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Showing posts with the label artsy-craftsy

Almost Ready

Dear Blog, For the past…mumble…years, the Husband and I tell ourselves, “We need to paint the garage door.”  At least retouch the peeling parts, we say. Each time, I say, “Let me have a go at it first. (Meaning let me have fun to do whatever.) If we (meaning the Husband) don’t like what I do, then we’ll paint it the normal way.” Of course the idea of painting the peeled parts of the garage door makes me gulp. I overthink it, I freeze up.   Methinks that after this morning, I am nearly ready to go for it. While watering a couple of potted spider plants, I noticed that they’d be better off sitting high off the ground. Looking around, I saw a sturdy plastic file drawer that set upright would make a perfect plant stand. It was a bit dirty and dreary, but nothing paint would hide. Voila! We’ll see if this is the year the garage door gets touched up. Truly yours, Septuagenarian Barefoot Susie

A Delightful Day

Dear Blog, I don’t understand chairs that have a front side higher than the backside. Those chairs throw off my body big-time. Lower back grouches, cheek muscles buzz, and knees say “You know better than to sit on this chair.” As for my dangling legs on those chairs, dang. I often perch on the edge of a chair so my feet can say hello to the ground. There you go, my complaint for the day, uncomfortable chairs.  In the otherwise department, I’m feeling quite chirpy. Three things that happened within the past several hours:  Uno) Paint brushes came out. The above photo is a peek of my painting in progress. Dos) We got a 10 cent/ per gallon discount at the gas station, 30 bucks for a full tank. Whooo-hooo! Tres) We saved 60+dollars at the grocery store, thanks to coupons. Plus the organic peanut butter, ground bison, canned bamboo, and juices were on sale. Score, luxuries! Today’s yummy homemade meal: Ground bison burger with deep fried tomatoes, fresh basil, and lettuce on a toas...

August 7, 2024

Dear Blog, Life is good. Hopefulness and joyfulness are in bloom! Truly yours, Septuagenarian Barefoot Su-sieee! P.S. Three things I did today. Ran errands with the Husband. Doodled. And, rested to recoup energy from a fun, busy week of doing nothing. 

July 12, 2024

Dear Blog, This morning I painted the board temporarily planked down as a bridge in part of the backyard. Squirt, swish, smush, scrape….My intent was to use up the box of pour paint. (I didn’t.) Because I didn’t feel like searching for more paint brushes, I painted with twigs, dried flowers, and a toy train, toot, toot. Body parts that haven’t bent, reached, and moved in a while now twinge and ache. Worth it! Truly yours, Septuagenarian Barefoot Susie

July 8, 2024

Dear Blog, I renewed my domain name for another year. So, here I be. Will I be a consistent writer this time around? We shall see. Three things I’ve done this morning: One, I gathered all the jade trimmings around the yard and sorted them into throw-aways and to-be-propagated. Two, I painted a hat. Three, I am writing this blog post. Until next time (possibly tomorrow) Sincerely yours, Septuagenarian Barefoot Susie

Three Days to 70, Gulp.

Like being 70 is any different than being 69. Of course it is! A new adventure around El Sol! A revolution in the making, yes sireee.  Isn’t that a darling angel in the photo? She used to be all beige. And, check out her green sparkly friend. It’s fun to do something new and different. In this case, it was playing with glitter and not making too much of a mess. Simple things. The Husband and I have a rating system for driving mountain roads. Gulp, double gulp, sweaty palms, and, the worse, double gulp and sweaty palms. If this past year was a mountain road, I’d rate the drive so far as a bunch of gulps and an occasional double gulp. Fortunate, am I. 

Counting Down to 70: Day 12, Playing

My latest thing is to nurture succulent cuttings in glass containers filled with layered colored sand. Coloring sand is also a new thing I tried this year. It’s easy-peasy to do. Mix acrylic paint little by little with sand until you get the hue you want. 

Counting Down to 70: 15 Days, Changes

Monday, Monday. What scintillating things did I do today?  A pearl choker wrapped around a wooded bracelet…voilà, a Christmas ornament in the making. The Husband and I moseyed down to the hardware store to purchase a package of packing tape, one six-outlet power strip, one surge protector, a bag of cactus and succulent soil, and a bag of orchid potting mix. When did the employees get so young? Even 30 year olds look like babies to me.  I finally read the operating instructions for our new washing machine. Nothing fancy, nothing smart. Simply turn dials, press button, and walk away knowing the machine will do its job correctly just like the old machine had for 18 years. With good fortune, this new machine will last for my forever. How was your Monday? 

The Last Thursday of 2022

  My wise Mama liked to say, “If something doesn’t work, oh well. Try again.”  And that was my aim throughout 2022, The Year of Experimentation.  Try this, try that. Give that a try. And, if a try doesn’t work, try another way. Try until I am satisfied and then give another way a try. Why not?  Here are some  highlights of my 2022:  1.  Paints poured and roared over paper, canvasses, and other surfaces. 2.  Beads and buttons and bits of jewelry were strung into sun catchers. 3. Fabric, paper, pictures, and etcetera were turned into cards, collages, calendars  hangings, and a headboard. 4. I got over my fear of sewing elastic, as well as practiced patience ripping out worn-out elastic from pants and skirts. 5. I got back into writing poetry . 6. I’ve opened the folders of an unfinished project I started, oh my gosh, 40some years ago, about the history of Filipino Americans in my hometown and county, where I was born, raised, and returned....

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❣️

Today I’m linking up with Art for Fun Friday and  Friday Writings . And, yes, indeed, today is Saturday. 🙃  Art for Fun Friday I created the fabric collage (above photo) recently on the backside of the board that we use for a makeshift coffee table. The board sits on top of Daddy’s hassock which, too, needs mending. (So many things to repair in this house.) The board’s original purpose, once upon a time, was the Husband’s drawing board.  Here’s the collage on the board’s front side, which I call the front because I covered it earlier this year. The collage is a combination of fabric, wallpaper, magazine photos, and vintage magazine ads. Fun! Friday Writings Prompt:  bleeding hearts Some people consider me a bleeding heart . The more hostile simply say effing libtard . I say, “you’re welcome.” Who’s the Bleeding Heart? You drop money in the church basket. You pray and ask for prayers. You go along with whoever you think has the the money, the glory, the fame, the po...

Treasures

Oh, my gosh, did I have fun shopping last Saturday morning! Good pal L and I stopped in at the thrift store, which was having a half-off everything except for the jewelry, and two garage sales. I scored, I tell you, like a bandit. The photo shows some of the stuff I’ll be reusing, repurposing, and enjoying. All together, I bought: (1)  Five picture frames, of which one is a framed bulletin board (2)  Two silk scarves and a pair of black shorts  (3)  Two paperbacks and the Pride and Prejudice DVD with Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy (4)  Seven or (or is it eight?) metal racks of assorted types and sizes (5)  Fabric scraps, including a yard or so of felt in gorgeous peacock blue (6)  A 6.5-inch tall ceramic mug with blue flowers (7)  A basket that looks like a picnic basket Yogi Bear and Boo Boo might steal (8)  A long two tier candleholder centerpiece, which may become a planter for succulents (9). An old pasta drying rack (that will probably n...

First Week of October Highlights

Art for Fun Friday ( 1)  Thursday came and went before I finished my post for  Thursday 13 .  So many things by which to be distracted—painting, housekeeping, weeding, reading, gardening, wandering on the Web, watching movies, talking with the Husband, cooking, and so forth and so on. I love my life as an old lady.  (2) Today’s prompt for  Friday Writings  is “a hobby that brings you peace.” Gardening, definitely. Painting, also. I like it when they overlap, for example, the  planter box of transplanted Jupiter’s beard in the above photo. The left side of the box was painted a couple years ago. I painted the right side this week because I decided to place the planter at the southeast end of the sidewalk and I wanted something colorful to face the street.  (3) Doing research is fun. Sometimes I think of Google as being an 8-ball when I &ask a yes/no question such as “Can I plant canna lilies next to vine geraniums, maybe two feet away?”   ...

A Sewing Work in Progress

Here’s one of my work-in-progress projects, a wall hanging I had planned to enter into this weekend’s county fair. When I got to this point, I didn’t feel like rushing the details. There’s no need for me to do a slap happy job simply to make the deadline. Nor to work into the wee hours like this was an essential job. Nope. After all, I can always submit the wall hanging next year, should it tickle my fancy. Tickle, tickle. I love how the volcano turned out. The green velvet fabric is actually a sleeve from a top I wore in my single days and the red zipper is from a dress Mama sewed for me when I was a kid.  That blue ziggy line shiny material is part of  Mama’s blouse circa the late 60s/early 70s. The plaid heart came from one of Mama’s sleeveless  blouses. Mama was one styling chick! Sharing today’s creativity with Ms. Gillena’s Art for Fun Friday at  Lunch Break.

Another Ramble

(1) Let’s see, today, for our main meal the Husband and I ate a melange of five left over dishes from the last two days, or three. Or, four. Garbanzo butternut soup, couscous with chimichurri sauce, sauteed onion and squash, ground turkey   burgers, and roasted red and green peppers. The flavors blended quite well together, surprisingly and with great relief. We ate our portions all up. No leftovers, hurrah! (2) To go along with our meal I concocted an ooh-la-la drink. Passion fruit juice with a jigger of rum. Ooh la la! (3) The Husband and I toasted to the last day of our 25th year of marriage. Tomorrow: Hello 26th!  Clink, clink.   (4) Maybe next year we will be dancing with our friends and family to celebrate our 27th anniversary. I also would like us to throw a party for the septuagenarians among us. We shall see. (5) The last two weeks I’ve been working on my entries for the county fair. That’s some of the craft entries in the photo above.  (6) Yep, that’s a jui...

Hodgepodge Rambling

(1) How hot is it? Well, the Husband is wearing a tank shirt and shorts and walking around the house barefoot. I pretty much do that every day, but not him. (2) It has been seven days of temperatures in the high 90s and triple digits! The iPad won’t charge any further than 80 percent when it’s this hot. If the weather guys are to believed, we’ll feel the last of 100+ degrees today. Knock on wood, cross my fingers. This excessive heat is uncommon for our area. I’m thankful it’s unaccompanied with oppressive humidity. (3) We’ve managed to get by without the the air conditioner or heading to a cooling center. Doing the old-fashioned practice of closing and opening curtains to the sun and staying inside have made it bearable. It also helps that we have a big shady tree in front and a bunch of fruit trees in the back.  (4) We’re one of the few homes that have mature trees on our street. I wouldn’t be surprised if some neighbors wished we’d remove our trees. Earlier this year, a neighbor...

Sitting Among Rainbows

(1) This morning we walked around the block. Definitely a big deal for me who haven’t done much walking. I’ve been getting my exercise playing in the garden, hauling, digging, bending, reaching, pulling, and so forth and so on. I also got a good workout vacuuming the stairs last week.  There’s nothing like stretching my legs though. Best of all, my knees didn’t pop and cough until I took my shoes off, thank you very much. Yeah, I’m still waiting for my turn with the knee surgeon. (2) Other than in my head,  I haven’t felt much like writing. Thus, my latest absence.  (3) It took me awhile to start letting go about feeling guilty for not writing, which I’ve been doing for fun and for a living most of my life. The latter, unnecessary for the present, thankfully. I’m rambling.  (4) Once upon a time, one of my high school teachers told me I could never be a writer because I ramble too much. She, with her bra strap constantly peeking out of her sleeveless blouse. The wise ...

Molly’s Table

Molly’s dining table was a single white shelf that once belonged to the Husband’s dad who used it in his office. The shelf was the perfect height for Missy Molly by Golly to enjoy her water and meals.  As you can see, Molly’s table is no longer white. Painted and slapped-happy glued with fabric scraps, snipped pictures and photos, and rose petals, it was.   Was I ever excited and impressed to see the rose petals stay in place when I set the table upright? The Husband asked if the colors will fade. We shall see.  Molly’s once dining table will become a plant shelf on the table, which was Molly’s dining table in her  young and spry years. Jump.  I consider this end of the living room where the table sits as being Molly’s space. It was where she came out of her carrier the day we brought her home and where she let go of her last breath to soar into the Universe over a month ago.  And, in between times, this well-lit, airy side of the living room was where the ...