I Want More Time! Right Now!

WHEN we first moved into our house, we found the kitchen appliances were practically brand new. They were from the late sixties and we moved in about 1994, but the dishwasher and oven might have been used a dozen times.
Now I think I know why. The retired couple who lived here enjoyed working in the yard, the woodshop, doing crafts and reading: the house was stuffed with book club selections that mostly got sold at the estate sale before we moved in.
The retired couple didn't want to cook or wash dishes. They went out to restaurants and spent their time doing things that were much more fun. (The walls were hung with dozens of decoupaged pieces of wood. Somehow those sold too.)
Tonight, as I faced the choice of preparing dinner or stamping paper with all sorts of paint, I knew where I would rather be!
However, the Mister had worked all day too. I wanted to show you what he accomplished over the weekend. On Saturday, actually, he "lined" - trimmed - the bathroom windowsill with some of the copper he has. It's to match - in material, but not in texture - the copper panels that line the skylight over our as-yet-unused shower.
And TODAY I got "Royal Mail." Rosie sent her Library Card Project and it was so exciting to get it all the way from Leeds. The front and back were decorated. I love it! (The back has a film strip with figures of a man on it, in case you can't see it clearly.)
So now I have gotten nine cards and I don't know about the 10th. I know who has it but I hesitate to ask again because I know from reading their blog, they are a bit overwhelmed right now. I think I will wait and see for a few days and in the meantime prepare the "e-book" of the story and illustrated cards.
I've been having such fun stamping colors on cards and painting some pages in my journal. I have a class coming up May 16, and it's going to be an adventure and lots of fun to take a whole day to experiment with different techniques One Whole Saturday! I can't wait. Even if no one else is there, I'll be having fun - femminismo

It's Everywhere You Look - Spring!

I CAN smell it in the air and see it amongst the muddy leaf-matted soil: It's the sprouting of green things, with colors of purple and yellow here and there. (Lots of yellow here in the crocus bursting forth in the back yard with an explosion of pollen for the bees, if there are any. Click on the photo to check it out closer.)
On the trees there's a slight hint of color at the tips. The weeping willow down the street is turning a chartreuse shade and buds everywhere are swelling. You can't keep a good man down - of a woman either. (Man! I never thought about how sexy spring sounds.)
Things have been busy here in our neck o' the woods. We had company from out of state - from Minnesota, Georgia and Washington - and it was great fun to have my sister's children and two of mine, plus spouses, get together for dessert one night. I somehow managed to clean up my craft room enough to reveal a floor we haven't seen in some time. It was a perfect place for paper and crayons. After dessert, the small ones went outside in the dark (they're not so very small, so it was OK), with a flashlight, and ran around until one fell down. But you know how that goes. It's par for the course, and the one who fell down healed quickly and wasn't traumatized.
I didn't get to include the artists - they're too quick - but it looks like they had fun, doesn't it? Plus, quite a few of my letter stencils got punched out for me. Small fingers do quick work.
There was a baby visiting too and I got to hold him and do that mouth-blowing-thing-on-the-belly that makes a rude noise and makes kids laugh. (Do you suppose there's a technical term for this action? Guillermo (Gil/Billy) is perfect. He's the baby I wrote another post about because he has blue eyes, just like our mother and his maternal grandfather, for whom he is named. You can google "Gil" using the tool to the left.
Here is our star magnolia ready to pop. "Finally!" it's saying. "I thought the day would never come."
And last, but not least, is the copper embellishment going up around the skylight in the shower. The shower isn't quite ready yet. The tile has to be sealed and a couple other things have to happen, but we're getting closer. And now I guess I've caught you up to date - femminismo