Projects

Living in a 92 year old farmhouse means a life of projects to tackle.  Most of the work falls onto Sweetheart.  That's a lot of work for one person.  He had some help recently finishing the attic.  After he framed and hung drywall on some of the crookedest beams ever (the original wood not his framing), a neighbor helped him with taping, mudding and texturing it.  He was able to teach Sweetheart what to do and Sweetheart did it.
And so the attic is "finished".  That means it is finished enough to move it even if there are still more things to do to it.  So, nearly three years after I began packing up our old house to sell it, I finally have a space to create.  I love it.
I unpacked tub after tub of art and craft supplies and have enjoyed finding places to put it all.  I still have one laundry basket of stuff to deal with, but I moved in enough.  We were able to spread out and make some Valentines for people, even if some didn't get mailed out until Valentines Day. 
It's so nice to have a place to sit and think and spread out papers and paints and not have to clean it all up for the next meal!  I've gone up early a few mornings armed with my thermos of tea and or coffee.  I can sit up there and do devotions and even do some sketching and watercolouring. Joanne is my inspiration for that.
I've got several books on living creatively that I have been reading through as well and trying out some ideas and teaching myself a lot.  The Creative Call is one book I bought in January that I am really enjoying.  I bought Taking Flight shortly after Dumpling was born and am just now getting around to reading it again.  And The Creative License:  Giving Yourself Permission to Be the Artist You Really Are is the final one.  Now, all I have to do it get going on it all.
I am not one to consider myself An Artist.  I always think of my Aunt as such.  But, as I grow older I am learning to live more creatively and feel freer thinking of myself as one.  I enjoy creating beauty whether it is in writing, taking pictures, reading stories, gardening, or making cards.  I am learning that my life is my art.  I may never sell a thing, or be published, or whatever, but that's ok.  I am happier whenever I can be creating beauty in whatever form it takes.  We'll just see where it takes me.
Well, it's time to create some beauty in the kitchen and while I wish that was to be in the form of making some scones, it more just needs to be in doing the dishes I've left in the sink.  Since breakfast.
In all fairness to myself, I've been battling a cold since Saturday and have spent more time just trying to rest and get better than I have cleaning.  Which would explain the laundry pile threatening to overtake the downstairs washroom...I have been able to read though.  Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice are complete and I am in the middle of Mansfield Park.  Not bad for a few days reading!
Hmm...maybe I should whip up the scones and do the dishes while they bake...  ;)  I think I like that idea.  Having discovered how much a simple vanilla glaze can do for my scones has been a dangerous thing.  It's elevated an easy treat into something amazing.