crazy woman painting

crazy woman painting
Originally uploaded by thefarmersdaughter

crappy day here. Grey, ice-y, the boy is driving me insane. I drew a sketch to make a new doll, but at the last minute decided to paint. Then I went to welding class. ( I will take pics of what I make there later- we are plasma cutting finally!)
SO here is my crazy woman painting. I don't know why she has no teeth, she just doesn't.

Started a new blog about my obsession for houses that are of a unique color or style. That whole " one of these things is not like the other" game.

here is it crazycolorhouses

ideas for kitchen cabinets-IDEAS?

ideas for kitchen cabinets-IDEAS?
Originally uploaded by thefarmersdaughter

I should never leave my husband alone- this is what he has come up with this weekend.

My kitchen is approx 8 ft x 8 ft. (2 ft cabs, 4 ft walkway, and 2 ft cabs. ) there is an area that used to be the old eat in area and is approx 8.5 ft by 9 ft. (It connects the dining room to the living room on the right of the kitchen) There is now a large built in bar/table in this area, and my husband wants to add 2 bottom cabs to the kitchen floorplan- 1 2ft cab next to the stove, 1 1f cab on the opposite side. I am tempted because right now I only have 2 lower cabs and really need the space. The new 2 ft cab would need a half wall built around it because it would "stick out" from the dining room wall.

I have a large box there right now so I can see visually what a cabinet might look like. I don't know about this....

One of those days ------

SO, I woke up this morning, and my son - who is 3 1/2, was in the bathroom. Not a big deal- I mean, it's the bathroom, the morning, whatever. I wait a bit, then realize that I have no real idea how LONG he's been in there. I rush in, just in time to see him cleaning the toilet with my TOOTHBRUSH, 2 washclothes, and an entire pump container of dial soap. (my toilet wasn't even dirty people). There is an inch of water everywhere and he looks at me, with that cute face and even cuter grin, and says "look mommy, I'm making it clean."

At least he didn't flush anything. He was soaking the washclothes in the toilet and trying to wring them out in the sink, but he wasn't quite making it that far. It did take 3 large bathtowels to soak up the water.

Oh, it was 17 degrees below zero this morning. Actual temp. not wind chill. My town has gotten at least 81 inches of snow this winter (so far- we have had more snow since they reported this number) We're running out of places to put it.

I sold another doll!

Yea me! I sold one of the 4 dolls I put on the horror-mall site. I doubled the orignal price and it still sold. That makes a total of 3 sold now. I am even thinking about starting an Etsy site and putting a few up there. If I sell to many more, I will actually have to think about combining my studios ( I have 2 right now) so that it's easier to work- but I think that's jumping the gun right now to say the least. 3 dolls do not make a career for sure. I think when I get to about 10 then I will start to take this seriously, but until then, it's just a hobby that is paying for itself.

Happy Valentines day everyone!

"The story of Stuff"

A few weeks back I came across a posting on Daily Kos -http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/27/85519/4170/975/442455 about a movie called "The Story of Stuff". I read it, bookmarked it because I was sort of interested, and moved on. But I kept thinking about it, and the entire concept of stuff for stuffs sake, how our economy and culture is tied into our love - and need- of stuff. Here is a paragraph that really spoke to me



"Shopping has become the key to how we view ourselves to such an extent that not only did George W. Bush urge us to shop ourselves out of the peril of 9/11, even environmental activists often turn to the mall. What's the most frequent advice dispensed to people trying to behave more responsibly? Buy green. It's advice that not only encourages still more consumption as means to address the problem of over-consumption, but it all too often ignores the market forces that have delivered "green" products to the local mall -- forces that rarely have any concern for the resources or people damaged along the way."

But how to cut yourself off from this spiral of stuff? I mean, we do need stuff. Stuff wears out, breaks, goes bad. I could never go the route of those " compact"people, who pledge not to buy anything new for an entire year. But there has to be a way to minimize how much stuff to accumulate. Now, I have no answers here, honestly, I still am unsure as to how I feel about the entire concept. But, I know I have more stuff than I really need, and it's hard to keep organized and clean, and it takes a lot of money that honestly I could use for other things than just "stuff".

My dirty little secret

You all have "been " to my house. Heck, you've seen closets and drawers, places no guest should ever be forced to look. My house is rather tidy most of the time. I work quite hard at keeping it that way too. Now here's a place that I keep hidden, or as the title says, my dirty little secret.

This room was once my sons bedroom, but it is tiny, and the layout was bad-so I moved him into my old office and took this room for myself. I repainted it, made new curtains (silk!) bought a new overhead lamp fixture that I LOVE- then dumped a ton of crap into it. I have cleaned it up- twice! (can anyone say AT cure) but within days it becomes a crap collector again.

Why? Well, my son can't get into this room. There is a special thing on the doorknob he can't open. SO, anything he shouldn't be in gets thrown in here. My art supplies are all in here, some fabric, my books, all of my blank canvas' are in here too. It gets to a point where I can hardly walk. I have seen some of those shows on tv where they come in and humiliate the owner and then clean up the house. This is that type of room. (thank God I only have one like this)

Anyway, this room depresses me, I can't stand it this way, but it just sucks the life right out of me and so I can't even begin to clean.

I just have to get to it, but I don't even know where to start. I just have so much junk in there, and most of it is really needed so I can't throw it away. I need to figure out how I want to use the space and then work on an organizational plan so that everything has a home. I just don't even want to start.

12 inches of snow in 12 hours!

That's what we got yesterday. I will not complain though. Tornados trump snowfall each and everytime. If anyone is reading from that portion of the country my prayers are with you.

I went to my first welding class on Tuesday evening. I SUCK at welding (so far). I will keep on trying for a while. I wasn't worried about the safety issue until the instructor started talking about everything that could go horribly( and fatally )wrong. We started out on oxy-Acetylene torches. You know, things that go boom ! Anyway, it was interesting- not really fun in the pure sense of the word- but interesting. A friend of ours welds art sculptures out of found objects and has a large set up. He offered to teach me, but he welds drunk, and I would like to learn how to do somethings safely and from someone sober.

I am going to put a few more dolls of mine out for sale. 4 or 5. I set up the deal today. I can't honestly say that I am excited. I don't generally get excited over business deals, and that is what this is really. And, I don't honestly care if anyone likes my art. I don't do it for others. I was happy to hear that the good luck voodoo doll I made for my Mother (for Christmas) seems to be working- over $2500 for my Mom so far in Nevada!

Happy Birthday to me!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. It seems funny to be this old with a small child. Our friends kids are graduating college, getting married or having babies and toddlers like we do. There seems to be very little in the middle- they all seem to have started very early or late. When my mother was my age I was 20 (ish) I think, my brother would have been 18. Their lives (well, their 2nd act) were just starting. I will be 58 when my son turns 20, that is, if I survive potty training.

My husband designed metal antlers for me for my birthday. A student of his department actually did the welding (although he can weld). They are fantastic! I love them and we are going to put them on the outside of the house (so they can rust and get character) between the garage doors. PLUS, I start a welding class myself tomorrow. It's a welding class especially for artists- so I won't be learning how to weld for a living or anything- but I hope to be able to make a small decorative fence or garden stakes at the end of this!

Also, I have decided to put a few more of my dolls out there for sale. After discussing it with my brother (who knows this sort of stuff) I have a "business plan" and feel better about how to market and price the items. We'll see how this all goes......