Clowns and Cleaining

Well, I has a 4 day weekend. Unfortunately, I could no longer ignore the fact that I hadn't really cleaned my house since I don't remember when. So I went into a frenzy for 2 days and was exhausted when it was all over. The woodstove is sooo cozy in winter but it sure creates a lot of dust and dirt. Living in an old house, I don't have much storage space, so I have many "antique" cupboards. My husband and I are big fans of thrift shops, tag sales etc and I've picked up more than my share of "chochtkes". I finally faced the fact that I would have to dust on top of the cupboards and around all the stuff on the shelves. If only it would stay clean for a long, long time I wouldn't mind it, but in a few weeks it will be like it never happened. One of these days I'll do a painting of my favorite little thrift shop and yard sale finds, some of which are pictured here, newly dusted!!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Ok, it's not actually raining. We had THE SNOW DAY today! Yeah!! For some reason, I kept thinking of one of my cute little students singing "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is boring." (Apologies to my "old man") The 5 and 6 year olds in my classroom come up with the funniest stuff..Who's Santa's other reindeer (besides Rudolph) asked the teacher last December. The only girl in the class answers "Ashley?".I had to take the job assisting a special ed student cause my husband and I were both self-employed and the health insurance payments were more than our mortgage. So you can understand why I eagerly anticipate snow days and faithfully wear my pajamas backwards the night before a storm.(It really works) After school, I come home to my other job hand- painting first day covers for stamp collectors. You would think we live an extravagant lifestyle, but no, we live quite simply and are just trying to survive the recession! So finding time to produce all these paintings and craft projects I have in my head will take precious time. I've sure learned not to procrastinate like I used to. Anyway, I had to have a little fun today, so my husband and I went cross country skiing in the woods near our house. My daughter, who is a downhill skier, can't understand the attraction of it, but for us it's cheap, peaceful, uncrowded and right outside our door. Here's a little picture to illustrate SNOW DAY!!!!!

The Three Little Pigs Got a New House

OK, I'm gonna talk about creativity...it's one thing us individualistic Americans are really good at..rah rah USA. Just read an article about an artist/inventor who built a structure entirely out of mushrooms. Actually, he used the rootlike mass that forms underneath the 'shrooom. It's called a mycelium and the spongy matter is grown in brick shaped molds and used for something called mycotecture! It's nontoxic, fireproof and mold and water resistant..maybe I should be investing in the stuff, if I had any money to invest...It will soon be used as "eco-friendly" packing material. Just when you thought the world was a hopelessly used up dirty mess, you see that people care and there is once again hope for the future!!