gone quite as smoothly as we planned. Everything took so much longer to complete than we anticipated and the contractor has had to return several times… to bring items up to snuff. Also not part of the plan. We had to do some of the painting on the new floors, which, of course, complicates the process.

We are finally back into the Master Bath on a fulltime basis. The closed up doorway needed more contractor attention too, once he fixed it we completed the painting. Then we put up the towel bars and other needed fixtures for towels, clothes, and TP! DONE and we can finally complete our dressing tasks in one bathroom.

The electrician still needs to return to finish up some of the electrical, most of which needs to be done in the Creative Space. I have not unpacked the creative supplies. I have to say that my temporary ‘Creative Space” has me feeling disorganized, cramped and crowded.

That Bug

the Coronavirus has thwarted plans… and created obstacles that complicate the ways and means of tasks. Grocery stores have run out of much-needed items, such as TP, bottled water and cleaning agents… It looks much like prep for a snowstorm, and the strangest items are in high demand. Yesterday, popular items were frozen pizza, tater tots, desserts, canned soups, lunch meat, and cookies! All the things we needed were in plentiful supply, especially in the fresh produce!

Over the weekend I was going to Chicagoland, a booth at a quilt show. However, it has been canceled as most things in the country are. It is about time we took this thing (COVID-19) seriously. I had already canceled plans to visit family in April, due to the ages of some of the relatives. Since carriers don’t know they are carriers… until it is too late!!! We have decided to cancel all our social interactions with groups for the next few weeks. We did move to the country to be a bit more separate, now we will get to find out… how separate!

That Sky

Spring Sunrise — This sunrise was spectacular!

I hope we have more days with color like this. It was awesome and had such a very short timeframe. This picture was taken with the phone. Have some on the DSLR too.

Stay tuned… The neighbors are mooooving back again soon. Beth

Making Progress on the Remodel: Renovation Update

Posted on February 1, 2020February 1, 2020 by ihaveanotion — 6 Comments

Keeping Up

Does this give you an idea of why I haven’t been posting? We are still in the midst of the remodel, we lived with this mess for 5 days. We discovered in the kitchen, dining and 1/2 bath, that the linoleum and luan area had been stapled and glued to the subfloor. It took several days to make the floor smooth and flat enough to lay the new floor.

New Flooring Intallation mess — The mess of new flooring installation

Since moving in late July of 2019 the main level of the house has been under a remodel. It takes more mental bandwidth and physical adjustment than I thought to live through something like this. There is still a bit more to go too. We no sooner get one thing finished and the furniture back in place, that we once again move it again. The good news is that we did discover the best arrangement for the furniture in the living room, it seems that nothing has stayed in place for more than 2 weeks. Of course, one change means several more changes one right after the other. Oh and the DUST!

And then these 2

As if the remodel isn’t enough there are the distractions of these two. The puppy has been a wonderful addition. He is bright, loving and growing like a weed. He is currently in teething mode, and so far doing well. Next week we make a trip to town for his 16-week vaccinations. Then we start some obedience training.

2 palying dogs — Goldie playing with Patton

Goldie has been a kind and patient sister to the young one. Not sure who enjoys playtime more!K-9 playtime is only in the house. Patton is not heavy enough to take playing in the yard at a full gallop yet. Goldie outweighs him by more than 30 pounds. Soon though he will be big enough to take on the rough and tumble play.

Birdies aren’t bothered

Then there are the chickens and they don’t seem to be affected by the renovations or the cold. They have all reached maturity and are producing a dozen eggs every 2 days. The love to range about the yard and scratch up the leaves, and there are a lot!!! The area has many many oak trees and acorns!!! So far we have managed to keep up with the eggs, but only by sharing the wealth every couple of weeks or so.

On the creative front, I have fit in a little, very little creative time. More on that later! I hope you enjoy this little catchup. More Later- Beth

Some fun and lots of work

Posted on January 7, 2020January 7, 2020 by ihaveanotion — 1 Comment

Has it really been since November that I posted? Where has the time gone? Actually I know where all the time has gone and I am quite sure that you do not want to hear the details, but there has been some fun and work.

The House- no fun, lots of work

Is slowly coming together. The major work is completed, but the followup is slow going. We completed most of the interior painting, but about a quarter of the main floor still needs to be painted, we have requested the contractor to redo some of the wall repairs before we finish the painting. Next is also installing the main level flooring. It took us forever to find a floor that we thought we could live with, and we finally decided on one that is not going to be too dark. The fun was putting the furniture back into the living room area.

The Living Room almost completed — The new fireplace surround and living room arranged for sitting.

The Outside

The weather has made it difficult to tell if it is winter or not… we have a few days of freezing cold that has led to either ice on the pond or snow, and then a few warmer days with lots of rain. The pond is full and it has been fun to see how the pond changes with the temperature changes. Those pesky ladybug-like creatures are constantly trying to get into the house.

Winter-snow on the pond — Snowfall on the pond

Some travel

I went to Houston for Quilt Market and the Threads of Success Conference. It was both fun and work. I met a lot of very fascinating people and even caught up with a few friends. Many that were attending “TOS” were (or wanting to be) pattern designers, professional longarmers or book writers and of course, several were retailers. One couple that I met, have created some really great innovative products. I sure hope to get them into the store!!!

New Fun Notions for Stitching — Some new and innovative notions

TOS notions

Holidays

Thanksgiving had us traveling. A family event that everyone tries to make. The son and family made it in from Texas this year!!! We all participate in feeding the clan. My job, (most years), are the desserts for 20 and getting them there in one piece (5 hours by car), both fun and work. I also started the holiday baking, I make biscotti for gifting to friends and family. This year a new flavor was added, “Cinnamon Swirl” and it was a big hit. Christmas was lowkey because we stay home and have a traditional-ish turkey dinner.

Biscontti packaged — Obligatory Holiday photo

A Critter Report

Chickens

The 6 Chickens are laying… about a dozen every 2 days. They must be happy girls. They have become quite the intrepid free-rangers, going further and further from the coop every day, even in the rain. If they keep laying, we may have to resort to giving a dozen or two away on a regular basis! Keeping up with them is more fun than work.

Cats

Not sure where I left off on the cats, but since the last post 6 have had the reproductive cycle interrupted. Only one more to go and all will be unable to reproduce. Not quite sure how I am going to get Tutone separated from the others long enough to trap. He is not totally afraid nor is he friendly… On another note, they are earning their keep!

Cat Earning Her Keep — Prudence with a snack

K-9

The dog “pupulation” has increased by one!!! That is not a typo. We acquired a puppy in the first part of December. We brought him home at 9 weeks, gave him the name “Patton”, and he is now 3 1/2 months old. Goldie loves having a playmate.

Patton the pup — Patton’s ears are UP!!!

Creative Department

I took a few moments and set up the longarm. It was breaking my mental status to see all those parts just laying on the concrete floor of the basement. Of course, that meant a little testing. So I quilted a yard of fabrics and created some coin purses. The rest of the creative space contents are still boxed up…

Handmade Coin Purses — The Creative Department

Technology

Yes, the real culprit for not blogging was technology. It seems that the blog software had an update that had some major conflicts. That company only has a web presence so all the help is done by email or chat, neither is particularly fun or fast. Using email, you get assigned the next available “inbox”, and aside from them not reading ALL the previous messages they tend to get a bit lazy and start suggesting that the problem is probably with the site host… So some 8 weeks later it is resolved. I could write a post, but once it was saved I could not edit or add the pictures, etc. Making it very difficult to be interrupted… and if you were raised in corporate America, you learned to save periodically, so all your hard work did not go poof- Even if it was going to anyway!!!

So, if you have made it this far… thanks for keeping up… even if I don’t! More Later-Beth