Preparing for my first ever Flea Market!

I feel like I have just wasted two days of my life.

What a pile of junk!

I am preparing for my first-ever flea market.

  The little Bible Church up here in the Mountains has one every year and I signed up and sent them the $25 fee a long time ago.  During the spring months I took a alot of stuff to Goodwill, and then began putting things into boxes for a "someday" flea market.  Now is the someday.

 Monday I took it all out,  and cut up some old particle board to make "box cover tables"

My main impression was "What a pile of junk!"

Yesterday I did a lot of personal business that needed my attention, and went to the dentist.

 Today I spent all day pricing, organizing, packing and loading it all into my van.  Friday I will take it over to the church and partially set up.  We have had heavy fog overnight lately, so I'm prepared to throw a couple of tarps over it all.  They are having someone sleep with the junk on Friday night.

I get two parking spaces, and I could park my van there and sell in the other, but I have decided to park my van about a half mile away at the school, walk over Saturday morning and use both spaces for stuff.

I have never done this before.  Hundreds of art fairs, yes.  But a flea market with my stuff, never.

One thing I have promised myself is that none of this stuff is coming back into the garage.  What ever I don't sell is going to Goodwill on Monday!

Craig says he is going to come and buy it all  back!  I think he was just teasing.

Daily countdown:

461 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 3 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill,  (I'm going to go walk now and will add it tomorrow)

Total walked = 183 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

A WHY NOT that is also a WHY!

First to answer a couple of the comments about my sailing grandson:

Yes Nellie, it is a very small boat.  It is called a Sabot and they start kids as young as five or six in them.
My six year old grandson  took his first three weeks of sailing camp this year.  They learn how to rig them themselves and how to sail.  They are responsible for getting them in, washing and putting them away each day.  Of course there is a lot of adult supervision, but the kids learn a lot.

 When I was down for my visit a few weeks ago it was so easy to mind the boys in the evening.  After a full day in the sun and fresh sea air they were very sweet, physically tired, happy guys.  No game boys or video games needed!  No obesity problems either.

Last week they spent five days at a university  computer camp.  They will also be going to  cub scout camp (not sleep over) for a week before the summer is out.  Keep them busy and they stay out of trouble!



On Sunday evening we had our new friends Myra and Dan over for dinner.

They are musicians, and so we enjoyed an evening of sharing some of our favorite records and CDs.  I know you cannot show a picture of music, but this is Craig's audio system which although it looks a bit industrial, produces incredible sound.

I think I enjoyed watching their reactions to the music as much as anything.  It was like sharing a wonderful desert without the calories!  We were all a little "high" without any illegal substances by the end of the night, and are all looking forward to doing it again soon.

They live full time in a Motor Home, and currently have a collection of CDs in local storage.  They are going to bring some to share next time.

The reason I say this is a "WHY NOT" is because it will be hard to leave the quality of the sound system.  Yes we can take the music in other forms, but there is nothing really comparable to being surrounded by the SOUND.

So how was the evening also a "WHY?"  Because I really enjoyed getting to know this couple.   I'm not sure we will see them very often, but sharing time with them was good.  From what I read about the full time lifestyle, there are many opportunities to meet new people and enjoy a few hours "around the campfire."  It's something I'm really looking forward to.

Craig and I are really quite happy with just each other most of the time.  I think I am more social than he is, but he likes people too.

So I am torn, selling an audio system to die for at a cut rate price will be hard, but finding a new orld of friends on the road will be very sweet.

Daily countdown:

462 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 4 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill,  2 miles again today.

Total walked = 183 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Monday

I have several subjects in mind for blogs, but at the moment I'm just to tired to write!

Instead I'm posting a  picture of my 9 year old grandson sailing his boat in Mission Bay, San Diego.











Daily countdown:

463 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 5 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill,  2 miles today.

Total walked = 181 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Mountain Lions spotted

Last week we received an email from our road manager that two mountain lions had been spotted on our road. It was a reminder to keep our pets close and to not walk or  jog alone.  There have been no other sightings.

 It may be that the pair were young cats just passing thru.  Mountain lions can have territories of ten square miles.  They are usually solitary, so seeing two might mean they are siblings just out on their own, or a female with a older cub.  We have so many deer, the hunting for them is good.  (Picture is from the web)


For the last few days I have seen the doe quite close to the house.  Tuesday she was lying down under a bush and one of the fawns was nearby.  I looked and looked for the other and was worried that perhaps it had been taken by a lion. But then it came out from behind a bush and I knew my little family was safe.

I stay close as well, but just last week I took a solitary walk down into the forest to check for any new dead fall for possible fire wood harvest.  I do know what to do if I see a big kitty.  But I would rather not.


Today I spent the morning cleaning my studio room.  It has been awhile since I have had any work. I guess it's the economy.

I did paint a little this afternoon.  I was supposed to be cleaning, but I got bored!  I hate housework.  If we never had company I would probably never clean!

Daily countdown:

466 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 8 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill,  2 miles today.

Total walked = 179 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Word Verification on Comments

I really dislike the fact that most bloggers use the Word Verification feature for their comments.

  I understand why they do, because for the first time  I had a spam comment on my blog.
My first reaction was to turn the word verification feature back on, but then decided that since it is so easy to delete a comment I would do that, and wait to see if it became a bigger problem.

Did many of you get a lot of unwanted comments? Or did you just leave the word verification feature on because everyone else has it?

On the "being overwhelmed" subject I have started doing something Katie mentioned in a recent blog.  Started to make lists.  A few weeks ago Craig brought home a rather nice 2010+ daily planer book that one of the vendors at work had given him.  Of course it had sat around on his desk for a few months, but if he had given it to me in January I'm not sure I would have used it.

What I have decided is to use it to jot down some estimated deadlines for getting certain things done.  Long range, and short range deadlines.  On a daily basis I will jot down what I expect to get done the next day, or into the next week.  I will do this in PENCIL, and in the evening I will erase what I finished and move forward what I didn't.

 If dreams are written in smoke, deadlines are definitely written in pencil.

I think this will help me because I won't lie in bed for hours thinking about when will I get this or that accomplished. The lists are for no one but me.

On the painting front, I finished work on what I could reach on the porch outside the kitchen.  This also includes a door (on the left) from the master bedroom to the outside.

I painted below the window, but not the window frame or above it because the stairs do not allow me to use my ladder.  I'm thinking of renting some scaffolding when I get to areas I can't reach without.

This looks like a small area, but there were many small holes to repair and everything got two coats, so it took five days to do!

Tomorrow is a no paint day.  I want to do some housework because we are having friends over for dinner on Sunday.

Daily countdown:

467 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 9 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill,  I WILL WALK TOMORROW!

Total walked = 177 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

I Will NOT be OVERWHELMED

If I try to stay focused on one small part of the job at a time, I will not be overwhelmed.  It seems that now that I am starting to patch small spots of decay, as I fix one, I see three more!

This morning we ran into two more potential problems.  The air conditioner (9 year old) didn't seem to be cooling very well this year.  The repair person came out this morning and said we were low on coolant.  This could be a slow leak, fixed by the recharge that cost $360 this morning, or a bigger problem that will take up to $1100 just to find and fix if it is small,or an unknown amount if it is a component.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Then as I was going out to get to work on sanding, I notice a little puddle of water on the deck where no water could possibly get by natural causes.  It is below the kitchen sink.  No water was running up there.  I hate to have to tell Craig about it when he gets home.

I will not be overwhelmed.

I will NOT be overwhelmed.

I WILL NOT be overwhelmed.

I WILL NOT BE OVERWHELMED!

These problems would exist no mater what my dream is.  

 These problems must be dealt with.

Catching Up, Carpenter Bees

I got back from visiting my grandsons (ages 6 and 9 ) in San Diego on Saturday afternoon.

 Craig had worked part of the day on the dig out project and determined the "rock of an unknown size" was actually a cement footing for a fence that the previous owners had put up to keep their dog off of the roof.  There were two other lumps of concrete as well.  On Sunday he rented an air hammer and they broke up quite easily so he was able to get that phase of the job done.

On Sunday I painted in the morning. (Craig took this picture of me thru a rather dirty kitchen door and screen.)  Since my knees won't take kneeling, and my back doesn't like to bend over, I have found sitting on a little one step stool makes it possible for me to paint low places.







 In the afternoon Craig and I experimented with using a Bondo product to start repairing the bottom edge of the cheap siding that was used on that side of the garage, and had had contact with the ground.  It was a bit delaminated and Craig spent some time sanding it before we tried the Bondo.  We aren't sure how it will turn out.  We have to do a lot more work on it before I can paint there.

Today I started to learn about making smaller repairs using Plastic Wood.  All of the painting I have done up to this point have been in areas that were either protected from the elements, or newer wood.   I have now gotten to some that need more attention before I can just paint.

I have decided to take down the tally of hours spent painting.  It was fun at first, but as the number passed 100 hours, I started to get depressed about how much time I was spending on this.  I am so slow!  But the job will go on, and I will do as much as I can.

While working on this job I have learned about another local creature.  For years we have noticed  few big black bees that bumble around the garage and house.  Last week while painting I thought I heard a sound like someone nibbling on a cracker coming from a window sill just above me.  Then I saw one of these bees go into a hole under it.

 It is eating my house!

Looking on the internet I have learned they are Carpenter bees.  They don't eat the wood, but they do drill holes or go into existing holes and raise baby bees.  Wasp spray doesn't seem to bother them.

  I have found some info on the web as to how to build a bee trap, and I might give it a try.

Oh, that is not my hand.  It is a picture from the web.  I don't think ours are as big as this one looks!  They are about the size of a bumble bee.

Daily countdown:
469 days, or 1 year, 3 months, 11 days to go.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 2 miles Wednesday, 2 miles Thursday
1 mile Friday
Total walked = 177 miles
Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!