Yesterday I went to a friends house for a little art journal play and to see some of my friends.  What a lovely day.  As my grandmother would say..... "It was grand." 

Anyway, the above pages are what came out of the play time.  I am pleased with it.  We were asked to pick a symbol that meant something to us and I picked the music Treble Clef for a couple of reasons.  First, I love music.  Whenever I am struggling with something or even when I'm not I"m almost always listening to the radio or music of some kind. I find it healing in many different ways. Even when I'm sleeping I have the radio on  because if I turn it off I tend to dream nightmares.   I am trying to get away from it though and dealing with whatever comes up as quickly as possible.  Second, a recent relationship brought a different experience with music into my life and I so very much loved it.  The relationship ended but left me with a desire to pursue more areas so I have been learning the guitar and it seems the more I practice the more I like it but it is really hard at my age.  My fingers are not quite so nimble at 66.  I hope I continue with it though as since I do like it so much I believe I will.

Still working on the house.  Last week was putting down my baseboard molding and found that my saw was smoking very badly.  One of my friends (guy) told me my blade was dull and that is why so I went and bought a new blade and will be putting it on hopefully tomorrow.  I have never done that before but got instructions and I think it will be easy.  The price of the blade was not cheap though but I bought a really good one so I won't have to replace again on this project.  Once the baseboard molding is down I will be cleaning the walls of all the sawdust. (my workroom is the room I"m working in)  It's the only space available.  Then I will be painting the second coat of paint on the walls and have 2 coats of paint to put on the windows.  Then I can shop for the appliances, cabinets, sink and countertops and I will almost be done.  I still also  have to have a drawer made for a built in cabinet in the kitchen.  Seems it will never end but I'm shooting for the end of the year.  Pictures will be coming shortly.

Starting an art journaling class tomorrow with Brene Brown.  I feel I need to do things while working on the house to keep  me balanced emotionally and physically.  This work is taking a lot out of me mentally so the art is a reprive of sorts.  I will be writing and working with watercolors and am so looking forward to this experience.  Perhaps pictures of that will be coming too.

Thank you for stopping by.    A new quote I love for inspiration..... "What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing."  Aristotle.

Finally!  Yesterday I was about 2/3 done and was so frustrated I was laying on the floor on my back and crying and asking God why he won't let me get this floor done, and what is it that I am supposed to learn and don't, etc....... on and on.  When I was finished crying my phone rang and it was my bbf and she said "How are you?"  Well how did she know to call me at that moment?  I told her of the month long endeavor and the difficulties I have had with this floor.  Anyway, today I got up and I didn't even plan to work on it but tried to get this one piece in that was giving me so much trouble and it went in and I just kept going.  I am done with it!  Of course there is much still to be done.  My next job is the baseboard molding and I have to replace a piece of a door frame molding and I have to  patch some of the wall where I took the molding off, it peeled some of the paint and top layer of some of the sheetrock.  Nothing is ever easy but provides me with challenge after challenge to keep me engaged to this house.  It's a good thing I love the after.  The after always gives me great satisfaction and makes me proud of my achievements.

So onward I go.  I thought it was Thursday and found out after it is Friday so I'm taking the weekend off and going to play and on Monday I'll give myself a new challenge or "job" and see how far I get.

Thanks for stopping.
Peggy

This project is such a slow go.  I had to go and buy more flooring and have to wait a couple of days for it to adjust to the same levels of humidity and heat as the rest of the floor before I can put it down.  Today might be that day.  I haven't decided yet.

Cleaning up my life.  Participated in our Village Wide Yard Sale and unloaded many things I love but they were projects and I'm tired of projects.  Have freed up room in my house and time to do things I like better.  Once I get the downstairs apartment done I can go upstairs and start over up there.  The projects are endless and will never be completely done but I do enjoy them when I'm in the mood.
That's the good part.  I can do them when I feel like it.  No pressure.  I have the rest of my life.

From a personal viewpoint, I have closed the chapter on my lost relationship and am moving forward.  Feeling good, contemplating going back to work somewhere but not necessary just yet, and signed on to a web dating service and already have someone who appears to be interested and we are at the "getting to know" each other status to see if we will meet. 

Art doesn't seem to have time in my new life.  Other than music.  Music seems to have taken up the slack.  I have 3 guitars now and am learning how to play them.  It's not easy at 66 as my thinking isn't so fast or memory as good.  Have to repeat several times before I "get it".  I think it's called practice but I don't mind doing it.  Maybe someday I will actually be able to play a song?.................

Time to check out my other blogs.  Thanks for stopping by.

This looks like the same picture as before but isn't.  I had to tear up the whole floor and have been having extreme difficulties getting it back down.  After 4 days of struggling and hiring help and getting nowhere, I finally went and bought a tool called a pull bar and finally got the first two rows on laminate down in front of the cabinet.  now I have to go back into this lower corner and hopefully the rest will go back easier.  My back hurts and I can only do so much before I have to quit.  A little at a time.  At least now I feel I have a handle on it.

On to another topic, I have been trying to restore my back yard from the damage and demise of many of my perennial flowers.  This year I had a generous donor who purchased flowers for me to plant in my garden and after doing so, we experienced so much rain that they didn't take for a long time and instead, many of the roots seemed to rot and they all looked horrible.  Every now and then I would get a beautiful flower and take pictures so i can be reminded.  Here are some of them.  Right now I have this beautiful white Hydrangea that is turning pink.  Gorgeous.

 

 

So even though they started out poorly, they have caught up and are doing ok.  Still not the garden I envisioned.  Next year I will buy more perennials than annuals and have my daughter plant them as she has a nack for placement where I fall short.  I also have some beautiful lavender but it is just now getting blossoms.  The first frost is said to hit tonight in the Adirondacks.  I am at the foothills of them and the temps are to be in the high 30's so no frost but it will be soon.  The summer has been all too short.

Work will be going forth when the weather is cold on the inside of the house.  Hoping to tackle the kitchen this fall/winter and move downstairs and possibly rent out the upstairs apartment for some added income.

Thanks for stopping by.

Just a short post  Seems I have this thing about accomplishing something every day.  If I dont, I feel as though I've wasted the day.  Either I need to work on the house or produce a product.  When I take the time to work on "myself" it is when I am just sitting or talking to friends and feel as though I'm wasting time but in reality I know that I am not.  I think that I need more work than my house or the product so a lot of time is being spent working out the bugs in my life. 

There aren't too many left.  I  have come back from the broken relationship to liking myself again and am reasonably happy with my life as is.  I miss the companionship and the humor we shared.  I miss the time spent listening to music or watching musicians play their instruments.  I love that and unless I go out alone I don't have anyone to share that with anymore.  I will probably at some point take myself out and say the hell with it, go alone.  At least I know that I am comfortable doing things on my own again and my self esteem has made a comback.  Why I got lost in that relationship I do not know, but I did.

Time to make a gift for a girlfriend who's birthday is Monday.  Best get to it so I can get it in the mail to her later today.