Ornament 2

I painted this little bear soldier over the weekend nights. I've come to realize it is much easier to paint once the kids are asleep. Elora saw what I was starting and said in her sweet way "I want to help, pick me up." Who could resist that!? So up on my lap she went and she helped me base the bear. When we were done, she looked up at me and said "I'm a good helper, what do we do next?" LOL. Too precious. So the bear was finished during nap time and once she was asleep for the night. I want to get those little ceramic paint sets for kids so that she and her brother won't feel left out when I paint. Till then painting will be delegated to late nights.

And for those of you who may read this in hopes I will begin my miniatures again I can tell you I have plans in the works. I promised my husband last night that I would only have one large dollhouse in our house. Until we either move or I build myself a studio. So I am debating between 2 kits by The House That Jack Built, Cheryl's Place or Holly Ann. I'll keep you posted. At the moment I am leaning towards the Holly Ann for two reasons, 1) my parents gave it to me for Christmas and 2) it has more rooms to fill so that 1 house can last awhile. : )

Snowman repair service

Last night I finally had the room finished enough that sitting down for a bit to paint wasn't going to make me feel guilty, like I should be up cleaning instead. So I got my supplies out, turned my kindle on to Supernatural and painted the Snowman Repair Service Ornament, designed by Karen Wisner. I still have the dangly bits to finish and attach. There will be snowballs hanging from one hand and a pail of carrot noses in the other. For being the first tole painting I have done in years it's not too bad. Once completed this will get set aside to be posted on Etsy later. I love this ornament, not surprisingly since it's creator is one of my all time favorite artists.

Sick again : (

I have finally been seen for this. It seems to have been going on for quite awhile but gradually getting worse. I know for sure it was happening 4 months ago. At first I thought I had the flu and got checked, the doctor thought it was gastroenteritis, but now it seems to reoccur every week to every two weeks for at least one day. I am missing work because of it. It's not H Pylori but they gave me some acid reflux meds hoping it will work. I've only been on them for less week. Went in last Thursday because I was having the issue again, they gave me the meds. Heartburn is gone, but yesterday at 1am I woke up sick again, lasted till 11am. By then I was exhausted. I am hoping the pills need a little longer to work their magic. If I'm going to be home I'd like to at least enjoy it instead of praying to the porcelain God. I have started a food diary to see if I can find something that is setting it off. Late last night I was well enough to stitch a little on Elora's plastic canvas house. I made the grandfather clock for the hallway. Other than that, nothing was done but sleep.

I was browsing some old bookmarks earlier and came across two of my favorite tole painting artists, Karen Wisner and Jamie Mills Price. Made me really want to do some painting again. When Miller Woodcrafts closes their business years ago I stocked up on wood cutouts for projects for both of them and during the move I found them again. I may have to refresh some of my supplies but I want to take up painting again. Of course that'll be after I finish some of these lingering WIPs I have already. I was browsing some of their new project books and already have some in my wishlist for later. I forgot how much I enjoyed it.

Still not done!

That "almost" finished sure is dragging. Lol. Every room except the office/craft/future bedroom are finished. I am half done with that straggler room, at least my art table is all set up. I have been taking a break from working on it as my foot is killing me when I am on it. Just doing the everyday walking of making meals, doing laundry, and general easy housework are causing it to ache, burn and throb. It is as close to feeling like it did the first time I broke it, except this time I haven't done anything it. My next follow up is in November so in the meantime when I am at home I wear the boot. It seems to help some so far.

So while I complain and in general moan about my foot I have been working a little on unfinished items. I crocheted up two dishcloths, trying to finish the spool. I did a few lines on HAED and worked some more on Aidan's blanket. I had negative progress for awhile when I found a mistake a few rows back and ha to take it out. I have hit the growing stage as it is so that is nice. I did realize at one point I added and then removed an extra stitch almost at the beginning but when I put a simple border on it shouldn't be noticeable at all unless you sit and count. So just don't do that ; ) and last night I worked a very little on the plastic canvas Barbie dollhouse I had started for Elora when I was pregnant with her. Here it is so far . I need to glue the corner of couch in place and add the door knobs and Velcro dots to the entertainment enter doors. I have most of the pieces completed for the hallway so I can start constructing that. I have to make a new foundation though. The one I had made got chewed on by the cats and then crushed in the move. That took forever, so I'm not really looking forward to it. I have given up on completing all the stockings I have requests for by this Christmas and I will give them out as I finish them instead of making deadlines. Apparently deadlines and me just don't mix.

I have also become addicted to the tv show Supernatural. My husband has been watching them on Netflix and after seeing him sit every night watching as many as he could till he finished all they had on Netflix I had to check it out myself. I have to say I'm glad I did. I could sit and watch Jensen Ackles all by himself for hours. He's great! Of course seeing his outtakes prior and having made me laugh, he skyrocketed on my tv crush list. He seems like a nice guy. So thank you hubby for getting me addicted, although you may be seeing less of me until I am all caught up : )

All Moved In

Well, today we moved the last of the furniture in. Now everything, except a few small items at my parents, are here and tonight is mine and the kids first night here. My husband has spent a few nights here already waiting for he cable guy or meeting his brother early to get things done. I need only organize my closet and finish going through my crafts and putting up our books. My dad and I got our bookcases up today so I can finally tackle that. Tomorrow I plan to do as little as possible. I'm making Butter Beans and Cornbread for dinner tomorrow night and taking the day off. My foot has been killing me the more I work and do so before I cause a full fracture I think I need to slow down. I got about ten stitches in today on my HAED pattern and it was nice. Tomorrow I will do some type of craft if I can just make up my mind which one to do. I haven't touched anything since last Saturday. I've never gone that long before and my brain is on overload of all things I want to be working on again.

Half way there

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Yesterday was a very busy day and I am exhausted. We planned to spend all day unpacking and moving the final bits from my parents house into ours, so this weekend we can move our bedroom furniture. Sometime around 2 we got a call asking what we were doing for the fourth. Plans were changed and everyone was coming to our house to grill and watch the fireworks. We have the perfect view from our front yard and the past few years we've had the 4th of July at Ricci and Eric's. I wanted to continue the tradition but I didn't think it would be this soon LOL. We had absolutely no food or drinks besides bottle water. Nothing in the lines of anything that is edible as we haven't gone shopping yet. I was in a panic. After frantically unpacking as much as possible, clearing out the boxes and straightening as much we could everyone arrived. The kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room and kid's room are finished. Fortunately they were prepared for us to have nothing and they brought everything. The food was great! The kids had a blast and their bedroom was a hit. Neither of them wanted to go back to my parents. I hope that feeling lasts. Sitting in the front watching the fireworks, with the kids laying on a blanket in the yard for the perfect view, and our family all around us it finally hit me we are home. It feels right. I was afraid it would feel awkward with Ricci and Eric but they seem truly happy for us, and having their own home built is probably helpful. Now we only have our bedroom, our office/bedroom and my craft/clothes closet to finish. But first I'm taking a nap after work, I need a break : )

Craft clean out part one

Woke up this morning so ill. A stomach bug has been going around our family and I got it again. Bad thing is it made really really late for work. If it wasn't pay week I think I would have called in. After work I was feeling better, still woozy and tired but that wasn't about to stop me from continuing at our new place. So I chose a relatively easy job, craft closet. I have all but one sneaky box unpacked and gone through. I say sneaky because I thought I was all done an was picking up the empty boxes and found a full box under them all. I have 2 boxes of craft books, one box of tole painting wood cutouts and a plastic drawer unit of ceramics in storage still. Those should be easy since my craft table will be temporarily set up in the office and I have a new set of drawers the ceramics and wood will fit into. The kids will share the large bedroom until Aidan hits the age where a separate room is necessary. The office isn't a bedroom as there is no closet in there but I figure we can leave the bookcases up and the desk and put a bed in there for him when he is older and thy can share the walk in closet still. Currently they sleep in bunk beds so sharing a room, I am hoping, will make the transition to a new home easier. I forgot my camera again. I was hoping to get some photos up of progress. I still have a lot of miniature things to go through here but my parents have said it will be fine if I leave that till the house is all settled. Tomorrow I want to tackle the kids' room. Fingers crossed it goes well.