View Full Version : Lughnasad to equinox
Chicken lady
8-7-19, 6:08am
It’s a new cross quarter.
so, once again with more ambition than sense, I am laying out goals.
my class ends in two weeks - so finish class work.
the classes I TEACH start soon after that, so syllabi, welcome letters, classroom set up and lesson plans.
Exercise - i’m still Trying to swim twice a week, maybe getting dh to do yoga with me again or riding the bike.
and I am working on clearing out and reorganizing my home pottery studio - this will not be done by equinox.
other potential areas of focus - garden/barn work, basement (which is actually getting worse with the studio project, but just because water is coming in faster than you are bailing, you don’t stop bailing), and basic cooking (things like bread and cheese which I have let slip.)
I can never quite decide if it's better to just include a couple of my "big rocks" to keep me focused on that which is the most important, or to include some smaller, quicker hits to get the satisfaction of checking things off my list (one of life's great pleasures!) and let me feel like I'm accomplishing stuff.
I've selected 3 items in order of priority and also in order of time/energy consumption:
Strip kitchen cupboard
Renovate front garden
Replace plants in front of birdbath
Good luck CL. It's supposed to be good for our reach to exceed our grasp, or so they say!
I had to look this up. It is until September 23rd.
1. Visit with family coming from out of state.
2. Do some more day trips. It would nice to combine this with #1 but I don't see that happening.
3. Clean up the yard. After yard waste is picked up this month refill the barrels with the rest of the brush laying around which is an eyesore.
4. Find out what deals are out there for fall home heating oil.
5. Finish the books on my list from 1000 Books to Read Before You Die
6. Would like to get an electrician in but that involves DS; at a minimum get him to borrow DB's gadget to see what outlets if any need to be grounded
Yppej: Does your town pick up brush? Our does not, and after a recent pruning session, we have loads of brush and branches. I have my little branch chipper and leaf shredder, but it's going to take me forever. We just have one leaf pickup in the spring and 3 in the fall.
Rosarugosa, we have 5 or 6 pickups in the spring, 5 or 6 in the fall, one each in June, July and August and one in early January for Christmas trees.
That sounds a lot more reasonable!
Chicken lady
8-8-19, 7:59pm
Today was good. I cleaned stalls and mulched part of the garden.
i worked on one of my English classes.
and I worked in the studio barn a bit.
last fall my gyno put me on prescription iron. Then my gp told me my numbers were back up and I could stop taking it when the prescription ran out. The prescription ran out in April. Red blood cells live up to 4 months. 4 days ago I decided to put myself back on the same dose with otc tablets. Today I started to see a difference - I was physically active all morning, and I didn’t feel wiped out until 7pm.
Chicken lady
8-16-19, 8:11am
Well, it’s been over a week.
my stalls will need cleaning again soon, but they are in good shape for now.
i still need to do lesson plans, but, for my two English classes, I have everything ready that I will need at open house on the 25th. I have 11 classes to go, but six of them are repeats that will just need minor editing and three are variations of the same class - i’ll write the high school one and then edit it for the younger groups. - clearly that is the focus for the next week.
i go down to finish doing the glaze work for the class i’ve been taking this morning, then drop stuff off at the reuse store and do some classroom set up.
I did swim twice this week.
i’ve done A lot of work on the pottery studio and it is significantly better.
the basement is notably worse, but I expected that. It is still better than it was at the beginning of the summer.
rosarugosa
8-16-19, 9:15am
CL: It sounds like you have been productive. I don't know if you have this issue, but I think another reason I sometimes shy away from my most important, but most time-consuming projects is because I don't get the satisfaction of something being completed for such a long time. I want my gratification to be more immediate! It sounds like your basement and studio are two big projects.
I did replace the plants in front of the birdbath, which was the smallest of my 3 projects but has a significant visual impact. I had to dig up and relocate the daylilies that were there and then dig up and move the asarums to where the daylilies were, but we are pleased with the result.
I spent a couple of hours stripping the cupboard the other day, and I'm finally getting the sense that I will be able to actually complete this project in my lifetime! It looks like hell as a work in progress in our kitchen, but I figure that's another motivator to getting it done.
Chicken lady
8-16-19, 9:12pm
Rosa, I like to have a big chunk of time so I don’t have to keep quitting while i’m Still interested - that just makes me frustrated. I think I timed the studio well, because i’m Running out of time and my attention span has gotten shorter. Partly because i’m down to sorting little stuff and hard decisions.
you finished a thing! It doesn’t matter that it was your smallest thing. It’s like paying off the smallest debt first to give yourself a sense of progress.
my boss asked me for a rewrite on one of the syllabi, so step backward on that. But I dropped three small storage racks off at goodwill. Two of them were in the basement and one was in the studio.
and I did finish my glazing, drop stuff at the reuse store, and work on my classroom. Long day.
The family visits are over and I took care of the home heating oil.
rosarugosa
8-17-19, 7:49pm
Home heating oil is a big deal - good work!
I spent at least 3 hours today on Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. Here she is as a work in progress, both so you can visualize my project, and so you can feel glad that your kitchen most likely looks a lot better than mine does right now! I am starting to feel good about my progress at this point though.
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Teacher Terry
8-17-19, 9:17pm
Rosa, I stripped all the paint off our woodwork in our old house in Wisconsin when young, a door and stained and sealed it. What a job!
Chicken lady
8-18-19, 5:25am
Rosarugosa, I am so sorry someone painted those cabinets!
Yppej, good job on the heating oil.
Yesterday was a “mini vacation” - spent the day doing fun things in the city with dh. But I am still working on the syllabi.
What a pretty cupboard, Rosa!
It's becoming popular to paint "brown" furniture again. I see some stuff and think that the next generation will be cursing these painters as they try to get it back to it's former glory.
The yard waste was picked up and I refilled the barrels. There are lots of big weeds underneath where the brush was but it is too hot to clear that area now.
iris lilies
8-19-19, 6:41pm
The family visits are over and I took care of the home heating oil.you bought your winter oil now, at presumably low prices, right? I learned about this when we visited New Hampshire.
iris lilies
8-19-19, 6:42pm
It's becoming popular to paint "brown" furniture again. I see some stuff and think that the next generation will be cursing these painters as they try to get it back to it's former glory.
That trend, painting it all with chalk paint, has been around for a while.It is part of the shabby chic look that isnt going away.
That trend, painting it all with chalk paint, has been around for a while.It is part of the shabby chic look that isnt going away.
Right - I remember my mom "antiquing" a dresser in the early 1970's. Soon after, "old wood" was fashionable again. Now we're painting. I'm planning on painting our 1970's builder's grade bathroom and kitchen cabinets in the next few months, so I'm not bashing it. Just saying I won't be surprised to see folks wanting original wood again in the next 10-15 years.
I cleaned up the weeds where the brush had been. Now I need to cut down plants for fall. I noticed the peonies are all discolored white, so they will be first on my list.
rosarugosa
8-20-19, 6:35pm
I am actually planning to paint this cupboard. I think it would take more of my life's energy than I'm willing to expend to get it clean enough to refinish as a "brown" piece. There are many gloppy layers of paint on it that make the doors stick, and the hardware is all painted which looks crappy. So my goal is to kind of start from scratch and prime and paint it properly.
I expect this weird little cottage will be considered a tear-down once we depart, so I don't really see myself as the custodian of OMHC for posterity. I guess I'm really just doing it for my own satisfaction because I think it's a really cool piece.
I do see some wonderful antique pieces that have been chalk painted and it kind of makes me cringe. I think it's a great look for old generic pieces, but not for really fine wooden furniture. I agree that people will be stripping a lot of these pieces in the future.
rosarugosa
8-20-19, 6:36pm
Good work Yppej! I definitely need to get some weeding done!
Just saying I won't be surprised to see folks wanting original wood again in the next 10-15 years.
Right? Our kitchen and bath cabinets are solid Alder. We've been here 28.5y. I'll never paint them nor will I ever replace them.
I am actually planning to paint this cupboard. I think it would take more of my life's energy than I'm willing to expend to get it clean enough to refinish as a "brown" piece. There are many gloppy layers of paint on it that make the doors stick, and the hardware is all painted which looks crappy. So my goal is to kind of start from scratch and prime and paint it properly.
I expect this weird little cottage will be considered a tear-down once we depart, so I don't really see myself as the custodian of OMHC for posterity. I guess I'm really just doing it for my own satisfaction because I think it's a really cool piece.
I do see some wonderful antique pieces that have been chalk painted and it kind of makes me cringe. I think it's a great look for old generic pieces, but not for really fine wooden furniture. I agree that people will be stripping a lot of these pieces in the future.
You might want to look at Heritage All in One paint. It has good reviews. I'm going to use it to paint my cupboards. It has the primer, chalk paint and sealer. You clean the wood with a degreaser/deglosser and paint a couple of coats. if you're painting a light color, you'll need to use a primer like kilz.
rosarugosa
8-22-19, 12:57pm
Thanks for the suggestion, Beckyliz; I will look into it. I used to always have good luck with Rustoleum glossy enamel, although it's been many years.
Chicken lady
8-23-19, 6:47am
i made six nice pots in my class, using several new techniques. I picked them up this week. I really really like two of them.
my syllabi and welcome letters are done. My classes are set up on Canvas and ready to go live on Sunday.
My classroom is in good shape - they hadn’t finished cleaning my watermats (those area rugs that hold water and dirt) so I have a little bit of furniture to put back in place before the open house on Sunday - 20 minutes tops, ten if one if my students shows up to help.
no swimming this week, but yoga once and three hours of stall cleaning that left me sore.
progress continues on the home pottery studio.
basement/garden/barn have been hit and miss.
and I have done no cooking.
i still need to do some lesson plans by sept 4.
rosarugosa
8-24-19, 6:04pm
CL: Sounds like you're in good shape for the commencement of classes. I have done no cooking for pretty much my entire life, so don't feel bad. :)
I did a lot of work on the cupboard today, spent at least 4 hours. I've definitely reached that turning point where I know that barring an unforeseeable disaster, I am going to get this sucker done!
I checked out the last of the books on the list I am working through from the library.
Chicken lady
8-31-19, 7:25am
Yay for books!
rosa, i’m Glad you feel good about the cabinet.
Open house went well and my classroom is now set up down to laying out materials for my first class. I do have a few more things to take in from a rummage sale yesterday though.
not quite done with the lesson plans.
swam twice, made frozen custard, dried green beans, and baked chicken breasts to freeze for dh for salads.
progress on lesson plans, but not quite there.
dd1 wants to join the fitness center and swim with me starting Tuesday.
DB did not have the right gadget. DS is checking on the cost to buy one.
I finished my reading project.
Chicken lady
9-9-19, 8:54am
Good job on the reading project!
i got lost about the gadget?
my first week of school went well. I am currently prepping my lesson plans for tomorrow and Wednesday.
I swam twice - once w/Dd.
i got work done in my studio this week including firing a load and used part of my reclaimed clay backlog, although I am making it messier. I need to do regular tidying. I applied to join a local market that meets the last Saturday of each month. I also put my name on the nailing list for a juried show, which is a big step.
i worked a bit on both the garden and the barn.
The gadget checks if outlets are grounded.
Do you swim indoors? It is already chilly where I am.
Chicken lady
9-18-19, 6:34am
Haven’t checked in with this for a while!
i do swim indoors. I have a membership at the health center at dh work for only $15/month! And they provide towels!
school is going pretty well. I’m a bit swamped, but keeping my head above water.
i’m swimming, keeping up with the barn - bought a new buck for breeding this year, and got accepted for the last Saturday market, so i’m Trying to get some fresh work done for that. We’re going to see ds this weekend, so i’ll Regroup after.
I am doing more yardwork, cutting things down for fall.
rosarugosa
9-19-19, 5:44pm
CL: I would love to see pictures of your work sometime and I'm sure I'm not alone in that!
Yppej: The cooler weather definitely makes yard work more pleasant!
I have renovated the front garden to the extent possible for this year. I will do more work in the spring and there are some plants I want to add that were not available this fall.
I am pleased with progress on the cupboard. I'm guessing I am two sessions away from completing the heavy duty stripping with the heat gun. Then I'm going to go over it all with chemical stripper and do some light sanding. I have some carpentry fixes to figure out, and then I can prime it, paint it, and add the new hardware. At this point it feels like it's become my life's work ("what gives your life meaning?" my cupboard! lol).
Chicken lady
9-19-19, 8:35pm
Ok, now i’m Drowning.
I hope not literally from the swimming CL. Hang in there.
I am stuck too. I pulled up so many false sunflowers past their prime my hands blistered and I have to wait for them to heal.
rosarugosa
9-20-19, 9:02am
I hope not literally from the swimming CL. Hang in there.
I am stuck too. I pulled up so many false sunflowers past their prime my hands blistered and I have to wait for them to heal.
If you have an Ocean State Job Lot nearby, they have the best gardening gloves I've ever used, and for only about $3.00 a pair. They last a really long time, so they are definitely a frugal win!
I have gloves but I was stupid and did not put them on.
rosarugosa
9-21-19, 5:50am
Sometimes I get caught up in the momentum of doing something and can't make myself stop for the 2 minutes it would take to get the sunscreen, bug spray, kneeling pad, gloves, etc. that would ultimately make things easier or more comfortable, so I can empathize!
Chicken Lady how are you doing?
Chicken lady
11-7-19, 8:00am
Badly.
i read occasionally. Will post again if things in the real world improve enough to feel like anything on the Internet is worth my time.
iris lilies
11-7-19, 9:12am
Badly.
i read occasionally. Will post again if things in the real world improve enough to feel like anything on the Internet is worth my time.
Awwww, I am sorry to hear this. I hope things look brighter for you soon.
rosarugosa
11-7-19, 9:58am
I'm sorry, CL. I always liked reading your contributions to the Forums.
Teacher Terry
11-7-19, 11:47am
Sorry to hear that. I enjoy reading about your little farm.
I hope things turn around soon.
I really hope you can find your way back more often!
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