wrap up

making stuff
i find my hands still want to make stuff, even though all my projects are finished. i have really really enjoyed making stuff, and i want to make more stuff. now that i don't have a deadline, or any recipients in mind, i need to figure out what the next project(s) will be. i was recently inspired by the detailed craftsmanship over at bella dia she has lots of sweet little felty things in her shop. i like working with felt, and i plan to do some more projects with it. it would be nice to find a local source for felt, so far i have had to order the stuff online. i also want to try my hand at felting wool from old sweaters, but i'm not sure that that will produce the finished quality that i'm looking for.

i posted some pics up on flickr of pre-holiday production around here (**spoiler warning** mary, if you like surprises, don't look until after your package arrives) i still have a few more pics i need to take before everything gets lovingly hand delivered to seawa.

i am signing off for the remainder of the year, i will return with pictures of, and stories about our adventures in the beautiful pacific northwest.

happy wintery whistle day everyone, tonight we will be celebrating with our first annual whistle day soup tradition (this year it's minestrone).

battling the dust monster

since i may soon be formally employed full time
i thought i might be a good time to take advantage of the being home
and do some cleaning
we are not much for daily/weekly light cleaning
we are more of the wait a few months
and clean the whole thing top to bottom
2 days before we have company or house guests variety

to go along with the much needed house cleaning
i got it into my fool head the the house needed to be re-arranged
ever since we moved in
we have been using the living room as the dining room
and the dining room as a living room
it seemed cosier that way
we have (sort of by default) a really big dining room table
the only room this 7' long table fits in
is the slightly larger would be living room
in addition, the would be living room has a fake fireplace
which renders one of the only corners completely unusable
and we tried, but couldn't imagine what configuration
would accommodate our couch and love seat
so we switched it up
and it has been very comfy and cosy ever since

but as the months and years have passed
there has only been one, maybe 2 occasions
that we have actually filled our huge table with hungry people
the most people we usually have over is around the 4-5 neighborhood
so we have this huge table
taking up all this space
in our relatively small house and it rarely gets used

so if we had a smaller table we could move it into the actual dining room
and we do have a few options for couch placement in the bigger room

all of this is just to say
my oh my
there sure was a lot of dust that needed to be
swept
vacuumed
and
swiffered up

there are still some adjustments that need to be made to the decor
we need to find a solution to the table issue
and we need to make a new coffee table
and we need to build shelves for the bedroom
so we can re purpose one of the nicer dressers for table linens
we need to figure out what to do with the television
and maybe make a screen/curtain for the door
to break the space between door and living room a little

but it feels much more open and roomy
i'll post pics when it's done done done
which will hopefully be soon soon soon

for today we are off the the art buggy derby
so no more house related projects will be getting done this weekend

feathered, hairsprayed, and terryclothed

so i got my hair cut
i had wanted something different
something short-ish

when i told RF what i wanted
she suggested something a little funkier
and i said sure, i'm fairly experimental when it comes to my hair
she has impeccable style
and the ability to give you something better
than you ever would have thought of for yourself
she's really good

so anyway
what she ended up doing to my hair
would be best described as a shag
it's tres 70's
and i'm not sure that i love it
but it's definitely different
it reminds me of jane fonda (circa. vietnam war)
only without the bangs
i feel like i should be fethering it back with a curling iron
and using lots of hairspray
and wearing a skimpy sundress made from terry cloth

the thing i do like about it
is that she takes a ton of the weight out of my hair
(i have copious amounts of hair)
and she has the ability to thin it out so i look normal
or atleast less like a shaggy animal
and it's short enough right now that i have to wear it down
and i like that
because if it's long enough to pull back into a bun or a ponytail
thats what i do
so it's fun to wear it down

dramatic weather

it seems like not that long ago it was 100 degrees. now it is alternately dumping and drizzling water. the wind is whipping like crazy and it is GRAY out there, i don't mind. it's kind of nice.
kind of cozy and comforting, but it feels a little abrupt.

we baked cookies last night. 1/2 peanut butter and 1/2 peanut butter chocolate chip and as coincidence would have it, america's test kitchen was on this afternoon making cookies
and while they weren't making peanut butter cookies, the still had some cookie baking tips that we could have used last night. they turned out LOVELY, but not as soft in the center as they could have been, they were ever so slightly baked too long