It’s a sign!

Today’s project for February’s manini things was a simple one: make a new sign for my jewelry booth.

You may recall the 2012 Summer Market Friday downpour/hailstorm/lightningpalooza. Although, apparently, I didn’t write about it here, even though I could have sworn I did. Anyway, one of the many things affected by that storm out of nowhere was my sign.

It was a simple thing, just my logo, name, and tagline, laser printed, tape-sealed, and tacked to a painted board. The board had hooks so I could hang it from my sign stand.

In the deluge, the water seeped between the tape lines and behind the tacks and warped the paper. Redoing it has been on my list to fix it since then.

(Yes, I’ve done three shows between then and now. Yes, I used the bedraggled sign. Sometimes I’m lazy, if you haven’t picked up on that yet.)

Since I’m doing a new show in a new-to-me area this weekend, I figured it was time to do the sign. So, I simply printed out another copy of my sign on cardstock, cut it down a little on each side, attached it to an olive green sheet of cardstock, and used packing tape to laminate the front. Voilà!

It’s a little curled up from the tape,
so it looks crooked here.
But it’s fine in real life. 

Did you notice the cheat, though?

It’s not attached to the board. Why, you ask? Well, the show I’m doing Sunday is an indoor show, and I’m already using my large earring display, which will be perfect to attach this to, and thus I won’t have to also haul the sign stand. That’s the minor reason.

The major reason is that after far too long of noodling it over and fruitlessly brainstorming to come up with the perfect name, the stars have finally aligned and I have a new business name, and that business will soon be its very own limited liability company, instead of being just a sole proprietorship under my name.

This is big news for me.

I’m not going to jinx it all by revealing the name before all the paperwork is finalized and approved by the powers that be, but I’ve already registered the domain name and the Etsy shop name and the Twitter handle.

I also need to work on a new logo. (I do adore the one I’ve been using, but it’s modified public-domain clip art, and I’d rather have something more custom.)

Once I’m official, believe me, you’ll hear all about it.

Hooray for little patches!

#4 and #10 on my February manini list done! Yay!

All but the kitchen took two coats, but it was easy enough since by the time I worked my way around the upstairs, the first room I did was ready for its second coat. (That’s one thing flat paint is good for, anyway.) I didn’t worry too much about the patch in the kitchen, since it was in a dark spot under the cabinets and behind the coffeemaker, and no one ever sees it except for the few times a year we pull out the coffeemaker and make coffee. I just wanted to cover up the glaring drywall white from the chip that was taken out of the paint.

I did skip out on painting over the patches in the blue room, however. When I got up close and personal and spackled in there yesterday, I noticed how bad the paint job is and how much gunk is on the walls (former young girl’s room = lotsa marks + tape residue). Repainting that room just slid up a few notches on the priority list. And maybe it should, since it’s the first room we see in the morning when leaving our bedroom, and it really isn’t a color I would have chosen for myself.

It’s hard to believe what a difference such little things make. We’ve lived in this house for more than five years now, and it is an ongoing Project with a capital P. Every time I turn a corner, I see eight more things I’d like to take care of, an effect magnified by working at home, since I see it all that much more by being here all day.

Not that I’m complaining. I love this house, and I love a good project.

It was just so nice to lay in bed last night and not be distracted by those two holes in the ceiling where the former owners had hung something (a swag lamp, maybe?), or the three holes in the wall above the bed where someone else’s pictures once hung. It will be nice to go into the master bath and not be confronted by the dozen or so holes left when the previous owners took out their shelves when they left (plus they left a couple of mismatched drywall anchors). Although we won’t get around to repainting the guest room and guest bath before we have another round of houseguests — or, let’s face it, before at least another year passes for the guest room and until we’re ready to completely remodel the guest bath — at least our guests won’t be confronted with swiss cheese walls.

Ha! Appropriate, because the walls in those rooms actually are kind of a swiss cheese pale yellow.

And having the last glaring swath of Pepto-Bismol pink gone just makes my heart sing.

Why did it take so long to get around to this one? Inertia. Burning desire to repaint all those upstairs rooms, and figuring I’d get around to it when it was time to repaint, but the high ceilings in the master bedroom and bathroom preclude DIY painting. Overwhelm on the project list. Higher-priority things coming first.

I’m glad that I tackled this one as part of my February project.

A little reconfiguring

In hindsight, #4 and #10 on my February manini list are somewhat related and will each spread out over more than one day, so I’m smooshing them together and taking care of them today and tomorrow.

The previous owners had a thing for what I call clown colors. Our family room and dining room came complete with a good, thick coat of Pepto-Bismol pink. I don’t think it lasted much more than two months after we moved in; getting rid of the pink and the awful purple in the kitchen were Major Projects #1 & #2.

Of course, we ended up having to repair the furnaces and replace our thermostats soon after I painted. At the time, it was absolutely frigid outside, and we had been without heat for a while, so touching up around the dining room thermostat wasn’t the first thing on my mind. I just wanted that new one stuck on there and making the heat go.

that pink makes me like Pepto-Bismol even less

Let’s just say it’s been that way for a while.

As you can see, there was some chipped paint from when we had to pry the old thermostat off the wall, so that needed to be sanded and spackled, which I took care of today. Because these colors are so dark, it’s going to take two coats of paint. Coat #1 is drying now; I’ll take care of coat #2 tomorrow.

Since I had the spackle in my hands already, I wandered upstairs and realized that there were a lot more holes in a lot more places than I had originally realized when I stuck this on my manini list. The previous owners must have had a lot of shelves and hooks that they took with them.

It took about a half-hour to pull the anchors that needed to be pulled and fill those holes, some nail holes, and some miscellaneous dings in the walls that have been bugging me.

Then, when I went to put the spackle stuff away, I remembered there was one ding in the kitchen behind the coffeemaker that I needed to take care of, so I did that, too.

Because all of the rooms upstairs, other than the hall, are slated to be painted colors other than what they are now, tomorrow I’ll just put a single coat of touch-up on those spots I spackled today and call it good. And I think I’ll be able to get away with that in the kitchen, too.

paring down to favorites

I have this little problem where I know what lotions and the like work for me, but I still feel compelled to keep trying new stuff. My skin is sensitive, and I hate stinky smelly lotions and soaps, so 90% of the time, the new stuff I pick out just doesn’t work for me. Then, because I hate to waste stuff, I feel like I have to use up all the stuff, just so as not to be wasteful, even though it’s not my favorite and I’m just counting down the days until I can get back to my favorite. Also, there’s this thing about saving my favorites for… I’m not really sure what.

The face lotion I’ve ended up with is more expensive than I would like, but it’s what works. It doesn’t clog my pores, it doesn’t smell like a perfume factory, it doesn’t make me break out, it doesn’t sting my eyes, and, while it’s on the pricey side, I can afford it… what more could I want? Yet, last week, I found myself buying yet another face lotion, which ended up being a weird texture and having a strong scent.

this is what works

I’ve been working a bit with the concept of the Book of Me (thank you, Havi), and this past week I added an entry about sticking with what works (until they inevitably change or discontinue it, anyway) and resisting the temptation to pile on new stuff just for the sake of it being new. And pampering myself by using my favorites and not feeling like I have to make do or look for compromises.

Thus, today I gathered up all the lotions, soaps, and such that aren’t my absolute favorites and put them in a bag to give to my sister and my niece, the latter of whom just officially became a teenager and both of whom like trying new stuff a whole lot more than I do. And that’s another thing done off my February manini list.

automating without becoming an automaton

I live my life by lists. My lists keep me sane and allow me to get all of the various stuff I do done. (Thanks, Mom, for the genetic propensity to put everything on a list.)

This February exercise in getting 28 manini things done gives you a little peek into one of my little flaws in this area, though: putting the little stuff on a list, but continuing to push it back and back and back again in favor of tackling bigger (more revenue-generating, more interesting, more urgent) stuff. So, a month of mindful decluttering to streamline the master list and make everything work that much more smoothly.

Anyway. Where was I? Lists.

I do several art shows every year, some indoor, and some outdoor. Sometimes the indoor ones provide tables, and sometimes they don’t. While I keep (most of) my show stuff in boxes and ready to go, these variables determine what I need to take and what I don’t for different kinds of shows.

an old show setup

After one bad experience a couple years ago when I grabbed the tent boxes for an indoor show but not the all of the ones I needed for an indoor show, and then had to send my sweet, sweet husband back home for the right ones, I determined to make a list.

And then I kept putting it off, until this past summer, when I got serious about it and went through each and every box and listed its contents.

And then I chucked that scribbled list into my in basket. And here we are today.

This morning I excavated the list and typed it up into a Word document, with checkboxes and everything. I mentally went through every step for setting up an outdoor show, to make sure I had everything.

Then I saved and copied that list, and I adjusted it for indoor shows where I have to bring my own tables. I deleted all the tent- and bug-related stuff and adjusted a few other things.

Then I saved and copied that list, and I adjusted it for indoor shows where they provide the tables. I deleted the tables and custom table covers and added tablecloths and table risers, just in case they might work with the tables supplied. (My own new tables have built-in height adjustment.)

I will still likely end up bringing a few more things than I absolutely need (chronic overpacker here), but at least now I can be sure I have everything and free up some space in my brain for important stuff.

In February, we conquer the manini things

Inspired by Laurie over at Crazy Aunt Purl, I’m making a list of 28 manini* things that have been hanging around on my to-do list for far too long, and I’m going to conquer one per day for the entire month. And have a very nice glass or two of wine when I’m done.

(* manini = slang for [among other things] little, small, with a connotation of being pesky or irritating. One of my favorite highly useful words.)

Since coming back to this space with some sort of regularity is one of my wishes for this year, that makes a nice little kick in the ass to actually come here and write something every day this month, too. Not a novel. Not even necessarily multiple paragraphs. But something.

So, with no further ado and in no particular order, here are the 28 manini things I intend to conquer in February:

1. Hang up the little owl sculpture in the office. (2/1)
2. Go through old computer password book, enter what’s still relevant into 1Password, and shred the paper. (2/23)
3. Make appointment for annual physical. (2/27)
4. Repaint around the thermostat in the dining room. (2/4–5)
5. Redo the jewelry booth sign that got soaked in the July 2012 deluge. (2/6)
6. Figure out Zinio access through the library. (2/8)
7. Type up packing lists for indoor and outdoor shows so I don’t have to recreate them every time. (2/2)
8. Type up packing lists for classes. (2/28)
9. Make a spreadsheet for extra class supplies costs. (2/28)
10. Pull unused anchors and other crap from master bath & guest bath walls; spackle; touch up paint. (2/4–5)
11. Borrow the sewing machine. (2/25)
12. Hang hooks in my closet. (2/28)
13. Pot the plants that are ready to be potted. (2/28)
14. Clean out the front closet. (2/28)
15. Clean out the till closets. (2/27)
16. Go get some paint chips so I can decide on a color for the till and the office shelving. (2/13)
17. Buy a bookshelf for the guest room; move fiction from office to guest room. (2/13)
18. Deal with the magazine backlog. (2/26)
19. Office cord management. (2/28)
20. Organize my business reference notebook. (2/23)
21. Gather up all the lotions, bubble bath, and the like that I never use and put them in a bag for my sister and niece. (2/3)
22. Add the new names to the CH mailing list database. (2/16)
23. Go around with the Magic Eraser and clean up the scuff marks on the baseboards. (2/23)
24. Clean out the hardware drawer. (2/14)
25. Cull T-shirt stack. (2/15)
26. Take measurements for framing the oil painting in the office. (2/12)
27. Repaint frame on metal art in family room. (2/7–9)
28. Clean out office drawers. (2/12)

Mostly small things; a few slightly bigger things thrown in there for when I have more time. Here’s to a shorter to-do list at the end of February!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Since today is the first day of February, I jumped right in and hung up the little owl sculpture I bought at Bazaar Bizarre in December.

The artist is Nina Vivian Huryn, and her table drew me right away and left me there with my jaw open and not being able to stop saying, “Your stuff is just so cool!” over and over again. I wasn’t leaving without a piece of art.

The owl is carved in leather, painted, and mounted with nails on thick board, about 1.5 × 2.5 inches. He’s tiny and intricately detailed and textured, and he makes me smile. Now he lives on the wall over my desk, keeping watch over the basket that corrals the mugs o’ pens & other short sticklike office supplies, my reading glasses, paperclip bowl, hand lotion, and stereo remote.

It took five minutes, only because I bent the first nail I tried to hammer into the wall and had to go get another one.

Go, me!

Fairview Park was busy voting this morning.

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Roses from my sweetie, just because

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Hello, Mr. Turtle

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Love my journal from Tracy Moore's workshop

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