Workation

Week one of "vacation" was a mad dash of cleaning, birthday preparations, Christmas shopping, and Christmas festivities.  Phil worked on trim every chance he got and I tried to go through boxes, purge, and organize every chance I got.  Week two of "vacation" gave us more uninterrupted time.  Phil and Alec finished the trim upstairs and I got the studio room set up (as much as it is going to be for quite awhile).  I can hardly believe that the weekend is here.  Those two weeks flew by and I am not ready, NOT at all ready, to start back to "normal".  Which includes kid activities, school, and Phil gone much of the time.  Sigh, I wish we could have one more week!  And a real vacation (like where we read, go hiking, do something fun, relax)!

There may have been some mostly suppressed disgust when I decided that I did not want the two wardrobes in the studio room.  They had been wrestled up there when we moved in and I decided they were too big and I would rather have shelving.  Without a deck or stairs, they had to be balanced along the floor joists and lifted down with the tractor.  I kept thinking "what could go wrong".  Surprisingly nothing!



But, with those out of the way, and most of the things in the studio moved out, Phil was able to get shelving and trim work done in my own little workspace.  I then was able to move everything back inside.  "Just what is all this stuff?", I found myself asking.  I have lots of fabric.  I have containers of beads, buttons, ribbons and rick rack.  I have lots of containers filled with yarn.  I have my business containers with product and set up supplies.  I have lots of containers of wool roving for felting.  The book shelf has my paints and oil pastels and my papers.  I have some miscellaneous boxes that I need to go through that are hiding under the table until I can get to them.  I have a desk set up for sewing, and two tables set up for felting so I can lay my projects out and work on them when I can or in stages.

Someday someday, I hope to be able to do art part time.  I have hardly done anything this past year since we started on our house adventure and I really miss it.




We had a lot of clouds and some fog and I missed watching the sunrise.  It was so pleasant today (about 50, no wind, and warm sunshine) that I was able to work outside for an hour or so in a t-shirt and plant daffodils along the fence line. 




With the completion of the upstairs trim, and the purchase of my Christmas paintings, I was able to dig out all of the art work and decide what pieces I wanted where.  Phil helped me hang paintings in the living room in the evening.  There is something so transforming about putting on the final details to a room, both in terms of the construction finish work, but also adding those final touches with decor items and hanging art work on the walls.  It makes it feel like home.  There was an immediate comfort with this room now that the clutter and boxes are gone, familiar items are set up, and some new and exciting paintings are on the wall!



The children got a telescope for Christmas.  We had to wait for several days for a clear evening but we are loving star gazing.  We can see the surface of the moon and all its craters.



This little wall space will eventually be a rather large countertop.  It will span most of the width between the window and the door and come out 6-7 feet.  I love the painting here so much that I am thinking about taking it up with me to Pratt and Larson (a tile store) and choosing an assortment of tiles that match the blues, grays, and turquoise for the countertop.

These walls are a little peachy instead of yellow since I took these at night but I was so excited to share them, I just had to get them up on my blog.



I now have 5 of Julie's wonderful paintings.  (Julie is the children's art teacher.  We have really enjoyed taking art lessons and visiting her studio every week.)  One that Phil got me for my birthday, one that I bought with my b-day money.  Two that I bought with my Christmas money and earnings.  And one "just because".  Originally, Phil was going to take it into his office but I couldn't part with it!


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