A little DIY...

Actually, any DIY is major for me! I purchased an old lamp at the thrift store while living in my last apartment and the switch has always been bad. It finally got to the point that I couldn't get it to stay on no matter how I tried. I've had a Make-a-Lamp kit sitting around the house for a while now, but wasn't quite sure if I wanted to try doing it or if I would wait until my son-in-law, Adam, seemed to have some spare time. Since he's working full-time and building a house in the evenings I decided not to bother him with what seemed like a small project. SO, I broke that kit open this morning and tried it myself.

I quickly became irritated at the instruction sheet. They kept throwing terms at me for the parts without any pictures or explanations, so my next option was....YouTube!

I watched three different videos, and each was slightly different, but none had a lamp quite like mine. Theirs all had a solid tube that they fed their wire through and it was much easier than my old lamp that just had a round hole in the ceramic and I had to figure out how to affix the brass threaded pipe so it was secure. After several tries I finally figured it out.

The video that helped me the most was this one:

This gal has a channel called See Jane Drill, lol. She showed how to make this underwriter's knot (is that the right name?) and then laughed and told us we had to untie it because we still needed to thread the wire through the base cap of the lamp assembly. (I did a LOT of threading and unthreading of the wire before I got it all right.)

A few pics of my process and successful finished product:

Yes, this is the knot I had to untie because "we" forgot to thread it through the base cap before tying. ;)

This is the antique plug that was on it before. I'm saving it because it's SO CUTE! The pretty bookmark is one my boys brought back for me from South Korea many years ago. It's a treasure.

Yay! So nice to have this little corner lit again!

 In a couple of hours I'll go over to Micah's and watch the  younger three while she goes to the school and watches the elementary kids and their Halloween costume parade.

Yesterday I spent several hours at Micah's while she and the two smallest went grocery shopping. I did some dishes and laundry and generally picked up, swept and vacuumed. I like to slip in and do some cleaning once or twice a week so she can come home to a tidy house. I know she has lots of homework in the evenings and it makes me feel useful. I took my computer along and did some of my online browsing while I waited on laundry.

Here are a couple of things I've finished and mailed off lately. This elephant postcard I showed you in a previous post, but I added watercolor.

Another lady requested a cow. So...

I watched The Sound of Music a couple of nights ago and just cried through much of it. It was a favorite with my family when I was about 11 years old. We must have had the soundtrack because I remember our family going for a drive in the mountains (we lived in Colorado at the time) and singing Edelweiss, and we even sang parts! On another occasion we sang a song for some visiting relatives. So, it holds a special place in my heart and I hadn't watched it in quite a while.

I just started watching the White Collar series. It didn't sound that interesting to me, but my daughter recommended it and I really enjoyed the first installment. I'm finding lots of movies and TV series at my local library. I guess a lot of folks donate their movies after they watch them, because some of them are fairly recent movies.

Well, I'm feeling a little eleven o'clock-ish so I'd better rustle up something to eat. Thanks for stopping by to hear about my exciting life! :) I'll try to return the favor soon!

Shalom, my family and friends!

Thanks for your prayers!

Josh was able to get a new vehicle using his insurance money for a down payment. His previous vehicle had been paid for, but he knew the insurance money wouldn't buy something reliable. So, he now has a car payment (as he said, like a real adult) but he said he's being blessed in his work and he thinks he can handle the payment. God will provide! Thanks again for your prayers. Here's my grandgirl, Starry, posing with the new/used car. :) At least, I'm assuming it's used. He didn't give all the details. Safe travels, little family!

Micah, Hazel and Audrey have all been under the weather the last couple of days, but everyone seems to be doing better today. Micah and I were at Walmart yesterday (along with Sully and Della) doing our grocery shopping together when Micah got a call from the school saying that Hazel was having tummy problems and was running to the bathroom a lot. So, we wrapped up our shopping and went and picked her up. She wasn't in a lot of distress, but they thought she should go home, of course. Then last night, after Micah took the girls to AWANA, Audrey 'fessed up that she, too, had missed lunch and recess because she had been in the bathroom. Micah told her she needs to tell a teacher if that happens again so they can call her. Audrey said she didn't want to tell anyone because she didn't want to miss school! That's our little Type-A Audrey! Anyway, all better today.

So, this mom will try to take a day off from being concerned quite so much with kids' challenges. But, of course, I will continue to pray without ceasing, I'm sure. You all know how that goes.

On the more artsy side of life, this is a postcard I'm making (4"x6") per a request on my ATC site. I'm planning to do colorful splashes of watercolor to finish it, but I thought I'd better take a photo of it beforehand, just in case I ruin it, ha ha! The gal I'm making it for likes "whimsical" elephants. I'm not good at cute or whimsical, so I thought some wild colored paint might fulfill that part. Actually, this is for a Blind Postcard swap,(meaning the recipient doesn't know what they're getting) so I could send her any theme I like, but I try to send something they've mentioned liking on their profile. So here he is...

 Looking through the pictures on my camera it looks like there are lots of photos I haven't shared of artwork, etc., so hang on. I'm about to dump it all on you!

Here are more of the pen and ink drawings for Inktober...

white gel pen on brown toned paper

also on brown paper

A thrift store mug.

One of the snails I brought home from the lake shore.

These four are for a Loteria swap. I'll post the finished versions below.

This little hedgehog was to fulfill a request on the ATC site. I also counted it for Inktober. It was outlined in ink and then finished with colored pencil. The background is a piece of decorative paper with handwriting and an image on the left. That's why it looks kind of weird. :)

We also did a Book Lovers swap where we drew stacks of books or bookshelves containing each person's favorite titles.

This gal mentioned that she likes badgers, so I added one. She also likes old postage stamps, so I used some decorative paper behind the bookshelf that had an image of an old letter on it. This bookshelf took SO LONG to make that I drew the rest of my cards, lol.

I just drew random books from examples I found online and then slapped titles on them, so their thickness doesn't correspond to how long the book would really be. The kids and I studied Beowulf in homeschool, so I know it's a very small book. But hey, it's all in fun!

Here are those Loteria cards after I painted them. Some of the images on Loteria cards are very politically incorrect, but probably culturally correct. I think the El Valiente one represents something to do with bullfighting, hence the bloody knife.

 My Facebook friends probably saw all my pictures down by the lake, but I'll post a few of them again for others. These were taken on Sunday after I took a walk. I always forget my camera, so I ran (drove) home and got it and took a second trip down to the beach of my local lake. (Lake Belletaine in Nevis, MN) I live 1/4 of a mile from there and hardly ever go down to the beach. What a shame! Anyway, it was a very pleasant interlude.

This is where I was sitting when taking most of the photos.

See those tallest trees in the middle of the picture? The highway runs along in front of those. If you follow it toward the left of the photo my house is just a "couple of blocks" away. Really a nice spot to live.

It was windy and the water was very choppy.

Hey! I think I'm caught up!
We're supposed to have snow either today or tomorrow. It will be our first for the season!
I'm surrounded by my art materials and lots of books, so this is the perfect time for snow. Just not too much, please. ;)
God bless you, every one! Thanks for stopping by! :)
Shalom!

Life...

Howdy everyone. Right off the bat, could I ask for prayers for my son, Josh? This time it's a car situation. He had a smash-up with his little PT Cruiser. They had hoped it wasn't totaled, but it turns out it is. The insurance will give them very little to replace it, so I would covet prayers that they can find a very good deal so they have something to get around in. Right now he can borrow a car from his in-laws, but he doesn't want to do that for too long. I'm thankful he works from home, but Jess needs to get to her job and Nathan needs a ride to school. Josh is going through so many trials and he's been staying strong in the Lord. Pray that he will continue to look to the Lord for his needs and his family's needs. Thanks!

I won't post more right now because I really do hope you'll say a prayer before hopping to the next blog and I don't want to distract you with other silly stuff. :) Thanks in advance! Here's a nice photo taken about 1/4 of a mile from where I live.

God bless and shalom, to all!

Sully!

Favorite!

See, that was quick! Just had to post the latest baby photo shoot.
Have a good evening everyone!
Shalom!

Grandparents' day!

Today was my first experience of attending Grandparents' Day. Audrey was proud to show me what she does all day. Her young teacher was perky and in control. Everything worked like clockwork. She has those kids trained pretty well, and they seem to be pretty happy. She showed me how she uses her ipad and we took pictures of each other with it. The photo below was taken by Audrey's "other Grandma Lisa" who was sitting on the other side of her desk. She has another granddaughter across the hall, so she visited back and forth.

Us.

"Other Grandma Lisa" and Audrey sporting her vampire smile. She loves it!

That's Audrey's cousin, Cali on the left. (aka Lisa's other granddaughter) Cali is in the class across the hall. She's in the same grade as Audrey. (1st)  This was taken in the lunch room.

They had lots of boisterous fun during PE, and after lunch they were on their way out to recess. The day goes pretty fast, and they seem to get to move around a lot to get their wiggles out. It was fun!

Are you guys being overrun by ladybugs? We've been getting down in the 30's at night and then warming up into the low 60's during the day. Apparently the ladybugs think it's spring again. This old trailer I live in has many points of entry for them, so even though I run around vacuuming them up, they keep reappearing. I've got my ceiling lights on to attract them up there so they'll stay out of my way. I suppose it will get cold enough soon to kill them off for the winter.

I'm slowing down on the art. I've fulfilled my obligations for swaps so I'm just doing Inktober, which is one pen and ink drawing per day in October. I think I have a few of those to post. Let me go rummage around in my pictures. Let's see, oh, here we go...

I spent the last week thinking there was something wrong with me! My muscles felt weak and I couldn't figure out what was going on. I tried eating more, thinking it might be low blood sugar. That didn't help. Finally, day before yesterday, I realized that the weakness had begun last Thursday. The day I brought home all those books from the library book sale. It was just my allergies to musty books. I've always had that reaction when I spend a lot of time around musty papers, like old photos and books that have been stored where it's damp. I took all of the books out on my deck and let them air out, and then I wiped them down with Clorox disinfecting wipes. It seems to have helped a lot.

Well, I'm finally getting a little hungry seven hours after that filling school lunch! You all have a good evening and God bless everyone!
Shalom!

BOOK SALE!!

Wah hoo! Library book sale! Warning: lots of photos ahead!

As a backstory I should mention that my 6 year old grandgirl, Audrey, took a reading test yesterday. She's in 1st grade and the test showed she's reading at a 4.8 level (4th grade, 8th month). I'm not suprised! She's been sucking up learning like a vacuum since she was born. SO, when I mentioned to daughter Micah that I was heading to the book sale she asked if I would look for some chapter books, since her teacher had suggested getting her some books that would challenge her. (Audrey was excited to tell us that she gets to pick her book from the BIG KIDS books at the library!) I found that it was tricky finding something challenging for a six year old to read. It seems like so many of the chapter books already have themes of cliquish girls being mean to each other, or maybe boys becoming of interest. So, I went for some more old-fashioned books. I think she can read most of these without too much difficulty. This is fun for Grandma the book pusher!
Here are a few I got for Hazel and Adele. Lots of animals.

And here are Audrey's. For ten cents each I was kind of a book hog... I got a couple of these at the thrift store.

 Here's what I got for me. A lot of these I got because I love the illustrations. Some may be used for collage (gasp!), but I'll think long and hard before cutting up an old book. I really don't want to spend money on tons of printer ink to make copies, and hopefully I'll make something with them that will be used and appreciated by the recipient. But mostly I'll look at the pretty pictures. :)

Yes, that is Dick and Jane in the lower left! Two of them! I couldn't pass them up. I learned to read with Dick and Jane and I love the colorful illustrations. The Tapestry one at the top is stories of children from all over the world. I may pass that along to Audrey after I enjoy it.

When I was paying for these one of the library volunteers said to her hubby, "Oh, look! A whole book about Leonardo Da Vinci!" I felt kind of bad that she hadn't found it first! The two books on the right are Spanish textbooks that have lots of good lists and lessons for beginners. The little book in the upper left is full of tiny pen and ink drawings illustrating children's poems. I'm copying some of those in a sketchbook for fun.

I may use some of this sheet music for collage, but once again, it's hard to do that. But I don't think anyone would have used it for its intended purpose. The Exodus Song is one of my all time favorites, so I'll hang onto that! The Christmas books is packed with beautiful illustrations, some full-color, others pen and ink. Inspiration!

These are two illustrations from the children's poetry book. There are just tons of charming drawings like these.

While I was at the thrift store, in addition to a couple of chapter books for Audrey I picked up this little baggy of random yarn leftovers. It appears to be cotton yarn, so I thought I could use it to make little washcloths or something small when I feel like playing with my knitting needles.

I also bought two warm sweaters for around the house. Yellow isn't my best color, but this one looked warm with the collar. This is my first winter in this house, so I'm trying to prepare in case it's drafty. The cocoa colored cardigan isn't really my style, but it sure is snug for lounging around! (They were both on the $1 rack!)

I'm still participating in the Inktober drawing challenge. Here are my #7-#12 drawings.

 

 This was my 5x7 canvas for this month. I ended up outlining all of the letters with white gel pen to try to correct the smeary "a". It did look a little better.

 

I'm following along with a gal on YouTube as we (she and her audience) put together "Idea Notebooks". This is a place to keep all of those ideas that spin around in our heads, and tend to be forgotten before we can do anything with them. I found some decorative paper that included this cute typewriter, so I used it as my cover and then stamped the words on the blank page. I think it's sooooo cute! Now I'll enjoy filling it with stuff! The idea is to have one central place to put all of your creative ideas instead of having them scattered around in lots of little notebooks and scraps of paper. It will be a fun project and may even bear some fruit if I actually implement some of the ideas!

I'm developing an interest in collage. I'm thinking paper collage on canvas, and eventually, when I have a bigger place, maybe even tile mosaics. (Think garden decor!)

Does anyone know what this is? Well, yeah! It's Lisa's version of a tea cozy! (Since I've never gotten around to knitting one.) I'm finally using my new teapot, though I'm finding that the tea cools off quite a bit before I get around to pouring it into my cup. I'm also using the old tried-and-true-mug-in-the-microwave technique. Good tea weather! I drove into town today on a back road and I so wish I had taken my camera with me! This is a windy, hilly road that twists and turns between various lakes. It runs through woods that were all bright yellow, orange and red leaves contrasting with deep green evergreens. Beautiful and sunny. It was really windy, but still comfortable for wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Perfect!

Well, I'm going to run over to Duolingo and do a little language. I played hooky yesterday.

Happy Fall, everyone! God's blessings on all of you!
Shalom!