Some Days My Mind is Blank

I stare at the screen and wonder what to write. I haven't cooked anything spectacular; today is all about canning brown beans and chili. The weather is being weather--snows, then melts, then snows, then rains and once in a while we see the sun.

Since getting home from the workshop Saturday I really haven't gotten into any new projects--I worked a bit on my booth in Ravenswood, did the grocery shopping, housework, laundry. Just ordinary life.

Today, besides canning beans, I'm painting that little cradle I showed you last month.

It is now pink, as many of you suggested when I asked for ideas; I am thinking about dry-brushing it with white and then antiquing and waxing it to give it a little of that aged look.

I did find a small mattress, pillow and quilt for it at Goodwill. Will wonders never cease?! The quilt is in blue, white and pink so the green on the cradle had to go for sure. I think it's going to look cute when I'm done.

I'm also painting a rough shelf we found at a junk shop. It was painted yellow and when I sanded it I found it had also been orange (!) and gray. Maybe it was in an automotive shop? I've painted it flat black and will try my hand at crackling it with white tomorrow. I have a mirror that I might try with that too, on the frame which is currently dark wood but I want to see how the first effort turns out first.

The next project for me as far as storytelling is a day at an elementary school that includes creative writing classes with the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. I will be putting in some time planning for that this week and next; I love writing with kids and have missed it since the writing group I had at my branch library lo these many years ago. That group was actually the reason I got back into writing. Kids are inspiring, at least for me.

So that's been my ho-hum, but still satisfying days. We haven't been to any auctions, and the best find recently was a doubletree with the attached singletrees (if you don't know what these are, here's a photo of what I'm talking about). We found it at the Goodwill over in Ohio! I am always surprised by what turns up in the thrift stores.

Tomorrow I will share pics of today's projects if I get them finished. For tonight, I think it's movies by the fire and listening to the little peeps pecking about in their box. Sounds like a fine evening to me :)

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.