Reality

Reality is really hitting hard as we head into September...

But first, 
This is my good colander, with apples skewered on bamboo sticks stuck through the holes (ala Brighton).

My crows, an impulse item that I picked up at the White Oak.

The White Oak Gallery is now officially closed.  I don't have anywhere to sell my items.  I didn't make a fortune but I made enough this year to file taxes and to pay for all my own art supplies.  I have enjoyed being a part of the art community.  Truthfully, I would love to do art fairs and have my things in a few local galleries.  To do this would take time, a good stockpile of finished products, professional photographs for vendor applications and prints, and a set up booth which would be an investment.  I haven't even done any felting (or anything else) for nearly 6 months.  I have missed it terrible and am struggling to not have this creative time.  I am really disappointed because I feel like not only is my creative time dwindling to practically non existent but also my hobby business is coming to a close.  

Little ones in...something...I don't even know what this thing is.

Ok, and now reality...I have been really struggling as we are transitioning to the Fall and the school year.  We have another 4-6 weeks before the rains set in and the dry dust everywhere will turn to slick mud.  That is reason enough for concern.  When we moved here, it was grassy and green and even though it was wet, we were sort of able to keep out mud.  I have been a little taken aback by the amount of dirt and dust here.  The plowed fields and the wind, the dirt road, the animals eating down the grass around the barn, all have contributed to a thick layer of dust over every surface in the house. 

The house is an unfinished mess.  It is really starting to wear on me.  In January, I started packing up the Silverloop house and we begin to live among boxes, without art on the walls, without decor furniture, with all the extras packed away, living bare bones.  By March, we were spending all our evenings and weekends out on the farm.  8 months ago, we started the buying and selling and moving process.  6 months ago, we moved out to the Sherman residence.  We have been living in a construction zone with every.single.room in the house under remodel.  There is not one space that is done and finished.  We are under a tremendous amount of pressure to finish up by the first of the year so we can refinance within our contract time.  Phil got a job which took him away 3 weeks early and working 10+ hours days.  This has put a lot of extra work on my shoulders as he simply isn't here to help.  It has been hard on us both.

Here is a current house and yard tour...
The kitchen and dining room is the hub and the catch all space.



This is my studio and I wanted to turn it into the school room this Fall but there is no place to put all this stuff.  The barn is full, the little shed is full, my parent's upstairs barn is already full of our stuff.  

Downstairs foyer

Girl's bedroom

Boy's bedroom

Our room...the laundry pile room

Laundry room

Downstairs bathroom...the toilet and shower are in

Entry way room and school room

Porch, another collection zone

Our tent trailer that Alec is sleeping in and another pile of dumpster material.

The stuff that won't fit in the barn.

The barn that we can barely walk in now.

One of the problems that we are running in to is that everything is a domino effect.  We can't move anything out of storage until we have the dryroom finished and shelves built, we can't work on the dryroom until the mudroom and the school room is finished enough for the drywallers to come.  I can't unpack boxes until I have finished rooms, shelves up, closets, etc...  I can't unpack and organize the kitchen until the cabinet guy has finished and installed the new cupboards.  We were moving along and then the people that we had hoped could finish the mudroom and playroom (freeing up Phil to do weather proofing and take care of yard messes) had to go to their other job site.  We are waiting to book roofers, drywallers, plumbers, carpet flooring, vinyl tile flooring, the cabinet maker, etc..  We have phone calls in and everyone is so busy and so far, we haven't book a single thing.  This is NOT where I thought we would be at this time.  I didn't expect to have everything finished but I thought that the inside of the house would be further along and that we would be unpacked.

Tomorrow is September first, besides feeling weary of living in a chaotic, dirty, cluttery mess, I am suppose to be starting school next week.  I told Phil when we started this entire venture that I could hang in their through the mess under one condition...if I had a place set up to homeschool and if I had a week to plan, organize, and schedule our school year.  This didn't happen, it couldn't happen.  My homeschooling books are packed away, we have no place to set up a school area, and I have no plans.  Science club is starting and I am the first teacher so I need to have lessons and an activity planned, piano lessons are starting and the piano needs to be cleaned and tuned, I have 3 weekends already booked up in September so no weekend time to plan.  I have been pretty forth coming about the academic struggles we experience so not feeling prepared to tackle the school year and its challenges have me in a near panic.   I have had insomnia for a month now and I wake up in the middle of the night with my mind racing and anxiety over the school year, the mess, parenting, etc...  I also have a full blown head cold so I feel awful on top of sleep deprived.  

I dearly love this place and I think when the house is finished and we are unpacked and set up, it will be beautiful.  But in the meantime, I am just not sure what to do...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Boots

Image
Last week, was snowy and cold cold cold, then rainy.  I continued to work on getting the yard cleaned up.  I dug out the ponds and refilled the holes with dirt.  I loaded up rocks, pavers, and bricks.  I cleaned out the water features.  I collected the strawberry runners so I would have starts to plant.  I unloaded 2 loads of bark dust.  The children were a tremendous help.  They loaded an entire trailer of firewood all by themselves and then helped with another load of rocks and bricks.  I am amazed at how much there is to load and fix just in the yard alone.  It is a lot of work for the simple concept of "curb" appeal.   Waiting for the snow to melt so I can put down the bark dust. Even with two pairs of socks, my feet were freezing so I broke down and bought a pair of Muck Boots.  The funny thing is, 2 years ago, I really wanted to have a new pair of winter boots but I just couldn't justify paying so much money just to have ...
Read more

Then Came Dense Fog and the Thunderstorm

Image
Sunday, I woke up to a dense fog and smoke cover combination.  I think this is probably the densest fog I have ever been in. Before the sun came up, it was white.  Once it got lighter outside the smoke color showed through. On the porch, looking toward the swimming pool (North) but unable to see it or the goat barn or the walnut trees. On the porch, looking toward the barn, only able to see the garden before the parking area. Outside the window looking at the tree block, barely 30 feet away. I am not sure how I let Phil talk me into (trying) going to the store...but the fog was supposed to lift by 11:00 and we were scheduled to gather at the Rawie's for church and I needed ingredients to put together something for the potluck.  (We ended up having to cancel our homechurch.) Our mailbox, we couldn't see any cars, so we had to roll down the windows and listen.  I was already terrified at this point and didn't want to continue. After having to slam on his brakes multipl...
Read more

More Hats

Image
The Etsy shop is still a work in progress and unfortunately the name Over the Top is already taken.  I have been tossing around the names Tip Top and Whimsy.  I managed to get 7 hats made during the month of November.  I have a couple that I can put on Etsy when we are ready to list them and several Christmas hats made for the children.  I have been timing how long it takes me to make a hat and I am surprised (and not in a good way LOL) at the number of hours I spend.  A baby hat takes over 5-6 hours, a child's hat takes about 7-8 hours, and an adult hat 10 plus hours.  It takes even longer if I decide to tear out the stitching because it isn't looking the way I had imagined.  The more yarn variety I use, the longer it takes me to weave in the ends.  I usually spend over an hour just with a tapestry needle making all the ends secure.  Minimum wage plus materials puts the hats in the 50-80 dollar range.  Yikes!  I would never pay th...
Read more