Chaotic to Calm to Chaotic

 Starting the New Year

Before

 Some of you may remember how I started the New Year with chaos. My roof leaked into my studio/dining room and the ceiling had to be completely replaced. I never posted how it looked when I finally got it put back together and painted.

After

I hired someone for the de-molding and de-mildewing and the spackling, then I painted it myself and had my son put up the fan and help me move the furniture back. But a lot of life has happened in this house this year so far and this room has looked great . . . then a mess . . . then great again . . . then a mess. It's headed back toward great again right now. Whew!

About a week after this, I had to get several paintings ready for a show; and again chaos reigned! This was a good thing and showing my art is something I love to do. Perhaps I'll write more about that another time.

Then, I planned and had a shower for my beautiful daughter, Emma, so I HAD to get everything spick and span again. More about that later, too!

But the point of this, for me, is that LIFE happens in this house. It's never static and certainly never boring. I'm grateful for the life I have -- wonderful friends who support me in so many ways, two caring sisters with warm and caring families, really good kids who have always kept me entertained, and many opportunities to create and show my art. I love my life. :)

New Roof Adventure

Whew!! This year I hit the ground running. So busy. So much happening. I'll start with my roof adventure. Back in October, I noticed a small spot that indicated a leak on my ceiling. So I began getting estimates on my roof. One of those estimates was for the roof AND solar panels. The estimate seemed reasonable and included a way that I could pay for it, so I went for it! We scheduled it for Thanksgiving week.

During the week of Thanksgiving, I made arrangements for someone to stay at my house while the roof was being done so that I could go to visit with my mother in SC. Phone reception at my mother's house was spotty at best, and though I texted my friend at my house, I never received a reply.

A week later, arriving home, I found that my roof had not even been started. :( Meanwhile, several Florida-style downpours later, my roof leak is getting bigger. Several phone calls (and weeks) later I finally get the roofers schedule to start the week before Christmas; however, wouldn't you know it? We had to postpone it due to bad weather.

The roofer offered to start it the week of Christmas on Monday and I agreed. Yay! Finally started! On Monday, the roof was stripped of shingles and covered in canvas. Tuesday morning, the roofer drove up before the sun came up and started toward the roof. Suddenly, the bottom fell out of the sky. Most of the house was okay, but where repair work was being done in the back, rain began pouring through the roof.

You can use your imagination to fill in the details, but we frantically moved furniture while the roofers frantically covered the roof. I wound up paying quite a bit to handle the repairs -- the roofer made life difficult, and several weeks went by while attempting to get money from the roofers and get the ceiling replace . . . Then getting the room back to its normal state. So that's how I ended the old year and started the new one!

What to Do About the Concrete Pool Deck

The concrete around the pool area is "Cool Deck" which is nice as a non-slip and not-hot surface, however, within a week or 2 of cleaning, it begins to turn black and ugly with mildew. I've cleaned with spray bleach and rented a pressure washer (expensive) and it just comes right back.Disheartening. So I've been looking for something that will work that won't be toxic. Here are a couple of products that might work. Going to research them some more. The photo above is what it looks like before and the one below (not a lot better) is after.

Here's one process and product I found that might work. Handling black stains on pool This calls for one product to clean and another to seal. It keeps the natural color of the concrete. Here's the other product that I'm looking at This one calls also for one product to clean and another to stain. Need further research on both. I hope to handle this over the summer or, at the latest, in the fall.

How To Grow Lime Trees in Pots | Garden Guides

How To Grow Lime Trees in Pots | Garden Guides
I bought a beautiful little lime tree the other day and I want to keep it in a pot on my patio or in the house in the winter. I'm saving this step-by-step so I remember how to take care of it.

House: Work In Progress

It's bee a long time since I've posted about the "house project." Actually, I've been pretty busy. I thought I'd post a series of pictures showing the exterior as it has evolved over the last year or so.

1. Pink House with Sand Spur Yard

The first picture is before the house was painted and while the yard was nothing but sand spurs. The Ponytail Palm had a dead branch and nothing was planted in any of the flower beds close to the house. The yard was primarily sand (under the sand spurs) and because of the slope, the sand was running off into the street.

2. Sand Spurs Pulled Up, House Painted and Building the Wall

I spent a few weekends  digging up sand spurs.

Painting the exterior took me several more weekends. My children helped me 2 of those weekends and a few other people helped me one other. The last few were done solo.

Then it was time to tackle the eroding of the yard. My little Ford Escort only held a few block at a time, so I just worked on bringing a few at a time and building the wall a little at a time.

3. FREE MULCH!

I was out working in the yard one day when a very LARGE truck full of mulch drove by. The driver saw me and stopped, asking me if I wanted some free mulch. "Sure," I said.

The small mountain you see here has already been taken down quite a bit. More weekends were spent spreading that mulch.

4. Real Plants in the Yard

Okay, here's the latest. I've started putting in some plants and I've got the irrigation system working. I actually have to cut the grass now!! When I look at it this way, I feel more encouraged. I can tell that I'm actually making some progress. More to come.

This House Project

Getting a house into shape after years of neglect is a very large project. I felt like I needed to encourage myself. I needed to get some idea that I've gotten a significant amount done in the past year and 9 months so here are before and after pictures of the yard.

The yard still needs a lot of work, so I plan to take some pictures to a nursery and get them to help me with a plan to take it to the next level.

It's definitely looking better, but still has a ways to go.

Florida Art Education Association Conference in St Pete

This was a great conference. I went Thursday through Saturday, November 8-10, and did as many workshops as I could fit in. Beautiful location and interesting and enjoyable workshops. 

Great workshop on working with second graders on a project about the artist, Paul Klee; another about making Japanese theme items like the tea bowl, tea tray, sushi tray, etc.; two projects on soft sculptures which involve sewing and stuffing; and another about paper cutting and silhouettes. I got lots of ideas of projects to do with my students and have even incorporated a few already.

I only got to hear one of the keynote speakers, but her talk was awesome. She gave a very personal talk about getting art done despite all of the barriers and happenstances of life. It definitely hit me on a personal level.

So . . . I'm doing some of my own art wherever I can fit it in. Maybe I'll post some pictures later.