Sculpting again.

She has a way to go, but I think this wee little wooden jointed doll will be a favorite.

The others are mostly finished...just need, um...arms, legs, and clothes.

Okay, lots of work left before the Oct. doll show in Austin.  I've sold enough dolls that I really need to finish more, or else I'll have a couple of pretty bare-looking tables!

And in other news...

Our cool mid-fifties house deal fell through.  The seller was crooked, and now we're having to work to get our $2,500 earnest money back (he didn't even own it to be selling it).  So I've dealt with it--because I really loved that rambly old house--but I'm still angry at how this guy could be involved in a market of serious investors.   

The good news is we've got a new deal going on a little work-horse of a house near our other two...a 3/2/2 that needs a medium-sized rehab of around 15K.  One of those little houses I wouldn't want at my current stage of life but which would have been perfect when I was young and starting out.  I like these little houses, because I like being a good landlady for a young family living life, raising babies, and making a history together.

This little house has a great backyard with big old trees.  I'll have to fight the urge to landscape it--it's not that kind of rehab--but I do look forward to seeing the Before and After Photos.  Here's a pair of pictures of the first project we did, before and after...

Well, looking at the house this way, it's not all that evident what we did.  I'd have to include all the pictures of the rotted siding, ripped out walls, broken windows, and moldy kitchen.  Ah well.  Currently the little family living there is expecting a new baby in December, and they're raising chickens in the back yard.  (That's legal in San Antonio city limits, as long as you only have three, and as long as they're quiet.)

If somebody had ever told me I would enjoy being a landlady, I'd have asked for some of whatever they were smoking.  But it's really okay.  Yes, it's really okay to create passive income from a house.  Let's not kid ourselves--we work to make money, and before I get one rented, it's a lot of work.

But more than that, it's a real people job, and I didn't expect to like that part of it as much as I do.  So...on to the next project, and another little family.

Goodbye new/old friend.

I put my kiln on Craigslist yesterday.  Along with allllll the clay and glazes and tools and pyro cones and...

It's sad.  Seriously made me wanna to just say NO!  I'm KEEPING IT!  I wanted a kiln for so many years, wanted to sculpt and glaze and make my own dishes.  Wanted to make all the cool planters I see in my head for the million house plants around our place.  Wanted to make tiles for the Dream House kitchen backsplash.

I had the kiln--with the coolest little pottery studio ever--for almost two years.  I fired it exactly twice.  Yes, there were lots of reasons I didn't get out there...between the colonectomy and the doll shows and the record heat this last summer (no AC in the shop).  But the point is, I didn't.  When I want to do something bad enough, I make time for it.

I really do want to do all the pottery projects, all the dishes, planters, tiles and sculptures.  But apparently I want to make dolls more.  So I put the kiln on Craigslist, and I will NOT beat myself up over practically giving away hundreds of dollars in glazes and gear.  Some talented potter is out there, financially strapped but born to play in the clay.  This set-up will be the beginning of an artistic miracle in his or her life.

I did make some things, and these will serve as my souvenirs of the time I lived in Pottery Land. 

A vase for Mary Jo.

A tiny Schultz.

An owl tealight.

A Dia de los Muertos windchime.  More like a wind-clink, but I like his grin.

Sarge, the six-fingered pencil holder pot.

A crazy tiny planter.

A tiny bowl for buttons or something.

The kiln.  Waiting for her new home.

Despite my knowing that it really is time to let it go,
the goodbye is still a little hard to take.  

I hope Talented Potter hurries up, so I can move on.

Almost Finished.

This is a dangerous time for me, with regard to my Clean Out campaign.  The Almost-Finished-Now-I-Could-Actually-Work-In-My-Studio phase.  Having taken an alarming number of donations to Goodwill, my house is almost ready for

a. company
b. the realty market
and
c. doll making.

That last bit is what worries me.  I am NOT done yet, and the urge to create is returning stronger than ever.  When I was a kid, I ran long distance for our junior high track team.  Coach Rice used to tell me something that made more sense the older I got:

"Always aim for a finish line ten feet ahead of the one they set."

For runners, this alleviates that tendency to slow up at the last second, possibly losing the race.  For my current situation, it means simply: finish the job. 
All the way, and then a little beyond.

The next week or so will pass, regardless of what I do.  So I have to choose NOW how I'm going to feel when I'm on the other side of it.  Will I be anxious and a little flustered that things are still disorganized and dusty?  Or will I be content with a job well done, and free to really concentrate on my art? 

Hope your Thor's Day is awesome.

New Store?

First let me celebrate: WE GOT RAIN!!!  It was a two-parter...a quick drench on Saturday, followed by a limb-busting thunderstorm on Sunday night.  No damage here, and now I don't have to water until Thursday. (Yes!) 

Now to the point.

The hubs and I decided it's not worth the time, effort, and merchant account bills to attend the arts & craft fairs anymore.  I'll do a couple of doll shows a year, but otherwise, that's it.  If we made and sold small things that fit the cheap-import-price-point mentality of so many art-fair shoppers, things might be different.  But since my dolls, his journal covers, purses, and framed works are each such an investment of hours and materials, it doesn't make sense to sit for two days in a booth while people look at our items, pay lovely compliments, and then go next door to buy the $12 set of quilted place-mats next door.  (Please note that I too love quilted place-mats.) 

To that end, I'll be setting up an Etsy store for him.  To THAT end, he spent the weekend taking pictures of belt buckles, journal covers, etc. etc. etc. so I can write and post the listings.  He learned a lot.  He cussed some.  He realized why I haven't done any of it yet.  :~) 

So sometime in the next little while, I will introduce Hermits Garden Leather on Etsy...maybe we'll have a grand opening sale.  I love grand opening sales. 

Hope your week is swimming along the way you want it to.

142nd post...

I could have sworn I'd posted more than that.  Hmph.

Looking back though, I can see I sometimes went a couple MONTHS between posts, and until lately, if I posted once a week I was downright chatty.  The trend for posting more often has been a good one, and I've enjoyed it, so it will continue.  I think I'll celebrate by having a giveaway.  I've been offered a chance to earn a free copy of a My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software if I give away a copy.  First I have to try it, write a review, and figure out how it will work for my blog/online store applications.  But I'm confident it will be fun to try. 

If you've used scrapbooking software, what do you think of it?  Since I don't scrapbook (in the traditional OR virtual sense) I wasn't even aware there was such a thing. 

In other, MUCH more celebration-worthy news: only six months til my daughter and her family (hub and twin boys) move here from Japan.  She'll definitely be here the four months of her cross-training into another AF career field.  But there's a good chance she might actually be stationed here!  I try not to think about it too much, just enjoy thoughts of those four months, and not get my hopes too high.  I have nine grandchildren, with a tenth due in November...and I never see any of them.  I can't wait to teach them gardening...and painting...and sculpting...and...ahem.  Where was I? 

Well, anyway, here's Vincent and Connor.  They just turned five in June. 

It's TWINS!!!   :~)

Renee and Jeremy, proud parents.

Two weeks new.

Their first Halloween.

Hard day at school.

Best buds.

Botanical studies...

Mother Nature had some things to tell me
this morning during my weekly tree watering. 

She said I need to listen carefully, 

because she had no intention of shouting,
or spelling anything out.  

Just because you get your feathers singed, 

it doesn't mean your goose is cooked.  

There's a time to work and a time to rest.

Know which is which. 

Sometimes, the fruit of your labor has thorns.
Proceed with caution.

Always clean up one mess before you start making another.

When times are hard, being tough is more useful than being pretty.

You don't accomplish as much when you go it alone.

The grass is greener over the septic tank for a reason.

Sometimes wonder is the correct response.

Being called a weed doesn't make you one.

Take nothing for granted.

BOOKS!

Actually this is a Cleaning Out My Life post, akin to what Dixie Redmond is doing with her Clean Slate campaign.  Our supposedly Lazy Weekend has not been so lazy, at least not for me.  I spent the majority of yesterday cleaning out our office library.  Wow.  I ended up with EIGHT tote-bags of books for the Half Priced Bookstore.  They pay cash.  Not much, which is bad, but enough, which is good because the last thing I need to do is bring home books in trade!

The process for weeding them out?  Painful, but enlightening.  

I asked Phil to take out any he didn't want.  Then Miss Ruthless took over.

1. Do I need this book for reference...or self image? 

(Old literary tomes.)

2. Can I not get fiction from the library? 

(Favorite Steven King stories.)

3. Am I reeeeelly ever going to build an adobe oven in my backyard?  

(Uh, maybe not.)

So in the end, the shelves contain lots of art books, mythology studies (first true love), gardening, herbalism and brewing, field guides, dictionaries and bibles. 

Oh, and kid books Granny Jan can read with small people when they visit.

(Miss Ruthless can just back off the kid books--I'll never give up hope.)

I can see the floor in the office now.  Who knew this room was so big? 

Tired but stoked.

Looks like we'll be good to close next week...amazing to me that we can close on a house in just a smidge over two weeks, from purchase agreement to keys.  Wow.  Amazing that I even know what any of it means, given my vast ignorance of the real estate industry less than a year ago.

Now to plan the renovation.  Landscaping is under the pervue of yours truly, and that's what I'm stoked about.  Since the weather is cooler (down in the mid-90's) I'm itching to dig again...and this time, I'll have a budget and be able to actually shop for plants.  Holy Silverado Sage, Batman!

This time next week, they'll be starting the foundation work...should be interesting to watch, as they have something like 25 piers to put in and have to lift two sections of the house at the same time, since the slab is broken in two places.  Scary stuff.  Then we'll see what damage was done inside to plumbing, tile, walls, etc.  As there is cracked tile and drywall everywhere already, I think the plumbing is the only real concern.

EDITED TO ADD:
The hubs is not happy with the survey, because the added-on garage and guest suite in the back extends WAY over the building set-back line.  But it's been this way for twenty or thirty years, so now we have to wait and see from the lender if this a real problem or only a minor inconvenience.  If it's a real problem, we'll be out $800 in survey and appraisal fees...
Real estate investment...it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.  Oiy.

Down Time

Riiiiiight.

I have been jumping through hoops for weeks, my house is a wreck, the garden all but dead of record heat and drought, we just bought another house to rehab, and the holidays are coming up. 

This weekend, the hubs and I agreed that we're going to try to go one place, once a month, that we've never been before, just to go.  To explore, enjoy, and experience. 

But right now, all I want to do is finish the monster of art-fair-booth-RV laundry (it was pretty dusty in Ol' Bandera) and clean my poor neglected house.  The weather is helping...it's all the way down to the low-to-mid 90's.  Who would have thought of simple house-cleaning as down time? 

Music?  Check.
Iced Tea?  Check.
Trash bags for Goodwill donations?  Check.
Let the cleaning begin.

Kitchen Pics (Before)

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures I took myself, just the ones off the MLS listing.  But either way, there's no way to make the "Before's" any less grim.

That is the original Kitchenaid range hood, and I plan to have the contractor clean it up and put it back.  It won't match the stove, but it's just too cool to do away with it.  

The kitchen has light beige tile, which will all have to be replaced when the foundation is lifted.  (Thank goodness the same does not have to be said for the wood floors!)  As much as I'd love to do a black and white linoleum, I have to conceded to the Common Denominator and remember this is a house to sell, not a house to renovate my way. 

The cabinets will be stripped, sanded and repainted: 56 years of paint on them right now.  Bottom cabinets darker (warm gray, sort of "putty" color?), the uppers will be the off white of the rest of the house's trim.  Black appliances (this is not a granite/stainless steel sorta neighborhood, market values dictate.).  A dark floor tile, as close to slate as I can afford.  The counters...no I can't do the Boomerang Laminate with metal trim, as much as I'd love to.  So instead, a darkish speckled gray/black with some warm elements in it... 

I think this kitchen is essentially the Universe telling me I need to learn to compromise.  It won't be an easy lesson...but maybe I'll be better off for it.  :~)