Yesterday was a very productive day here. Luke did a lot of sleeping, and Levi did a lot of sitting, but Craig, Jake, and I got a lot done. We finished up some of those annoying, lingering projects that we’ve been putting off for months, and it feels so good! We fixed the trim in the kitchen, fixed Jake’s bathroom door that was sticking, power-washed the siding on the house and the front porch, and even got my dress form put together. There aren’t many days that you get to cross off your WHOLE list of waiting projects! It was very satisfying. Craig was very focused and committed to getting done everything I wanted, and he did a great job. Since he power-washed the house, I had to go around and clean the outsides of all the windows this morning so I could see out. Our water is SO hard right out of the well, which is where the water hose is connected, that it left a heavy white film on everything. I spent two hours cleaning glass, inside, outside, and between the panes, so we could enjoy the beautiful, sunny view. It really is breathtaking now that everything is green and alive. It’s like the first of spring after a very long winter, except it’s only autumn! We’d better enjoy it while it’s here, before winter realizes it’s his turn. Maybe we’ll get a wet, cold winter to prepare us for a glorious, blooming spring.
My school area is finally, officially, finished. The new computer is running, for the most part, though I’ve already had to spend some time on the phone with Dell because it just shuts off. Apparently, I’m having some software conflicts. She told me I’d have to reload the operating system if I couldn’t resolve it some other way, which would trash the two whole days I spent moving files and programs from the old computer, so I’m just going to hope for the best. I get to upgrade to Windows 7 when it’s released on Wednesday, so maybe that will resolve the issue. Anyway, I’m going to post the before and after pictures of the area and the desk. It’s quite a transformation, to be sure, and I’m very happy with it.
Before - area was a conglomeration of tables and chairs
After - two desks and plenty of room!
Before - Craig's desk was dirty, water-damaged, and the finish was wearing off. After - MY desk has a smooth, new finish and is perfect for what I needed.
Soon, I hope to post pics of the finished dress form, if I don’t start over. Craig built a perfect stand for it yesterday, but the form itself, which you may recall is made of duct-tape and an old t-shirt molded to my body and then cut off, is lacking. We emptied two large pillows for stuffing, and stuffed the thing full, and while the measurements should be correct, the ‘lumps’ are not. You can’t make the form expand in the direction it needs to expand, and NOT in the directions it doesn’t! I happen to have a thin, but not particularly narrow figure, and the silly form, which has chosen to expand front-to-back, instead of side-to-side, makes it look like the figure of a troll. I’m pretty sure I don’t look like a troll. It’s also a little, should I say, ‘deficient’ in the chest. I’m sure you’re thinking, “Um… yeah, let’s be realistic,” but, it’s even more deficient than I am! And it’s lumpy! I had to put a brazier on the thing just so my own dress would fit. So, I’m thinking of starting over with paper mache, which would hold a true form better. I’m just wondering how long that would take to dry, since I have to be the mold. Well, we’ll see. Whatever we do, I’ll make sure to post finished pictures, as I think it’s a really cool project, and I can’t wait to use it for that long line of sewing re-makes that are waiting in my closet. If you sew, you know what I’m talking about, especially if you are a thrift-store shopper, like I am. I find a great dress, shirt, skirt, whatever at the thrift store for $3-7 that would be just perfect… if it were my size. So, as long as it’s an easy fix, I bring it home and add it to the queue of waiting garments. It saves me a lot of money on new clothes, though you can’t convince Craig of that. The way he sees it, the cheaper the clothes, the more of them I buy! See… saving money, from a woman’s perspective. He’s right, though. I’ve always been one who would much rather spend $50 on ten items than $25 on just one. (No, that wasn’t a typo.) It just takes some getting used-to for a man, I guess. Or, at least, learning to live with it. Well, add that to the list, won’t you?
Last night, as Craig was punching pillow stuffing down the neck of my duct-tape look-alike, I asked him if he had ever imagined himself taking on a dress form as a project. He hmphed, and said, “No, definitely not, but I did imagine that I would have to do ridiculous things for the woman I love, so there you go.” Now, how sweet is that? And manly… totally manly. We also got into a discussion about what other people actually notice about your house, when I asked him to do the power-washing. We both walked outside so he could pretend to walk up to the house and see what he noticed. I pointed out the dirty windows, cobwebs on the lights, dirty porch, etc., and he just shrugged his shoulders and argued that it’s the OUTside of a house… it’s supposed to be dirty, and who cares? I finally said, “Look, you’re just going to have to chalk this one up to Mars and Venus, because women CARE what the outside of the house looks like! Men may not, but women do!” Then he wanted to know when any of my friends had commented on how dirty someone’s porch was. I explained that it wasn’t something we necessarily TALK about, but we notice. Furthermore, it makes ME feel better when the porch is clean, and isn’t that enough? He power-washed the house, like he said he would, though he made sure I knew that he didn’t think it as important as I do, so I’m thankful for that. (We actually had an identical conversation to this on Monday, regarding what to hang on the living room wall.) Ah, Mars and Venus… it’s rare that they align. But, when they do, it’s beautiful… so I’ve heard.
No comments:
Post a Comment