Once a Cheesehead always a Cheesehead

Painting the Living Room

Today, Saturday, I go back to working on painting the living room.

The biggest part of doing the painting is all of the "cut in" or "edging" work. I started some of it in the hall area at the beginning of the month.

Before I started, I took pictures of the room and the hall.  This was before I took down the pictures or put way any of the "stuff."  As you can see, it is a complex area.

facing pocket door to kitchen

Two closets to the right of kitchen door

Round the corner (two more doors, one to the Master Bedroom and one to the Bathroom)

Going from the hall into the living room

Another wall

The wall above the six large windows.  The highest point here is twelve feet.

And finally, the door way into the dinning room and another pocket door entrance into the kitchen.

It is presently a cold white.  The new color is taken from the fireplace stone.  It is very close to white, but hints a bit of golden pinkish glow.  

At least I don't have to do the ceiling!

The drapery is another depressing problem.  It is very old, dirty, ripped in one place, and has some water stains.  When we moved in here I couldn't quite afford to buy new drapes, so I had these relined.  By now, they would fall apart if they were cleaned!  I had Coit do them a few years back. They don't take them down, and just steam them where they hang.  But they still looked pretty bad after that.

Several years ago I got an estimate for replacing them plus the ones in the dining room with similar custom treatments.  

The estimate was close to $10,000!  Since I was already starting to think about selling the house, I said "no way" to that.  I knew by the time we got the house on the market they would no longer be new, and I just couldn't spend that much.

A few weeks ago I went to JC Penny's and found some drapes that might work for a lot less!  The current ones are 96" long, and the maximum length on ready mades is 95".  

We can use the current rods and be a bit short, or move the rods down one inch! 

 I should be able to do the job for less than two thousand.  They may not be the high end fabric, but they will be clean. 

 But I have decided to wait until the house goes on the market to get new drapery. I want the realtors input.  

I think I can mend the ripped place  so it is less noticeable. 

Having this type of drapery in this room is essential.  We draw them to keep out the sun in the summer daytime, and the cold in the winter night.  They also are important to the acoustical nature of the room. 

   

Art Work vs Working on the House

I have felt very conflicted this month.  I started the month with two animal sculpture orders, (Christmas shoppers that ordered for themselves.) One Polar Bear, and  one Large Moose.  I was pleased with this because it felt good to start the year with some business.

I also started working on painting the front hall and living room.

Shortly after the New Year, on of my Christmas customers was so pleased with the Large Elephant, he had ordered for his wife's Christmas gift, that he ordered four more sculptures. A  Mandrill, a Hippo, an Armadillo, and  a Polar Bear.  Then he contacted me again and  ordered a Large Horse as a gift for a friend.

 The horse is on hold at the moment because he needs to get a better picture of her horse for me to use as a reference for the blaze marking.

Last week I got my first international order of the year.  I'm making an Aardvark for someone in Denmark.  (I don't ask "why?"  I just make the animals the customer wants!)

Now then, all of this is very nice, and since the recession started, I've had months when I have had no orders at all.  So I should be very happy. I do enjoy doing the sculptures.  The days just fly by!

But, it is cutting into time I really want to be spending on painting the living room!

My goal was to have that room done by the end of the month.

I've shipped the moose and first polar bear, and have the next four almost finished.  I'm quite sure I will get the aardvark done next week, and that leaves me with about a week left in the month to paint.  Not really a big deal.  It will get done eventually.

I really don't see how those of you with real jobs get anything done!

On another subject:

I have been doing OK with finding things to put in the "flea market" boxes each day.

 I'm  looking at everything with a very critical eye these days.  Some days I wonder why I have  this stuff in the first place. I find I really have very little sentimental    attachment to  things.  The question I keep asking myself is "will I need this again?"  and most of the time the answer is "probably not!"

As my Mother always said: "Tomorrow is another day."Mandrill

Cherimoya

On Saturday, when we brought it home our cherimoya was quite green and hard.

The sign in the produce section said to allow several days for it to ripen.  This  gave me time to read up on how to know when it was ready to eat, and if it needed any special preparations.


The web said you could just "eat them out of hand",  in a fruit salad, or use them in recipes ranging from cherimoya creme brulee, to something that sounded like a cherimoya piña colada.

I opted for a simple fruit plate.

After three days the cherimoya felt soft and had turned brown. So I cut into it.  The flesh was soft, much like a ripe banana and there were large black seeds throughout. The peel stripped off easily and I cut out a couple of bruised areas.

I made two plates with an apple, an asian pear, an orange and the chunked up cherimoya.

The web had suggested using a poppy seed dressing or a simple vinaigrette, but we went without.

The word that best describes the cherimoya's flavor is "tropical."

 Like a banana, but not,
 like a pineapple, but not,
 like a mango or papaya, but not...

If we see them at a reasonable price in the future, we will buy them.  Thumbs up on the taste meter.

But, I did notice it seemed to discolor rather quickly so would advise that if you put it in a fruit salad you  serve it in a timely fashion.  They don't seem to keep well once cut.

Tomorrow we will cut into the REI melon from Brazil.  It looks pretty ordinary from the outside. but who knows what lies within!  (It came in it's own mesh bag with a handle!)

Dragon Fruit

Today was a busy Saturday as usual, but we decided to play hooky in the afternoon and drive up to Berkeley (about 45 miles) and go to our favorite store , Berkeley Bowl.

The store deserves it's own post, and since I took some pictures I will write one tomorrow!

Anyway, being adventurous eaters we bought something we had never eaten before.

A Dragon Fruit

A dragon Fruit.  They are red and about the size of a large pear.

When we got home, I Googled "Dragon Fruit" and found that they grow on a cactus like vine and are pollinated by bats.

The serving instructions were to cut it in half and spoon out the pulp,  then cube it and return it to the skin as a decorative bowl.

It was really quite good.  It tasted something like a kiwi fruit, and would be an interesting addition to any fruit salad.

 According to the web article they are very good for you, and high in vitamins, fiber, and all that stuff.

Well, Evelyn, something else for you to look for on your travels.

We also bought a  cherimoya but it has to ripen before we can eat it.  


If we can't have adventures on the road, we will just have to have them in the grocery store. 

Goals

I was having a really "down" day today.  I wrote a long whinny blog and then deleted it.


The I Googled "Goals" and here are a few good thoughts!


One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.  ~Sidney Howard



Goals are dreams with deadlines.  ~Diana Scharf Hunt


The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.  ~Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead




Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.  ~Author Unknown




The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.  But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.  ~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, 1996

First Daffodil

On Monday, when I was taking some trash out to the cans, I notice this, my first daffodil of the season.

It reminded me to take a moment and enjoy the beauty that is all around me.

Every year, for the first ten years we were living here, I planted at least 100 daffodils.  Most came back up for several years, so I figured at one point I must have had at least 1000.

Then we had a few very dry years and I was too busy in fall to plant.  They began to die off, and now many of the places I had planted are no longer blooming.

  In a few places they continue to come up and do well.  I enjoy seeing them each spring.

I walk to remind myself that I will reach my goal only by taking one step at a time.

Exercise Goal:  1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2.5 miles Friday

2.5 miles Monday

2.5 miles Tuesday

Total walked = 307.5 miles  Aiming for 500 miles by end of March 2011

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Arches National Park, Utah