I’m skipping the product of the week today and instead posting this older composite image for M.
M is my new son-in-law and he, along with about 200 other men and women, returned home yesterday after serving overseas for the last several months.
Welcome home M!
and THANK YOU to everyone who has or is currently serving our country and keeping the rest of us safe at home.
It would seem that we now have some unused space in our house. This house has always felt too small before but with K & L both moving out over the past month we now have extra space.
Hummmm……. What to do, what to do…………..
I’m thinking NEW SPACE FOR ME!
Could it be that for the first time since 1986 I have a chance to create a space for myself????
Yep; I’m that old.
Can I really get my computer and light tent out of the kitchen and take my yarn out of the plastic bags in the closet?
Could I even have one place to sit down and pay those bills instead of having them tucked in a plastic envelope and crammed into a corner?
Is it possible that we could actually use all the kitchen space for, dare I say, a kitchen?
Oh yeah! I’m going to do it!!!
I’m going to create a multi purpose space; a studio/office/guest room space.
I will, with a lot of help from D and maybe even a friend or two, turn this newly empty room into a new space for me.
See all this nice empty space just waiting for me to move into! 
OH; it isn’t completely empty. See my “new” used desk? Just look at that 5 foot long solid wood heavy-duty thing waiting patiently for me to take over. I picked it up for just $20 from a very successful office building in our state capitol. I’m hoping that some of those creative juices are still running through it.
Ok so first we must fix that old damage from that leak where the storm caused the rain to come inside. Hey! this is Kansas, we get some huge storms around here. The roof has long since been repaired on the outside, and now all the old yucky stuff on the inside needs to come down. That old green carpet must go; and a lot of new paint must be applied.
I gave our old friend Google a workout and made him search for tips and ideas on setting up an office/studio space. I found that if you have a large space and do a lot of indoor portraits it’s a good idea to paint those walls flat black so that you do not get a lot of reflections going on and you can stay in control of your lighting. This space is not that big and I don’t do portraits; well not posed indoor studio type anyway. I also found that if you have a very small space and do only product shots without a light tent it’s a good idea to paint those walls a satin finish white to help keep that light bouncing around from all directions. This space is not that small and I do have a tent; Ok so I’m in need of a new one but I do have one. I also learned that a nice light to medium gray is a good compromise between the two, it won’t reflect as much light as the white and is neutral so that it won’t give you odd color casts, and it’s much more livable than a claustrophobic black cave.
So I’m going with gray. Right now I’m thinking white on the ceiling to brighten things up a bit, light to medium gray on the walls, and a darker gray on the floor (unless we put in a wooden floor) And just because it is going to be a multi-use space I’ll add a bit of a decorative touch by painting the little bit of wood work in white.
I’m thinking of going with black and white for the furniture, and of corse wood grain because of my new desk and the old wall shelves that I’ll hang. Hopefully I can make that work. I’m thinking futon instead of a bed or couch so that it can be used for both with just a quick unfolding. Hey! don’t laugh. I’ve seen some pretty ok looking ones, and besides it doesn’t have to fancy anyway.
Yep; if I place the furniture in carefully, like putting together a puzzle, I think I can create a studio/office/guest room that Bella Dog and I can hang out in all day.
Wish me luck! I’ll try to remember to take more photos along the way I just don’t know how long this will take to do or when we will actually get started.
Wow; the last time I saw an empty room in this house was many years ago when we first moved in. So strange.
I finally got around to getting a quick shot of L & M’s new puppy. They named him Balto, you know like the dog who saved the little girl by getting the medicine through the blizzard.
Our Bella Dog is 6 years old and in that 6 years I have forgotten just how much work a new puppy is. I simply appreciate how calm Bella is now, how she gently rings her bells when she needs to go outside, how she simply lays by my chair (or sometimes on the couch) and rests quietly while I work, I love how she just watches while I cook supper (Ok; so she’s really waiting for me to spill something but at least she’s quiet about it.) I really love how she doesn’t chew on things that don’t belong to her and how she never bites! And even though it can be a little annoying at times, like when I step on her toes, I even love how she follows me around throughout the day. My little 4 legged shadow.
Yep; I’ve almost forgotten how puppies are.
Little Balto came into the family full of energy and looking to play; too bad old Bella Dog isn’t that playful anymore she gives him a good loud “leave me alone kid!” bark every now and then.
He also came with a few crawly bugs in his fur that the vet had to get ride of and some tummy troubles that has made house breaking difficult. Poor little thing has had a rough start. But he’s learning.
Now his bugs are long gone and his tummy troubles are on the mend so, fingers crossed, L can get him housebroke quickly. He has learned that when he rings the bells someone opens the door and he gets to go out; he just needs to figure out when he should ring those bells. When he is sleepy he lays quietly by L’s side and is at his cutest. He likes to hang out in the kitchen and Bella has taught him to watch for falling scraps. Nice Bella; why don’t you teach him something useful. He has a long ways to go with the whole not chewing on things that don’t belong to him, and he is very nippy. He bites at people when he gets the chance so L has a lot of work to do there but she has a plan. He knows his name and will come running when she calls him; not when I call him. And he follows her around, well, like a puppy!
He is really getting the idea of “sit” and working on what “stay” means. He walks on his leash pretty good for a little guy and loves his pillow and blanket.
All in all I’d say he’s a pretty good pup, now L just has a lot of work ahead of her. Oh, M will be back in the states soon so don’t feel too sorry for L she won’t be training him alone much longer. In fact they have found an apartment and we’ll be moving things in on over New Year’s!
More exciting times around here!
Who said the kids could go and grow up?
It’s Christmas time again! Just a few days away now.
We have all been busy around here lately so I haven’t had time to take many pictures or even create many new products over at the Zazzle store but I did snap a quick shot of Bella dog this morning. Crazy pup refused to even look my way! I think she is getting very stubborn in her old age. After all she is six years old now.
So what have we been doing around here that has kept me from my little ol’ camera and away from Zazzle at a time when I should be busy making lots of new things?
Well; it’s so nice of you to ask. 
We have been moving K’s things so that he can get settled into his new apartment; it’s a really nice place. He has been sending pictures every now and then to show us what he’s got done; like setting up his computer, hanging curtains, building a big ol’ book shelf for all his books, hanging awesome rope lights for decoration and extra lighting, and lining the cupboards with shelf paper. Not much left to do now but unpack the last of the boxes and get his little Christmas tree up. I think he’ll be fairly well settled in by the time we go back out there again.
We have also been busy getting ready for Christmas I made all those fun crocheted ornaments, I’m working on what I hope will be a great gift for my sisters but they may have to wait till after New Years to get it. It is taking me a lot longer to make them than I thought it would.
and…
L and her fiance M have a new family member. They now have a little husky puppy named Balto. M hasn’t got to met Balto in person yet but he will be back in the states before too long. L and Balto are home for a while right now for a Christmas visit and plan to hang out until the New Year. I had almost forgotten how much work a new puppy can be! Maybe I’ll try to get a few pictures of him sometime this week too.
I hope you are all busy getting ready for the holidays in your own part of the world! Have a good one; I’ll be back again as soon as I can.
Have you ever been to a parade on the hottest day of summer and been sprayed with icy cold water from a giant squirt gun as a truck full of teenagers passes along the parade route?
Kind of refreshing isn’t it.
Well I now know what the wintertime equivalent of that feeling is.
A few days ago I went downtown in our state capitol with #7 and L. We were there to help a friend pass out hot chocolate from her shop [which sits right on the route of the Miracle on Kansas Avenue Parade Festivities]; and to watch the parade.
Before the night was over she passed out about 100 cups of sweet warmth to other parade onlookers. They were all very happy to have it and I think she picked up a new client or two along the way.
It was “Shop Small Business Saturday” so there were lots of folks wondering around downtown, there was also a 5K going on [they had blocked off the street early in the afternoon for that], then there was the lighting of the large Christmas tree lit up by the flip of an even greater oversized light switch, we heard carolers, saw families sitting along the parade route wrapped together in blankets to keep warm, it was all a great time up to and including the parade itself. I think I’d have to say this was the best parade I’ve been to in a very long time.
L and I left #7 and her friend to hand out the last of the hot chocolates and we made our way to the curb across the street from the large tree. There we watched the end of the 5K, I was very surprised by how many kids were running in it. I’m talking little kids of 6, 7, 8 years old!
And guess who else was running that 5K….
Santa himself! He was out there getting in shape for his big night.
After the runners were done and found some warm blankets for themselves [which by the way were being sold at a convenient location right there on the main street! Someone had a good idea.]; there was a speech, carols, and just as it was good and dark the large tree was lit up with the flip of that huge switch.
About the time we were starting to “dance” around to keep warm and I was beginning to shiver making it impossible to hold the camera still. The parade started…
There were entries of every kind from friendly drive-in car hops on roller skates handing out free coupons to a mean looking roller derby team. There was the usual candies being tossed out to the crowd and a huge truck from Frito-Lay tossing out little bags of chips. We saw Santa many times; he was on a motorcycle, on trucks, in trailers, in sleighs, walking along side that creepy looking Predator from those horror movies, and even being pulled along by the Grinch.
We saw the Grinch several times too. Once he even ran right up to the camera yelling “Take my picture! Take my picture!”
…so I did.
There were hot rods, classic cars, fire trucks, tractors, skateboards, boats, horse drawn wagons…; and everything was lit up best they could with Christmas lights.
But my favorite part of the parade, and I think just about everyone’s favorite, passed by just about the time that we had gotten so cold we could no longer feel our fingers and toes or stop the shivering. It was a parade entry from the hot air balloon club…
They had 6 burners on the backs of two floats and as they went along the parade route they fired them up and shot flames up into the cold night sky. That is the wintertime equivalent of those squirt guns on the hottest day of summer. As the burners flamed up along the way you could hear the crowd sigh in warm relief and then cheer as they flamed up again. I was really hoping that there would be a pause as they passed by us and that they would have to stick around a while; but no such luck.
We did however get several blast of warm air as they slowly moved on down the road. Yep; I think that may have been my favorite part of the night.
Oh and all the awesome lights too!
And
now…
it’s
Christmas
time!!!!
If you would like to see more parade photos check them out at KKHPhotos.com.
