Coookies and the Monster

Ok the cookies keep coming out and of course you know that they have to be tested. Bruce has been now dubbed the Cookie Monster by one of the ladies of the CIFI group. He is not proud of h is new title. Todays batch is Spiced Chocolate Mexican cookies with cayenne pepper. He complained they were not spucy enough so a new batch will be made using chili powder. Also made was cherry almond cookies and some large Ukrainian honey cookies which you can see him happily testing! They are the size of a plate.

Granite Oh My!

Well I guess I have been good or maybe I have ben naughty and that is why Santa is getting me new countertops for Christmas! Bruce and I went shopping again looking for granite. We had found a stone in another yard we liked and then went to this place our installer recommended. he and his partner met us there and we looked at so many different slabs. We knew we wanted something artistic. we found one but it was out of our range when they calculated. So one of the guys suggested a slab called Purple dunes that was hidden as it was similar to a spectrum that we were almost ready to buy. Well they moved the first piece and our jaws dropped! Then we needed to get slabs because of the amount of counter we need fabricated. Well here is the pieces that will be come our new countertops next year!!!!

Watercolor background=Shower of Blessings!

This morning we found some time to do some art! This is going to be the background for our Ketubah for our wedding. A ketubah is a wedding contract that originates from Judaism. Today there are many different ones available even for interfaith ceremonies. We found inspiration on the internet after seeing the prices we decided to create our own. We will only be using part of this huge piece of paper.

This was done with watercolors and salt. This will then have calligraphy done and also a little collage work. We had an original idea but like all art work it always changes so we will see how this evolves. We meet with the calligraper on December 29th and all our texts that we want and have put together are ready to go. Will post as things come to life on this project.

Reindeers,Santas, Presents and Ornaments!

Ok I am going to be daring and try for 12 types of cookies for Christmas. Don't know if I will be successful with everything going on here. But this is day two's baking. Thanks to Diane Little aka Pixie from New Mexico for this recipe. I have made this wonderful batch of Anise cookies, i used fructose so they are sugar free and I can eat them. Yipee! They are mini cookies .

Bathroom and getting ready for Christmas

Well we are getting ready for Christmas here. I was sick and tired of my bath and since we cant afford a total overhaul I decided to do a apiant job and replace the medicine cabinet and lights. i hired a painter to do the base coat. I then did an overglaze of a light peach and purple. then added a metallic gold for some contrast. It is hard to capture with the camera.

Now with that part out of the way it is time for the holiday baking to begin. the first batch is gingerbread cookies. This was 7 and a half dozen. Of course Bruce had to test them as they were coming out of the oven. he was right behind me snatching them off the cookie tray. While no pics of that here is a pic of him working on my Christmas quilt.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah,Happy Kwaanza snd Happy and Healthy New Year!

Farewell Dearest Shayna

Well today I had to put to sleep my faithful companion of 16 and half years Shayna Maidel. Itw as a hard decision but with failing eyesight she woke up this morning and was twirling around in circles so I knew it was time. She came to me as a pup that was abused a few weeks after I had gotten her sister. She was so full of love and picked up on my hearing problems. She became a service dog and would alert me to people at the door, the microwave going off and even letting me know that the handicapped bus was outside waiting for me. As she got older she retired and just enjoyed being herself. Coming out to Nevada she just loved to run like a jack rabbit in the yard and even climb up the mountains that I could not get her down,lol. When we bought this house and she moved in with Pepper he taught her how to kick dirt. She was always full of love and kisses and loved to cuddle up as a lap dog. She certainly was a love and will forever be in our hearts.

Now my dear Maidey as youa re over the Rainbow Bridge may you have lots of fun times with your sister.Till we meet again I will miss you tremendously. Thank you for all that you have done for me.

She has Clothes

Well she is now starting to come alive. I am really enjoying working on this piece. And working with different mediums. It is hard to see in the pics but the copper really adds a nice sparkle when the ligt hits it. i added that to the mix with teh micromarbles and the glitter. Now have to find out what to name her.

New Wip

As part of the retreat this year we have a challenge. We are to create a Fall or Halloween piece. I started this piece a year ago by doing the head and it was sitting in the closet. i came across it when I had to empty the closet for the new bamboo floors and a few other attemps did not really talk to me. Turns out one of them is to be incorporated into this piece. I was hoping to do a small piece since I am flying but so much for doing a Halloween egg. I am having fun doing this piece and working with a new product I have gotten at the salvage place. It is aluminum which i have used for her bodice and sleeves. It really adds texture and comes in copper too! Hope to use that on my retreat piece.

Class at Reno/Iowa Retreat

Once again I am teaching a mini class at the retreat given by two great artists Sherry Goshon and Jean Bernard. It is a 3 day art doll retreat held in Marshalltown Iowa. It is Sept 19021st but we start the day before by going antiquuing and spending tiome shoppping and just having fun. I have designed two eggs this year but can only reveal one since the other is a mystery egg. I will reveal the other after the retreat.

This one is called Swept Away to India. The face is one designed by Jean Bernard as his her Cassie mold. I have used sari fibers and have handmade the jasmine lilies of cold porcelain. You are seeing the front and back of the egg.

Walkway is poured

Well the concrete foundation is poured finally. We decided to do a reality check and look at our lives and realize that with our medical conditions it would be feasable to start planning for our future so we did away with steps and planned a ramp. Since we are investing so much money in beautiful stone it will be a shame to rip it out or put in ugly ramps down the road.

Here is a pic of Richard and I working on the concrete together. He is our contractor.I am the water boy and Bruce is the driver as he is in charge of driving the power wagon after I load the bags on concrete and bringing them over so they can be mixed. It is so nice to feel like we are part of this project. Next week the stone will be laid down. So this week i have to unload the pallets and lay out the stone on the front so we can see what the stones look like. Can't wait to see what it looks like as it will take a couple of days to get this done.

You can also see pics of the new house colors. It is charcoal gray and red which are traditionbal Asian colors.

This weeks happenings

Well this week has been a real busy one! It started off with me digging out the path for the new walkway. This has been a weeks long project as I have only been able to do it a few hours each day when it has been cool. So I get up at 6:30 and get started on it. Then we have made a few trips this week to get some rocks for the backyard. Someone on craigslist advertised them for free and there was a huge pile from small to boulders so we made three trips with the railer to get them. I am going to use them to make a planter box and also maybe a rock garden. I also started painting the house. This will take a while to do. But the house is no longer looking boring.As our neighbor Mike would say he does not want us to get bored,lol. We also picked up this garden bench for the start of our Asian garden in the front yard.

Some beauty pics

Welll after sharing some death pics I thought I would show some pics of life around here. We have loads of irises springing up all over the property. So Bruce decided to take some pics. We have a couple of shades of purple and to our surprise we found this wonderful orange one! Still waiting for the others to pop up. We went to the master gardeners sale and bought a yellow to add to the collection and our other neighbor is going to allow us to take some from their front yard as Bruce just loves yellow!!!

Paul Bunyan Imitation

Ok well this weekend I decided to change gears from renovation to demolition. we had a huge tree in the yard that ufortunately was neglected by the previous owners so it had to come down. We had hoped it would be alive but no such luck. So lucky me who is afraid of heights had to tackle the job. here I am as Bruce snapped the shots some unknowingly.

Now all this wood has to be cut down to small pieces. Some will be used for a fire pit I want to get and other we will take down to teh community composting program. The yard looks bare so we have to try and get teh roots dug up which may take all summer,lol. We want to plant a mulberry tree to take its place. Who knows what role will come next? george Washington??

Stay tuned for the next episode.

TUb Today, Gone Tommorow

Well the old hot tub is now history. Our wonderful neighbors came by yesterday and dismanted the top as I want to turn that into a gazebo. They then went ahreaf and called in reinforcements to lift this off and move it. Imagine our surprise when all these people walked into our yard to help carry thi this.

After this our neighbors went to town cutting the hot tub up so we could get it into the dumpster. We also found tge concrete pad that it was on was cracked. So Mike went and got his breaking poles and he broke all that concrete up too. It was a hard day and Bruce treated them to lunch at an Indian restaurant. Tommorow I am taking them out to Chinese Dinner. It is so nice to have this open space near our patio.

Heat are some celebration pics.

Concrete jungle

We started to get ready on doing the walkway for the fromt of the house in hopes of having it ready for Easter which is next Sunday. As I celebrate Orhodox Easter. this house was built where you have to go up the driveway and acrosss the house to enter. This seems like not a welcome way to enter the house so we are going to make a path down the center of the house. That meant renting a jackhammer and taking out 25 feet of concrete. needless to say I was exhausted after 3 hours of doing this.

More progress on the studio

Here is a pic of the vegetable gaden all filled in. Now just have to roto till in the steer manure. But pepper is doing his best to roto till but not getting far as it is still in the the bags,lol.

Well the studio is slowly coming along. We now have the insulation added and the sub floor will be added soon.

The weather here has been up and down but we have been in mode for getting things ready for Spring. we were in Costco and found these wonderful huge pots! we have seen them and kept waiting to get them. Finally we decided to just get them. we are not sure where we willput them but here is what we bought. Will post pics soon of the plants we bought too.

Also by popular demand here is a pic of the two of us. Hope this satifies your curiosity.

Working on the Farm

Well our backyard is s huge I have nicknamed it the farm. Coming from the city and moving out here and having a small apt with a tiny piece of property and now having a third of an acre this is like having a farm. we now have the raised bed all filled up with triple mix and in another month we will be able to start planting. Just need to wait for the snow to melt off Mt. peavine then teh tomatoes can begin to be planted.

Here are some pictures of our wonderful neighbors Mike and Dottie who have been wonderful helping us. they have been going down to the landscaping yard with their truck and picking up the soil for us. Mike and I unload the truck and Bruce is in charge of running the dirt to the beds. Dottie does the raking of the beds. as you can see it is a team effort to do.this. They also made us this wonderful raised triangular box that will house our blackberry bushes in our

private garden.

More Progress on Studio

I have been lacking on keeping my blog updated and things have been really going full speed here at the house. I was complaining in my sculpting group that I don't have time for art when my dear friend Mary Martin said that working on the house is an art project in itself. That did make me feel a little less guilty. We have decided that the messy studio will now serve as a sunroom also. Her name is Delilah and it is awfully hot in there when the sun is out that we had to put in a window vent.

I had to scrape and sand the building down which was not a pleasant chore. Then I primed it but was afraid the paint would not look right. So I added some sand to the paint to have a somewhat textured look on the wood and it worked like a charm. Still need to finish the trim as some of the trim is in bad shape so we will just cut new pieces and face them over and then I will paint it over. As you can see this has been a chore and I was getting tired of painting this already. Bruce tells people it glows in the dark,lol.

Windows are IN

We are slowly making progress on the new studio. I put the new glass in all the windows after the previous owners kids had knocked all the glass out.Today we put in the braces for all the new window sills and Bruce routed all the wood for the sills. Now we have to decide on the trim for the window glass to hold it in. We have a pile of wood that we bought for 5 bucks from Lowes so going to see what we can use from there maybe and salvage like we did for the sills. It is just so nice to see all these little changes as they come alive.

Trim is painted

I sanded down all the peeling paint on the window frames and weput in newmouldings for the glass. As you can see the outside frame is now painted/ We also got the fascia up. Was hoping for some gingerbread trim but it is not available here. It would have been too much work to start cutting the design and a trip to Lowe's we landed a pile of wood in the cull section for $5! Gee what a find and now we can work on the porch too and still need to see what we will do with the rest of the leftover wood. There wass even redwood in the pile. We now have to do the inside moldings so we can install the glass.

Outdoor Studio Renovation Begins

When we bought this house there was an old greenhouse on the property. Well we decided to turn it into an outdoor studio. I will be blogging the progress so you can see what we are doing. As you can see it was badly neglected by the previous owners. We found ut that their kids threw rocks and knocked out all the glass. We just put a new roof on so now no more water leaks in there.Yipeee! We are off to a good start and seeing this building begin a new life. We also sided the back wall since there is no view and there is not much sun coming in there either. This will also help to keep the place warmer.