Life Needs a Face Punch

Way back when I started this blog, I told ya’ll that being creative seemed to be my coping mechanism of choice. Life had been dealing me one upheaval after another and by the time we moved to Ohio, I found that being creative helped me deal with the aftermath of all the changes.

While I was trying to deal with my separation anxiety from moving 2,000 miles away from my 18-year-old Baby Girl, I made the following:

Don’t get me wrong. Life does not have to be chaotic in order for me to produce something crafty. When the waters of life are as calm as glass, I still feel the need to create.

When things are not so troubled, I come up with things like this:

However, when the storms of life start raging, my desire to create becomes an OVERWHELMING need. I HAVE to create something. If you thwart me in this desire, things are going to get ugly. It’s in these moments when I tend to fixate on a project and I can’t stop until I’ve figured it out or I completed the project.

I came up with the idea for the pipe-strapping basket during such a moment.

Maybe I’m trying to escape. Maybe the act of creating something useful or beautiful is a balm of sorts for me. Whatever the deeper meaning, the impact is still the same. There are simply times I NEED to create.

For example, I have this dresser. I’m not even sure it can be called a dresser. Perhaps Massive Double Chest of Drawers, or MDCOD for short, would be a better description. (Excuse the crappy phone picture. It’s the best I can find right now).

This is another one of the things we inherited from Hub’s folks. It used to be in Kiddo’s room, but we moved it out of there when we rearranged the rooms. One of the handles broke off the drawer and while I have the handle to fix it, I could never bring myself to do it. Why throw good effort after Ugly? It chafes me like a metaphorical pair of too-tight Big Girl Panties to put energy, time and money into something I don’t like to begin with.

This MDCOD resides in my office and holds craft supplies. It’s a really great use for the MDCOD. BUT. It seriously needs to be froufed up, dontcha think? The 1950’s faux cedar finish has Got.To.Go. I want to take off the bar pulls and do something different. I’m thinking of a mash-up of these ideas.

Source: nester.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Despite my BURNING DESIRE to get to work on this project, Hubs refuses, REFUSES! to let me start another project right now. While he’s probably right, it makes me seriously want to face punch Life right about now for getting between me and this project. Life is keeping me from my therapy.

Before you get your feminine-rights hackles all raised up in my defense, let me remind you that I’m supposed to be moving. In three weeks. To a new house. And I may, or may not, have started packing. Anything. At all.

Also, I have be on Buddy like a politician on a donation to make sure he finishes up his Advanced English homework for the summer. While this may not sound like work to you, trust me. It is W.O.R.K. to make sure he’s not “forgetting” about this responsibility.

We also are in the process of doing in-take evaluations for my sister-in-law, Katie, so she can participate in the local day programs. We (mostly me) are helping her establish a routine and trying to figure out how much help and assistance she needs on a daily basis.

Those things that are not physical work, are emotional work. I swear, the emotional stuff is more tiring. I know I could do a smaller scale project, but I really don’t have the energy to think up a smaller project. I know. That makes no sense at all. But, I already know how I want to do all of the projects on my list. I just need life to cooperate so I can actually do them.

Everything I want to work on right now is big.

Paint the dining room table and reupholster the chairs:

Refinish the piano to an aged silver finish:

Plus, there’s all my fun Door Projects.

I have a couple of other smaller furniture projects I want to get done before the weather gets too cold, not to mention what I’ll want/need to do in the new home.

Gah! All this creativity with no where to go can make a gal twitchy. And Grumpy. And seriously wanting to face punch something. Life better get out of my way, toot sweet, or I may not be liable for my actions.

“You hear me, Life? Back Off, already! You do NOT want to mess with me!” *Finger Snap. Finger Snap. Finger Snap.* “Mmmmm hmmmmm. You heard me.”

Did I sound scary enough? Do you think Life heard me? I bet Life is runnin’ scared now!

Suesan

The Winds of Change are Blowing…Again

I don’t know about you, but if there is one defining hallmark of my life…it’s the abiding constant of change.

I’m 46 years old and I’ve lived in approximately 41 homes, 20 of them in the last 23 years I’ve been married to Hubs. Now granted, 8 of those were homes/apartments during my college years, but even if you don’t count those, it’s still a goodly sum.

If you really want to know some of the places I’ve lived, I made a board on Pinterest that shows all the different cities.

As life would have it, we are moving again. It’s only a few miles away, but it’s to a new town called Bellville, Ohio and a new school for the boys. When I first saw Bellville, I thought of Stars Hollow, the town in the TV show, Gilmore Girls (one of the Daja’s and my favorite shows).

Stars Hollow:

Bellville:

Bellville’s bandstand is more ornate and dates back to 1879. Beyond the bandstands, there’s the same small town charm and feel. The houses are cute and in good repair and people, in general, seem to take pride in their homes, community and school. We won’t be living in town, but on the outskirts on a 12-acre, heavily wooded property that sits on a hill.

I haven’t taken pictures yet, but it looks a lot like this:

Imagine this in a more untamed way, and you’ve got it. The home is owned by some friends of ours from church. They accepted a job in Idaho Falls and since their kids all live and go to college there, it was a great move for them.

We needed a bigger house because of a change in our family situation.

Hubs’ youngest sister, Katie, will be moving in with our family. I leave on Saturday for Utah so I can pick her up.

This picture is from two years ago on Katie’s birthday.

Katie just turned 38 and she has Down’s Syndrome. Hubs’ mom is in a nursing home and can no longer care for Katie, so she’s been living with the siblings for the past couple of years. It’s our turn to take care of Katie.

With two teenage boys in the house, we don’t have the young kids that the other siblings have, which we think Katie will like better. She doesn’t like the loud noises that come with younger kids.

I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be a huge change for our family, but mostly for me. Katie requires care and attention that’s different from teenagers. She is not capable of heating up a Hot Pocket for lunch while I’m busy working on a project. She needs assistance in the bathroom to make sure everything that needs to get done gets done. She needs a bedtime routine to help her wind down for the night.

If we’d let her, Katie would sit on the couch and color all day long. She’s certainly spent many years of her life doing just that. My sister-in-law, Celeste, has been Katie’s primary care giver for almost the last year. She and I share a different approach to Katie. We believe that Katie should be exposed to activities that challenge her and encourage her to interact with other people.

Before moving to Utah, Katie didn’t have many opportunities to interact with people outside of the family. Since living in Utah, Katie has participated in programs and we’ve seen a remarkable change in Katie as she’s worked with other people and made friends. We’re hoping to continue that progress with Katie.

Fortunately, we live in an area with a wonderful program called, New Hope, that will help us figure out the best resources and programs for Katie in the area.

It’s been difficult for Katie to leave her home with her Mom. If Katie had her way, she’d go back there in a heartbeat. She wasn’t well prepared for the changes in her life, so Celeste has had to deal with the fallout from that transition. Celeste has done an amazing job to help Katie understand that she will not be living at home any more. Katie has really started to settle in, but she is excited to come live with our family.

When the Daja was over visiting Katie a few weeks ago, Katie said, “Ryley (Daja’s name), come here!” Rye went into the kitchen and Katie pointed to the date on the big calendar.

“I’m going to Ohio. With Suesan!” She kept telling Daja that she was moving to Ohio with Suesan and David. Since Katie doesn’t usually talk unless asked a direct question, this is a huge improvement for Katie.

  Katie watching a video Birthday Message from her Mom.

We’re happy she’s excited for the move. It’s not always easy for change, especially for Katie. It’s going to be a little chaotic at firs because we’ll be in the process of moving homes in the first few weeks she’s here. I’m excited to decorate for a girl again, and Katie loves to be girly. It will be nice to not be the only girl in the house.

I have no idea how these changes will affect my blog. I plan to keep posting and doing projects, but I may be more hit and miss over the next few weeks. By no means am I done blogging. I still have too much to share.

I appreciate  your patience and support as I make these changes. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for those of you who have encouraged and cheered me on and who follow my adventures. I love every comment and it truly makes my day when someone tells me that a tutorial I wrote helped them.

Thank you for being such a great group of blog friends.

Suesan

Doorlicious

I’m sure by now, you’ve heard all the chatter about Pinterest. I love the ability to create a collection of things that interest me.

I discovered an interesting thing, though. Before Pinterest, I had No.Idea. that I have an obsession with doors. Here’s some examples from my Great Doors board.

I currently have 52 examples of some amazing doors, pinned to this board. I’m a little obsessed.

Thank  You, Pinterest for helping me identify a heretofore unknown obsession love.

Now that I’ve identified and acknowledged my love of doors, imagine my joy when driving down the road and seeing, not one, but five. F.I.V.E.! old doors leaning up against a dumpster!

I asked Hubs to pull over. We thought about putting them in the car, because, hey, they were at the dumpster, but we didn’t feel right about just taking them.

I had to run to the bank the next day, and the bank just happens to be kitty-corner from the door Mecca. Naturally, I made a beeline straight for the bank (Ha!) doors.

The owner happened to be there and I asked him what he was doing with the doors. He asked me how much I wanted to give him.

Here’s how the conversation played out:

Door Peddler: “How much do you want to give me for them?”

My thought: $20

Me: “I’m not sure.”

DP: “Here, let me spread them out for you.”

The first door I saw and the one that had me stopping was this beauty. (Buddy started spraying down the doors to clean them before I could snap the first picture).

I was not leaving the DP’s without this door.

Look at it’s ceramic knob. I actually had to take a razor to it to scrape some junk off the end, but it cleaned up real purdy. Also check out those carved corner pieces.

This is the doorbell. It just below the window. You lift the lever and it rings a brass bell. It worked once I pulled the insulation out from inside of it and cleaned up the bell, but then someone in the house (not going to mention any names) was trying to figure out how it worked and the striker broke. We have a plan to fix it, though.

More moulding and detail work.

The glass is wavy and I have a couple cans of Looking Glass spray paint in my stash that’s just waiting for the right project. I thought I’d do something similar to what Kindra from At Home With K did to her door.

Then I saw two more doors in the stash with glass and saw similar visions in my head.

I love the arches on this one!

At this point, I’m thinking, “I should offer him $10 each. But that’s $50. Hubs might not like me spending $50. I don’t like me spending $50. Hmmmm. Which door don’t I want?”

This is not my favorite, but Gail from My Repurposed life makes such cute things out of louvered doors. I could make a hall tree out of this door, similar to what Gail made. Or maybe a bookcase?

Finally, there’s this door. The plain Jane of the lot.

Or is she?

Wouldn’t she be perfect for an outdoor picnic table? Stacy from Embracing Change seemed to think it was a great idea.

I LOVE the colors she used. I may copy her verbatim.

Gah! How does a girl decide? Apparently she doesn’t. Apparently the trick to getting a great price is to dither while the slide show of possibilities plays out in your head. This will make the DP impatient. So impatient that he finally says the magic words.

“How about $20 for all of them?”

I couldn’t say “Yes” fast enough.

I really was willing to pay $50, but I’m so happy I didn’t have to!

In another twist of the junk Gods smiling upon me, two days later I scored several more louvered closet doors, and an antique set of closet doors with leaded glass inserts (all intact) for FREE from the neighbor’s down the street. I now have repurposing projects Ga-Lore!

I’m thinking a headboard for Hubs and I, like Flea Market Trixie made.

I have to bide my time, though, because I must now turn my attention to moving. We finally found a better house for our family in the area. It’s on 12 acres and in a town that scores very high on the Cuteness Scale (think Star’s Hollow, if you’re a Gilmore Girls fan).

Our new home will have a large workshop area for me, so there will be plenty of space for these projects and more.

Thank you Pinterest and Door Peddler.

What would you do with these doors?

Suesan

I woke up this morning to dark, overcast skies, a summer thunderstorm, and a freaked out Fur Child who hates said storms.

He tries to crawl into the 27” wide space under my desk and hide from the storm, which is simply not big enough for the two of us to share. He’s such a baby, but it’s hard to deny him when he gives you such a soulful look.

At any rate, I thought today would be a good day to share one of my favorite summer time recipes. In Troy, Ohio, every year they hold a Strawberry Festival. It’s an event created to help all the local charities raise money.

One of our favorite activities at the festival is the bed races.

Local companies have created “beds” to race around the town square. While we no longer live in Troy, Hubs (right) was recruited by his old team to run with them this year. Their team took 2nd place overall (Woot!), which is amazing considering Hubs’ knee gave out in the final stretch and they had to practically drag him over the line.

The teams race down the street, around the traffic circle and then stop to do some sort of activity at the circle. This year, each participant had to jump 100 times on a jump rope. They put pedometers on their heads to count the jumps.

Hubs’ method of “jumping” consisted of repeated head bobs to activate the pedometer and about 20 or so actual jumps on the jump rope.

Around the square, charities have booths set up to raise money. Our former scout troop has been selling Strawberry Pie at the festival for more than 10 years now. The amazing women and men that help pull this off each year, have it down to a science. This year they made about 110 pies!

Now, when you’re cranking out this many pies, you don’t really have time to be all pretty about it, but I’m guessing you won’t be doing this pie in assembly line form.

One of the things I love about this pie is how easy it is to make. I hate making regular pie crust, but with this recipe, the pie crust is smooshed into the tin. It doesn’t get easier than that!

Pie Crust:

• 1½ C. Flour
• ½ tsp. Sugar
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ½ C. Oil
• 2 T. Milk

Mix dry ingredients together. I use a wire whisk to stir them. Combine oil and milk together and pour into dry ingredients. Stir together.

Press (smoosh) into pie tin.

Form a bit of an edge at the top to hold the pie filling. The crust will shrink a bit when baking, but if you build up the sides, that edge will make a dam for the glaze.

Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Cool.

Filling:

• 1½ C. Sugar
• ¼ C. Cornstarch
• 1½ C. Water
• 1 box of Strawberry Jell-O (3 oz.)
• Fresh Strawberries

In a deep pot, mix the sugar and cornstarch, then add water and boil until transparent, stirring constantly. (It doesn't really get that transparent, and if it starts to turn a little brownish, hurry and add the Jell-O).

Add Jell-O and boil again. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You want to let it start to thicken a bit before you use it. The filling will do one deep pie, or 1.5 regular pies. I double the recipe for 2 pies.

While the glaze is cooling, rinse and top berries. Make sure berries are mostly dry before putting into crust. Place berries into crust, pointed end up and mound berries toward the center of the pie. This makes for a nice shape to the pie when cut.

Using a small measuring cup, pour the cooled glaze over the berries, making sure to coat each berry.

Refrigerate and allow glaze to set, about 1 hour, before serving.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Enjoy this fabulous pie!

Strawberry Festival Pie

Pie Crust:

• 1½ C. Flour
• ½ tsp. Sugar
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ½ C. Oil
• 2 T. Milk

Filling:

• 1½ C. Sugar
• ¼ C. Cornstarch
• 1½ C. Water
• 1 box of Strawberry Jell-O (3 oz.)
• Fresh Strawberries

Topping:

• Real Whipping Cream
• Vanilla and Sugar to taste

Blend and press into pie shell. Form a bit of an edge at the top to hold the pie filling. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Cool.

Mix sugar and cornstarch, add water and boil until transparent, stirring constantly. (It doesn't really get that transparent, and if it starts to turn a little brownish, hurry and add the Jell-O). Add Jell-O and boil again. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You want to let it start to thicken a bit before you use it. The filling will do one deep pie, or 1.5 regular pies. I double the recipe for 2 pies.

Top strawberries and mound into cooled pie shell. I put them in the shell so the pointy end is pointing up. Layer them and make it higher in the middle. Pour cooled filling over berries, making sure to coat each berry, and chill. Serve with Whipped Cream.

Suesan