Wednesday, November 19, 2008

My Studio





Greetings!


I enjoy paper crafting: scrapbooking, card making, etc. As this can be a product-intensive hobby, it's nice to have one's own space in which to create. One major benefit is not having to put everything away each time I'm finished, too.

Today I'm giving you a peek into my space. While not large, it works out pretty well. It's a little odd, because it's a loft space, above my bedroom, but only on two sides. So, it's an L-shaped loft with many windows and great views.

I'm slightly obsessed with organization; in fact, I spend more time with that than actual crafting! I'm hoping to change that, as I pretty much have permanent places for everything. If only I could be so organized in other rooms... I have hope.

Here's a couple of views of my space.

Enjoy!












Thursday, November 13, 2008

Life ON the Grid

My brother and his girlfriend would never have this problem. They live pretty much off the grid. Yep solar & all, the real deal.

We, on the other hand, are dependent upon Amerigas & Dominion Power to keep us warm and basking in the luxury of our appliances & electronics.

Last night, my Mom mentioned she had to take a shower with cold water. What??? So, I figured the hot water heated had died. However, the other hot water heater was also cold. Neither the stove was working, nor the heat. (Our heating system - Apollo- runs off the hot water heaters. If there's no hot water, there's no heat.)
It seems the propane had run out.
We've been here five and a half years, and this is the first time it happened. We have the service with the gas company, such that they automatically deliver when it gets low, but somehow we fell through the cracks with that system. The after-hours line said someone would call me this morning, first thing, to set up a time for a delivery today. The catch is we had to be home, because the gas man would have to come inside to check all the propane-using appliances.

Great, gotta postpone Mom's dr.'s appointment.

It only got to 60 degrees (F) in my bedroom, so that wasn't too bad. Since I get too warm often, a little cool is fine by me. We have a space heater for Mom (she's very cold natured) so she was comfortable. One helpful feature of having propane is that when the electricity goes out, we're still able to use the stove, and take hot showers. But this was the gas.
As of 9:30 this moaning, I'd heard nada, so I rang them up. After 3o minutes of being put on hold and transferred, we got a delivery set up. Typically on a cool fall day (48 degrees midday today) by mid morning we'd get some warming in the house, thanks to the passive solar provided by the plethora of windows on the south and west sides of the house. But today, it's cloudy and raining, so no warmth from the sun.
The gas man cometh and now goeth, and we are 'cooking with gas' again. And I can run the dishwasher! Woo-hoo! And take a shower, praise God.
Oh yeah, and the gas company owes us a whopping $25 for this inconvenience. Wow, I can hardly wait to get that.

Friday, October 31, 2008

At the Beginning...

of my blogging journey. As an author, that is, because I sure have read a lot of blogs. Mostly other crafters', from which I have gathered inspiration for many new projects and techniques.
My goal here, however, isn't so much to teach new ideas, but really just to share the path I'm on now, and if anyone derives anything from it, so much the better. Even though I sometimes feel isolated with what I'm going through, I've lived long enough to realize there's probably someone else who has trod in similar shoes. Perhaps I will gain something from the writing process, and time will tell if reading my experiences gives somebody some insight.
It seems as though most bloggers try and keep their posts on a main theme, for instance, if I wanted to share my craft projects, then I wouldn't write about my illness here, or care giving for my Mom, family struggles, etc. I have even seen authors have multiple blogs, and that's annoying for me when they reference something on their 'other blog'. Holy smokes, if I'm giving you my valuable time, please don't even think I want to exert any more effort by visiting another one of your blogs. Frankly, if you have something to say, spit it out. Don't make me hunt for it. I don't want to explore your rationale for having multiple blogs.
Therefore, I've decided to go with a 'multiple topic' blog. If the spirit moves me, I will write about it. If it falls out of bounds of what one wants to read, then scroll on, baby. Scroll on!