I love our house. I love all of it's charm and it's potential.

But that being said... we are officially in do it yourself hell. It didn't start out that way.
It started out as a new kitchen floor, and has turned into a "money pit" like project. Two kitchen walls and a dining room wall have crumbled. I had planned to mosaic our downstairs bathroom and document it here, but have postponed that one. Everyone's sanity is more important, and at this point just getting the house back to where we started is going to be a huge project.
I hesitate to type it here, but I think we can see an end (at least to the floor part) in our not too distant future. And yes, I do know it is an old house and will never be "done".

Matt and I keep asking ourselves, why it's taking so long to get anything done. Then someone yells from upstairs and we find them stuck in a laundry basket, and we are reminded.
I'll hopefully be back with some progress pics soon.

Questions

When I do art/craft shows I get asked a lot of questions about my pieces.
The three most common are....
Q: How do you get the marbles to stay on the bowling balls?
A: I only work on a small part at a time, and usually have a bunch started at the same time.

Q: Don't I realize that marbles are valuable?
A: I do, but I use all kinds of different marbles. I get the majority of mine by digging through the bottom of the bins, so I'm guessing the ones I find aren't the valuable ones.

Q: How do you get your spoons so flat?
A: Matt flattens them for me on big machines at his shop back in Minnesota. When he left for this last trip I sent him with a ton of recently found thrifted spoons. I asked him to take a couple pictures of the process. He decided a video was better so you can see the engineering in action.......



He is coming home later today with a whole pile of flattened spoons for me. I'm hoping to have some new ones finished and listed in my etsy shop soon. Have a nice weekend everyone....

Last week's class at the DIY lounge was one of the best ones yet. Just check out the student art work.
For those of you who mentioned being interested in the house numbers class, stay tuned. I am in the process of revising the class to make it a one day weekend workshop. I will post the details here when they are finished. Until then you can always contact me directly or check the DIY lounge website for class details.

The boys and I took a road trip to the beach this weekend. We all needed to get out of the house, and the weather was perfect. We are in the middle of one of Matt's extra long trips, which is hard on everyone. I've let things go and try to remind myself how I can't get everything done that I want to while being the only parent home.

However, this morning was one of those mornings that I was so glad to be able to drop everything. I took the boys to school where they had a movie screen set up to watch all of the events. The whole thing was bigger and more full of hope and promise, than anything I have witnessed in my entire life. I know the boys don't fully understand, but I think they will remember.
If you haven't read this before, here is a link to a letter our new president wrote to his daughters. Happy Inauguration Day to everyone!!!!

Happy 2009

The long break was great, but I'm glad to have the busyness behind us. We survived the snow, and were surprisingly able to make it out of town with only a small delay. Kansas City was relaxing. We all had lots of fun just hanging out with the family.
Today is my first kid-free day in almost a month. I forgot how quiet the house can be! I have a list of new projects that I am anxious to start. One of them is a house project that may rival last January's as a new favorite. I am trying to keep my expectations realistic, as Matt is getting ready for a lot of travel in the next few weeks.
Before I can begin anything I have a giant mess in the studio to take care of. I don't know how I let this happen again. I'm hoping that last year's organizing will have paid off.
Wish me luck!

I had all kinds of plans for posting this week, but it turns out that keeping a five year old calm on the couch is a harder job than I thought. Especially when there are three snow days that same week, and his older brother is home. Luckily I have Marigold helping out. She takes her job very seriously. I can't believe this little puppy is turning one years old this weekend.
This morning I got an email telling me that tomorrow's sale at the farmers market is canceled. I was disappointed, but only for a few minutes. I am glad to not be sitting at a show while the weather is too bad for shopping. Since my day was free, the boys and I headed to the park for some Portland sledding in the mud. Mitchel and I mainly watched, but he did get to go a couple of times.The boys are out of school for the next two weeks, and the holidays are officially underway at our house. We walked peacock lane tonight. A Portland first for us, but so sweet, I'm sure we will go again next year. I'm signing off here until the new year,but wanted to wish everyone a Happy, Happy Holidays, from "snowy" Portland.

Wonderland

Yesterday morning this is what we woke up to.

The kids were thrilled. I was not. There was not a lot of accumulation, just enough to bring the city to a halt. I got ready to go to Crafty Wonderland and packed a few magazines thinking that for sure no one was going to be shopping. I was wrong. People came out and braved the cold wind and ice. There were slow points throughout the day, but considering the weather it was a great turnout. I finished my shopping and traded for a couple things that I will show when I get a chance.
This morning we were out in the snow again. Not for school, it was canceled.
This guy had a little surgery. All is well and we are home now. We'll be hanging out in this spot for a couple days. If you look closely under the blanket, you can see where Marigold plans to spend her next few days.