Working Away

Why is it that when I couldn’t possibly have anymore on my plate, I somehow find time to add more things to the list.

 

On my ‘Immediate’ to-do list for the last several weeks I have had strip the bedroom wallpaper, organize the closet a bit better, and re-organize the kitchen cabinets as I think they aren’t laid out the best way.

Then a few weeks ago I added paintings for sale at Studio 33, then I added the wedding guestbook tree for Joe and Maria’s wedding. Then just on Thursday of last week I added paint the panelling in the basement to brighten the room. Followed by repacking the Christmas decorations in their own bin (rather than the box) when I was digging things out for a yard sale. This list will never end. And I’m ok with that. But I do think I need to get a grip. No more adding stuff to the list to make the less interesting things get set on the back burner.

So now, instead of the clean and tidy house I had this time last week I have a guest room that’s in disarray (since the Christmas decorations are spread out all over the room) I have a basement with a pile of stuff in the middle of the floor (because I started to paint the first oil coat), and the closet/kitchen cabs have gotten no where near done.

But the guest book is coming along, just about ready for paint. And a painting is done to sell at the shop. And I’ve worked a bunch of hours and fit in a day at the beach. All in all it’s not to shabby. Now, since it’s absolutely gorgeous outside I’m going out to enjoy. But for real, on my to-do list today, I’m organizing the kitchen pantry (hey, that’s a start right?). Packing up the Christmas decorations. And then working on the guestbook tree some more. Those are the important things. The things that will help the house run more smoothly. And, probably take less time. Because let’s face it, a gorgeous day outside should not be wasted on wallpaper removal. The next rainy day though….then it’ll be back at the top!

 

As for when you are going to see that painting I finished, well you are just going to have to be a bit more patient (while I live with it a bit longer and make sure I like it the way it is).

Hope you can get a chance to enjoy this sunshiny day!

Distracted Me

I didn’t post yesterday. And I may be a bit sporadic in the next few weeks (think a few times a week instead of the daily post I had been doing the last few weeks).

Here’s why: Some of you may know that I work at an art gallery. A small gallery in a ‘city’. It’s the biggest ‘city’ around and there’s a lot to do in the area; we get a lot of summer tourists. Sailfest is a big weekend long festival type event with the largest display of fireworks in New England, or so I’ve been told.

What’s that got to do with me? Well the art my boss let me display in the shop is completely sold out. There is nothing left, and with the influx of tourists for Sailfest come an inundation of people looking for souvenirs, nice ones to take home. To account for this I was instructed to paint up a storm in preparation. My boss needs more of my paintings. How cool is that?

So every morning I’ve been getting up earlier so I still have my time to laze about, and then painting for an hour or so before work, and an hour or so after dinner. All this on top of working, making dinner, laundry, wall paper removal in the master bedroom (peeled off the outer layer, still need to attack the glue), and generally keeping myself busy.

As if this wasn’t enough though, one of the weddings I was blessed enough to be invited to this summer (1 of the 6!) asked me to paint a guestbook tree, you know where the guests stamp their fingerprint and the couple has a keepsake to hang up in their house rather than stash an old book somewhere? How cool is that? It’s my first non-family commission. (Meaning they aren’t just asking because they feel bad!) Here’s an example from Etsy.

Needless to say I’ve been a bit distracted. I’ve left the door open to my studio one to many times, and with oil paint laying around…well Gingersnap stepped in it with her paw. I hope she didn’t try to lick it off to much and ingested poisons…guess this means I’m definitely not ready for kids yet. Darn! (Sarcasm).

So, now you have the upfront explanation of where I’ve been, or will be.

see the paint on the little paw?

no?

how about now? *headdesk*

 

p.s. no time to edit today, so feel free to either point out my errors and I’ll fix them later or just content yourself with the fact that I am busy painting, as these picture took forever to upload and I missed out on 30 minutes of precious painting time.

It’s a Jungle Out There Part 2

The last time we talked about our back yard we talked about the massive overgrown bushes that filled up the backyard. I talked about how overgrown they were, and how we would have so much more yard if we got rid of them. But other than tackling the thorn-bush (mostly, but we tired out before we got the roots hacked out and it’s starting to grow back, most take care of it ASAP), and planting a small veggie garden we didn’t get much done.

So I’m back. To show you a photo from the deck along the back of the house towards the right. Prepare yourself. It’s really a jungle.

Right in front of you is a ginormous rose bush…that clearly thrived without any attention. Abutting right up to it is a hydrangea about to bloom at any time. Behind the hydrangea (you can’t see it for the massive rose/hydrangea in front of it) are a tiny (smothered) Japanese Maple, and a huge prickly (I hate it) evergreen. Blech. Then there is one of the air conditioning units, and our house. The little bump out is actually the stairs from the garage to the house, thankfully closed in at some point. Right in front in probably the only patch of sunny grass that’s in the back yard is our vegetable garden. Peas, asparagus, strawberries lettuce and tomatoes are growing now…more will hopefully fill in. And the blueberry bushes are doing great.

Beyond the garden is a bit of patchy grass, and the tree that dropped a limb the first night we owned the house that caused us the first neighbor grief. In fact if you look close enough you can just barely see (before the fence is obscured by bushes) the lighter toned fence panel that we were ‘going to pay for’. Thanks to USAA, we weren’t.

Along the back of the fence is a few rhododendrons, some evergreen bushes, and a super scraggly cedar tree. The pathway between the rose and the bushes is almost non-existent. But I’m a bit worried if I prune them at all I’ll kill them. Eventually I’d like to clear out all the saplings, trim back the bushes, and even clean out under the bushes to make it a cleaner and less scruffy yard. But, like everything else that will take time.

Now for a bit of a ‘tour’ of the backyard for all you folks back home who have no clue what it looks like out there…

From the french doors that open out of the library we have this view of the deck:

You can see the comparison of the rose-bush (which is taller than me) to the giant rhododendron behind it. The deck is about three feet above the ground for all you math types. This deck was power washed and pristine right before Tropical Storm Andrea came though…not only did she dirty up my deck she proved the worth of my downspouts and gutters. And even though we (Bryan) had cleared out the gutters twice already this season (thanks to the neighbors huge tree) the down spouts had apparently at one time gotten blocked up enough that torrential rains from before I woke up to after I went to bed was enough to make them into fountains. And at 9 or so at night Bryan was out there doing some minor surgery and a Mcguyvered set up to keep the crawl space from flooding. (Hurray it worked and here’s the set-up)

To the left of the deck (what was behind me when I took that first picture) is this brick patio, our charcoal grill (and the one left by the previous owner chill out here with their friends the weeds. (I really have tried getting them out and given up after frustrating failure. Any weed tips?). The offending gutter is the one that’s disconnected. It was meant to go under the patio right passed the crawl space door and out the other end of the house (this is the master bedroom wing FYI). Surprisingly Bryan’s balancing act with the sticks and the green bucket directed the water out away from the house and saved the day. Hooray!

Here’s a better view of the side yard, which really has the ‘backyard’ feel. There’s more grass, and it’s the nicest grass on the property.

This lovely hole (really the gap in the bushes from the rhody to the evergreen) was where the ginormous thorn-bush was. The short mini bush is it valiantly trying to come back. But we aren’t going to let it. Someway, somehow this sucker is coming out. And in the process all of these stinky weeds are coming out and we will seed with some more grass. 

Our house from the farthest corner of the property. The deck, the patio, the second air conditioning unit. It’s all there. The two tall skinny windows are the ones that flank our bed. And the lovely pains of glass are the 4 foot wide sections of the sliding door that we replaced. Hopefully the contractor is coming back to get them like he said….Oh, and up front? This is the first of hopefully many fruit trees (to add to our garden). I’m standing down just a bit of a hill and we plan to eventually terrace this bit of a hill and move the garden over here. Especially in conjunction to pruning back and even removing some of the overgrown bushes this will give us more yard.

More of the grass and side yard. With the thick planting of evergreen trees it’s pretty private and quiet back here. Oh and you can catch a glimpse of our first ‘ripped out of the yard and no place to put it’ pile.

And from the other end of the yard looking back. I know I just mentioned how private it is back here. And You are all thinking I’m crazy because there obviously is a house that looks out onto our yard, but it’s actually the garage of the lady whose fence our tree killed a section of during the first weekend. And all of the scruffy stuff that’s growing along there is on her property. Why she has a 4 foot deep section she can’t access I’ll never know. Eventually our forsythia and lilac bushes ( there are three mini ones planted that you can’t see in the photos) will help block out that mess.

Taken from the same spot as the previous picture I’ve pivoted to show you the front, and yet another (much smaller) ripped from the yard pile, part of the fence, the overhanging arborvitae (thankfully are the neighbors), an azalea, and then the rhody next to the front door along with the front beds.

More of the front

From the front right hand side of the driveway, just a glimpse of the Japanese Maple.

Looking towards the right side yard (and there’s the tree that knocked over a section of the neighbors fence). Oh and my patch of wildflowers…a bit random but the yard was bare there…down the road those two evergreens will come out and softer bushes will replace them. The front one is one of those prickly kinds, and the back one would stay but it was damaged with the storms and is actually tied upright. It’s half as big as it was since it lost so many branches, but it helps soften up the house and hides the electrical boxes and trashcan from view so it works for now.

Right now this is our junk area. Un-used flower pots, trashcan, tomato stake, it all hides here. But, we are down to our last few rolls of carpet (been throwing away the blue carpet and carpet pad, along with all the other trash that comes along with moving bit by bit in whatever room was left after we threw away house-hold trash. Then we can do a massive garage clean out and start fresh. The flower pots can relocate to the garage and it will be much nicer, and hopefully less buggy.

And here’s almost back where we started. You can see the garden, the air con unit, the evergreen, a sliver of the maple, and then the large and overgrown hydrangea and rose-bush. On the right is the overwhelming (in that we aren’t even near 10% done clearing things out and the pile is already so large) pile. But the garden will move to the small hill in the yard, and as the fall comes upon us and it’s a good time to prune things we will. Hopefully, this time next year things will look much more manageable.

Can you feel it? I’m not typically the claustrophobic type, but when the branches close in around me, and I walk through the inevitable spiderweb even though I’m flailing my arms wildly to prevent it, without fail I can always feel it on my face. Ugh. But I walked through that tiny pathway between a prickly rose-bush and a holly tree just to snag these pictures for you. LOL. But seriously. That was me outside twenty minutes ago.

That’s the end of my very long outdoors tour. I’m kind of impressed with myself that I followed through and did it…and that I actually took more pictures than I used (and you thought this was a lot!).  You are welcome. all three of you lovely readers. And Aunt Jani who always loves my posts, Hope you enjoyed the little tour!

Website Design

I’ve been busy these last two days. Working Hard. SO hard. I was doing a website re-design, tweaking the branding, and punching up the social media impact. I was doing it for the art gallery/picture framing shop I work at in town. Now, I’m no web designer. I should say I have no official training, but I’ve been working at learning more with this website here at BottledSunshine.org, and was able to translate that over to the new Studio 33 website. I’ll post some screen shots, but feel free to go over to the OLD website. To tie in better with the email address, and save a bundle of money we went with a new url. Because I want you to be able to see both at the same time, at a big enough size to be viewed well, I’ll post the before and afters together.

Here is the original home page.

Here is the new home page.

Let’s point out the obvious. The color scheme has changed. The owner wanted to include aqua, and thought changing out the burgundy for navy would create a more crisp, shore-line look. A fresh re-branding if you will. But to be sure not to leave the old look entirely in the dust; we kept the column and the colors sage and white. Personally I love the look. It got freshened up, but still has the timeless feel of the store (it’s been under this name for 33 years!) We added a new updated picture of the owner to really round out the updates.

On to page two:

Here is where we really see the monotony of the original website. The same three column look was continued from page to page, and the sidebars stayed the same. Let me tell you I fought with that baby for a year now to reconfigure the column width or mix it up a bit. I found out yesterday YP had locked the configuration in, so at least it made me feel better about the fact I couldn’t do anything with it.

The corresponding page on the new website has one image added to it, but getting more are on my to-do list. Not only will we talk about the ready-made frame shop downstairs we plan to have a selection of the frames available for sale pictured on the page.

Page three:

This page was more frustrating than most. Every time there was a new show I updated the website to reflect that. The only problem was the ability to add more than one photos…well it was like pulling teeth. Especially when the write-up about the show was long (like this one) because the vertical space we had was limited. So there was also no ability to keep record of older shows write-ups.

Here is my creative use of screenshot-ting, to include more of what I’ll be talking about. Drumroll please the website entered the 21st Century. We have a blog now, and can easily post more pictures, and leave events up on the website so we have an online record of past shows. You don’t know how excited I am about this.

Page 4 on the old website had a vertical ‘gallery’ of photos.

We still haven’t gotten to that stage on the new website, but we have added a page about Studio 33, to give more of a background of the history and to highlight some of our merchandise and the custom picture framing options we offer.

This was the one page on the old website that had a different layout. It was also probably the most helpful with a link to get directions.

This corresponding page on the new website is one I am particularly proud of. Not only did I manage to get a map in the sidebar of all the pages but the Welcome page (intentionally) I included easy directions from the three directions you can come to get here (South is Long Island Sound) and the fact that we are a train,bus and ferry, and the links to their websites for ease of getting tickets.

That’s the page in a nutshell. I still have to add photos of merchandise, framing jobs we have completed, and more of the inside of the store. So I know it’s not finished. And anyone that has any suggestions, you are more than welcome to make them! But for this week…I’m done.

To Switch or Not

Let’s talk about those pesky light switches. I’ve never  really paid attention to them before. Probably because most houses I’ve visited/lived in had matching switches in every room, or they seemed to. Maybe I just didn’t pay attention to all these silly details back then. Or maybe other people have mismatched switches and I just don’t notice because it wasn’t important to me. Kind of like that talk I got in high school, ‘don’t worry about the spot on your face because everyone else is thinking about their own and won’t notice yours’ except instead of spots we are talking about switches. Though, I’ve never owned a house to pay attention to before, but maybe it’s the same principle.
As with many choices the previous owners(I’m saying that plural because I don’t know which of the 4 previous owners it was, though I have acquaintances with all of them, I could probably find out) made, the colors/materials/time periods don’t match from one end to the other, and the switches don’t match even on the same walls, let alone rooms. The replacement of the switches will be slow going, along with all the other projects we are in the middle of that are slow going mostly because I must have some sort of creative attention disorder. Painting walls, furniture, trim, actual paintings, cooking crazy stuff, decorating- they all get in the way of each other. So this post is not a reveal so much as it is a mid-week laugh at the conglomeration of switches we live with on a daily basis. How about a tour?

This lovely floral number with the cream switch lives on the master bedroom side of the library. It’s on a white wall, so the cream switch really bothers me, but the colors actually relates pretty well to our bedroom so I can almost justify keeping it. Almost. But as soon as we start fixing up the library this one is going to go! Any takers? One white switch with white cover plate will ensure this beauty is on it’s way to you! (I’m mostly kidding because I don’t think anyone wants even part of my crazy collection of switches, but maybe today is my lucky day!?)

It’s definitely a crummy iPhone picture, but this switch is just on the other side of the door jamb from the last switch we saw. It’s mirror, and has a lovely etched pattern in it. Did I mention it’s a mirror? What decade does this switch come from? At least the switch matches the wall…not. Since I’m going for white trim (at least to start) I’d prefer my switches & outlets are white as well. The cream takes away the crispness. Oh well.

Isn’t this one great? It’s reflective, but not a mirror (meaning it’s all warped and crazy because of the screws and a real mirror is glass with silver applied to the back). This is back in the library, tucked in the desk nook. Every time I turn my head to the left when I’m working at the computer I get this lovely view of myself in a hole-y (because of the switches) carnival mirror. Yes, all of these switches are used, and I haven’t seen a switch plate at Home Depot or Lowe’s to replace it in a non-reflective, or really any material. Tips?

At the other end of the library we have this lone ranger. A black switch with a white switch plate. The thing is even more of an eyesore because of the contrast. Oy vey. It’s on the same wall as the first floral one we looked at, and there is a reflective outlet cover just on the other side of a corner.

It’s time for the master bath. This might be the first photo I’ve shown of the master bath. Don’t worry, I’ll show befores before we rip it out, but I have months and months and years before we get to that point so you’ll just have to wait, along with my camera since neither of you have gotten a tour. Where can I start? Hm, the switch plate isn’t big enough to cover the hole in the wall (yes I’ve looked for replacements again to no avail) the outlet and switches have been painted over, at least twice. Once a lovely pink, and then it cracked and crumbled and then a tan. Aren’t they just beautiful?

This lovely set of whatever they are is in the wall between the kitchen and the library. This used to be an exterior wall, so I’m wondering if that’s why the one set of outlets is in a bumped out box? I’m also wondering why we have outlets at eye level. If moving them was in the works I’d be happy, but as it is I think they are staying. Five points to whoever can tell me what the ‘outlet’ is on the left! Once again the crazy switch painting person was let loose on these suckers…blue. ha. ha. And we aren’t done yet. boo.

 

Upstairs in the purple bedroom we are lucky enough to have the Three Stooges grace our walls. The screws actually are printed to match the switch plate cover. And it’s a hysterical conversation piece. This one is for the golf fan, which we aren’t. But when we give the house tour it’s one we always point out.

On to the last one on our tour!

We almost forgot about the near extinct wall paper covered switch. So far we have removed the wallpaper off of two switches, and already thrown one two holed switch plate away (it was an aquarium scene, sorry you missed it!) But this wall paper switch is a real beauty. It was part of an accent wall in the master bedroom (that I am still halfway through peeling off the un-permeable layer to get down to the glue to get rid of it entirely). Soon there won’t be any textured paper left in our house and we will be in business.

And just think I didn’t even begin to show you the outlet covers, I forgot to snap a picture of the black outlet cover with paint chippy switches and there’s also the motion sensor pair of covers to catch an intruder, just like the movies (except this was from the seventies and doesn’t work).

Well, there you have it. A glimpse into the crazy previous owners design choices (as if we didn’t already know that they were crazy with their liberal use of royal blue shag and pepto pink walls). As we get the switches and trim in each room to be the same color I just know our house is going to look even more pulled together. So we will be switching the switches. Slowly but surely. Anyone want to trade some matching white switches for one of my crazy ones? I just know that three stooges one is a collector’s item!

Anyone else rescue their house from mismatched switches? fixtures (we are rocking gold, silver, chrome, and brushed nickel in the master!)? appliances?

Homeward Bound

What a great movie. I was always a fan of Sassy. And that Chance was annoying, but I digress. Today is not a ‘home’ post, it’s just going to be a re-cap of our trip home, and the accompanying emotions.

This past weekend Bryan and I went home, to my parents, for the first time since Christmas. It was great to be back in the area where I knew all the roads and could get from point A to point B without consulting my phone. It was great to see my family face-to-face instead of via picture messages.

 

We were able to fit in a wedding (Congrats Karstie and Chris!); my little taller brother’s birthday (yay Alex!) Can’t believe you are 15, and almost as tell as Brandon! Bryan and I are soon to be the shortest of the family. And we also got to fit in my sweet cousin’s 30th birthday celebration (you looked gorgeous Em!) It was great to see my sweet cousins, don’t see them near enough and we were so glad we could make it.

I have years worth of memories of us playing on the beach, making plans that someday our kids would play on the beach together, like the big family groups with lots of adults and tons of kids. Maybe someday we will actually fulfill it!

Those two family events made it more than worth the 8 hours in the car. And the two hours of traffic. Seeing my mom, dad, brothers, sister, grandparents, cousins, and aunt made it such a great weekend. We missed a few cousins, and an aunt and uncle, wish they all could have come. My family is small, very small, and those who have passed away left behind holes that can’t be filled, but I am so thankful for the few I still have. *tear

It was fantastic to visit my parents church. The new building was fabulous, but the people that make the church were even better. The church we attend here in Ct is great, but there is nothing like knowing so many of the large congregation and being greeted by them. I’m part of the family there. It’s a stark reminder of how much nicer everyone is in PA compared to New England. Sure, we have the ‘stand up and greet one another time’ here but in spite of my best intentions no real connections have been made through that. Yet, in five minutes at FBC we met a great couple, who I have no doubt we really would have become great friends if PA was still our home.

But thankfully, there is technology where I can live far away and connect to the people I left behind. It’s a real blessing. All of you who comment, like, message, and text me are appreciated more than you know.

I know I am very blessed by my life, my family, my husband, his and my jobs, and our house that we are working very hard to make it into a home, but the depth and breadth of our families, church connections, and dear dear friends makes it so very hard to leave. In fact, every time we come home, definitely including when we go to my in-laws and their church where I don’t have the connections I have at my parents, it’s hard. We struggle with not wanting to come home, because it makes the pain of leaving again so very fresh. I cry. I cry for the first ten minutes of the drive and then I’m ok. Bryan is of course much less emotional, and I try hard not to be upset, because I know this is where we are supposed to be, and I don’t want to burden Bryan down, worrying unnecessarily about me.

I’m happy to be with Bryan going back to our house. But that doesn’t mean I miss all of those in PA any less. It doesn’t mean I didn’t wish for those connections here. Because I do. It’s hard to know I’ve lived here a year and though there are some good connections, they aren’t the ones I left behind. I know it will take time, and prayers. Both of which I have been, and will continue to invest. We know this is where God wants us, even if we aren’t sure of why things are the way they are.

But don’t worry about me, even though this post wasn’t all happy, I really am ok. Even in the land of Bottled Sunshine, there has to be a few clouds, otherwise we’d never see a rainbow. My parents went through a similar time when they lived in Germany. Sure it’s a great place to live, and nice to travel and see the sights, but just like Pastor Jon said yesterday in church you need fellowship with God, and other believers equally. So we just need to work on our fellowship with others locally.

I wasn’t intending this post to be written like this, but me, and the few readers who like to keep up with our life in Ct, this post seems right. If you are the praying sort, and I pray you are! Would you pray for Bryan and me? Pray that we can make some deeper connections, pray we can get even more involved at church, and pray that even if connections like those we leave behind in PA every time we come home aren’t going to be made here that we can just keep moving on, with our chins up, satisfied that this is what God has for us? I appreciate you more than you know, and am so thankful for the ways we can interact and stay in touch.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with more home stuff.