day 15 - taking stock

Midway through the month already.

Lets see what the list looked like at the beginning of this challenge.

Projects to finish:

• 4 wire dangles for a customer order
• memory box which was going really well till I stuffed it up
• put up a shelf I've been working on in the toilet
• finish living room curtains I started over a year ago
• memory tin I haven't stuffed up yet
• finish sorting items to donate to the work garage sale

Projects to start (and finish would be good):

• make tea light holders for the porch for summer
• organise hanging baskets for around the house
• fix and put up an old chandelier for the bedroom
• make a hanging light for Wayne's desk
• clean up some old metal baskets and find a home for them in the house
• re-make a drawer unit into a bench for the mudroom
• make a hat rack for mudroom
• make a coat rack for mudroom
• make a small box to hold mobile phones & chargers
• use the flour sacks to make kitchen curtains and cushion covers
• make nifty curtain tiebacks (or rather, ask Wayne to make them for me cause this one involves metal work)
• find a use for some fairy lights I have
• make a broken suitcase into a side table
• finish my tip shop chairs
• fix and paint my gate leg table
• make a shelf under the kitchen window for herbs
• paint the mudroom

Big projects: 

• remove office carpet
• remove linen cupboard from LR
  
• paint the toilet walls
• make the smallest room into a walk-in wardrobe
• paint the house - outside
• stain the deck
• repaint most of the house inside, cause I changed my mind on the colours.

So... now lets see what it looks like now:

Projects to finish:

• 4 wire dangles for a customer order- 2 finished. 2 to go
• memory box which was going really well till I stuffed it up but still not happy with it.
• put up a shelf I've been working on in the toilet shelf is finished but its not up.
• finish living room curtains I started over a year ago not even started. but I have an excuse. I'm not sure I want them now...
• memory tin I haven't stuffed up yet
• finish sorting items to donate to the work garage sale 

That's not bad. 4 out of six finished. One may be removed from the list, leaving it as 4 out of 5 done.

Projects to start (and finish would be good):

• make tea light holders for the porch for summer Not even started
• organise hanging baskets for around the house Does looking at the colanders count?
• fix and put up an old chandelier for the bedroom Nope.
• make a hanging light for Wayne's desk Nope.
• clean up some old metal baskets and find a home for them in the house Nope.
• re-make a drawer unit into a bench for the mudroom I moved it twice... does that count as starting?
• make a hat rack for mudroom hm...
• make a coat rack for mudroom hm...
• make a small box to hold mobile phones & chargers I've sorted bits of wood to use... that's a step in the right direction.
• use the flour sacks to make kitchen curtains and cushion covers I will now break that down to smaller steps and add a bit...
• bring in ironing board
• iron flour sacks
• sort which flour sacks to make cushions out of
• make curtains for kitchen
• make cushions
• make inserts
• make nifty curtain tiebacks (or rather, ask Wayne to make them for me cause this one involves metal work) I have asked W to make lots of other things involving metal work
• find a use for some fairy lights I have Eh.
• make a broken suitcase into a side table Its still sitting on the desk, waiting.
• finish my tip shop chairs Darn. I knew there was something I had to do...
• fix and paint my gate leg table Nope.
• make a shelf under the kitchen window for herbs Nope.
• paint the mudroom Yeah right.

Big projects: 

• remove office carpet
• remove linen cupboard from LR
  
• paint the toilet walls
• make the smallest room into a walk-in wardrobe
• paint the house - outside
• stain the deck
• repaint most of the house inside, cause I changed my mind on the colours.

To be fair, those last ones were a long shot!

So, how did I go?  I've gone from 17 to 22 projects in the "things to start and finish" list. And only started 2 of them.

Not so good.

On the other hand, I have done other stuff.

Just today I undercoated a ton of stuff I want to paint and revamp. I've started 3 more projects, and I've printed out a ton of stuff for some artwork I plan to make.

I also held  horses to have their hooves done, and I went with Wayne to pick up 2 huge round bales of hay.

Things I learned today:

You can get splinters from hay.

Hay in your bra sure is irritating.

So...

Here is a quick revised list:

Things to finish:

• paint 4 photo frames
• artwork for frames
• paint 2 trays
• make photo holder
• finish retro storage tins
• finish shabby jewelry holder
• use hessian bag to finish the bookcase in Wayne's office area
• iron and sort flour sacks
• make cushion covers
• make cushion inserts
• finish the suncatchers and chimes I have waiting to be done.
• fold and put away all washing
• wash dishes
• have dinner

 I can knock the bottom three off tonight. Tomorrow is another day.

 z

i love the sound of munching horses

I sit here, at the outdoor table, in our yard. Surrounded by horses munching on the grass and dogs under the table, hiding from the horses.

Its a glorious day.

Wayne trimmed hooves today cause our farrier is out of action for a while. I held horses. Dancer, who had never had her feet done before we got her, was the best. Wally was like a bucking bronco with his back legs. Ben was just naughty with his front.

After that, neither of us felt like doing much but sitting in the sun and just enjoying. Listening to old 60s British pop bands, including Herman's Hermits.

For some reason I woke up this morning with "No milk today" on my mind. Love that song.

So here are a few photos of the broncs enjoying the grass.

Ben, below, has started to fill out and put on weight. He's looking good.


 I love Ben's stripe and the way one of his eyes has a spot of white on the lid and some white eyelashes.

Ben and Wally, best buds.



 Dancer, also filling out, outside the woodshed.

Dancer eating around the pom pom bush and the columbines.

A close up of the columbine buds. Obviously the ones in here are purple. I wonder where I put the white ones...



Dancer and Wally. See the difference in colour? Dancer is going lighter and lighter as she loses her old coat.

The family... you can just see Mishca and Barney under the table. They stay out of the way when the horses are in the yard.

Wally, in front of the house.

So now you know why I'll never have a nice yard. Horses and nice yards don't go hand in hand. I think I prefer relaxing weekends with horses in the yard to a perfect garden.

z

day 14 - a collection of scissors

Today I finally managed to do something creative.

I have actually been doing lots of creative things in bits and pieces, all the time... but I finally managed to do something and finish it all in one go. It feels good.

A long time ago I found these old wooden crate/trays in a tip shop. I grabbed them cause I knew I could use them. One day. Like everything else.

I had plans for them, but they just took up space, got moved from here to there and then to further over for quite a few months.

Over the last few months I've found, and collected, a couple of old shears (the ones on either side). When cleaning out some of Wayne's old horse gear I found these very old, rusty scissors. Perfect.

I now knew exactly what to do with one of the crates.

I drilled holes in the sides, threaded wire through to hold the shears in place. I had to use wire through the back to tie the scissors in place.

I love it. I'm thinking I might use old tools in the other two and make a set to hang on a wall outside somewhere...

Things I did today:

I groomed a dog. I went to a garage sale and bought a ton of printing paper and two printers - one to replace Wayne's busted one and one for a backup. And a matt cutter. And some almost antique thick cotton sheets. I bought fuel and I whippersnipped the entire yard. 

An observation... no  matter how much care you take to pooperscoop the yard before whippersnipping, there will always be some mines for you to find, which you will hit and scatter. At least the horse pooh is bigger and easier to spot. Though I think I now know what the inside of a horse tastes like. Yeech.

I've started a whole heap of projects. I started and finished one (above). I washed dishes.

Things I didn't do:

I didn't fold the washing. I didn't cook dinner. We went out instead. 

Not a bad day overall.

z

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day 13 - roadkill furniture and other finds

Today has been a great day. Mostly. It all started with a great find on the side of the road.

I was on my way to the work garage sale in Hobart when I spotted something on the side of the road. Was it alive? Was it dead? What kind of animal was it?

It wasn't an animal at all! As I whizzed past I caught a glimpse of something timber with scalloped edges.

I braked so hard I almost sent poor Romeo into the middle of next week. I parked and ran back to find this beauty.

Someone was obviously taking it to the tip. See, the top is missing, broken off, maybe under a pile of rubbish at the tip as we speak.

It was wobbly, nothing tightening up and a bit of glue wont fix. And its got a few scrapes where it hit the asphalt. Just right for a shabby look. It was calling my name, thanking me profusely for rescuing it from a fate worse than death at the tip. Its promised me years of loyalty if I fix it up and give it a new top.

Not a bad way to start the day.

So, I did go to the garage sale, and took Romeo with me. He's been to work with me a few times and some of the clients met him and ask me about him all the time. It was great to take him there and see some of them and give them a chance to see Romeo all grown up. Both Romeo and the clients loved it.

I got this from the garage sale - its metal but light and over 12in long.

 

From there we walked up the road to a church fair where I bought some home made jam and Romeo got more attention. He's such a well behaved boy, more focussed on me than anything else. I could have him offlead and he wouldn't leave my side.

After that I had a toy poodle puppy to do a show groom on, and back at home I had 2 more small mixed breed dogs to do. One a new customer and one a regular.

Then the day went downhill...

Did I mention to you that I have competition in town now? A dog grooming salon has opened in New Norfollk.

Well, to add insult to injury, I heard today that they've named the shop VALLEY DOGS.

This is my logo:

Its not a registered name as I have an ABN (Australian Business Number) for my name, not a particular business so I can groom or paint or whatever, but its what's on my business cards and the name I've listed in the local directory!!!

In fact, I got a call on Friday from a lady who wanted me to groom her golden retriever next week. After booking her in she said 'You're in Willow Court, aren't you?' I said no, I was in Magra...

So... she obviously saw the sign they had out on the road in town and looked 'them' up in the local directory and got me. She booked in with me. 

What can I do? Do I have any rights given its not a registered name? I mean, I've been using it for 2 years now. Surely that counts for something. If they have registered the name as a business though... what do I do?

Sigh.

I'm not happy.

z