The Week That Was

I looked at my calendar and heaved a sigh of relief. A week that was (almost) clear! I envisioned leisurely mornings, quiet afternoons of painting furniture, simple pleasures. I knew I had one storytelling performance this week, and there was the Veteran's Day parade, but that was it.

Hunh.

Funny that. Because this week has been just as busy as any other. Why did I think it would be different? I'm the same person as I've always been, and that person plans too much, piles on too much, and generally just wears herself out because she forgets that she needs to build in some down time.

We started out well enough. Our daughter-in-law and some grandchildren came over for a visit Monday morning. We had a great time with them, and when they left we started on a few things. Nothing major, we promised ourselves. But those few things kept us working til late evening. We started loading the van for restocking our Marietta booth, and I sorted and priced the things we'd got at the auctions over the weekend.

Tuesday we made applesauce, lots of it. There were apples still hanging in our trees, and we had some leftover applesauce in the cellar from the last apple butter-making, so we figured we'd cook down the rest of the apples and can the sauce in preparation for making another kettle of apple butter. The stuff never goes to waste--with sons, grandchildren and friends that love it, we usually need more than we make. Tuesday was also grocery shopping day, and I added in some shopping for Thanksgiving dinner to spread out the cost a bit. I also met up with a young lady and bought three nice Fiesta pitchers for our booth, and stopped in to Goodwill where I found a like-new pair of insulated coveralls for Larry. Score!

Wednesday was the Veterans' Day parade in our town, and this year Larry decided to participate. We were up and out the door early.

I met granddaughter Hannah for breakfast and then watched the parade with Hannah, Haley and one of their friends. Our town of Ripley does a bang-up job honoring our veterans, with a huge parade, free refreshments, a ceremony on the courthouse lawn, free movies and even an appearance by Eleanor Roosevelt. We left right after the parade, though, because we had a lot of work to do at our booth. We worked until the mall closed at 6:00pm and I think we left it in pretty good shape.

Thursday we were up and out early again to drive to the southern part of West Virginia for my storytelling performance at an elementary school. We got there in enough time to browse a local antique mall where I found a nice Blenko decanter (minus its stopper, but still a great deal).

After the storytelling we stopped at another mall that had awesome stuff and prices to match, but I did find one nice and possibly Blenko vase for a steal. By the time we got home we were both too tired to do much but watch a movie and rest.

Friday found me dragging around, trying to get something done and not being very successful. But I did get some work done on this cabinet. This is a gun-cabinet-turned-jelly cabinet. This is the first time I've used chicken wire in a door, and it was more work than you might think. Live and learn--and of course I had to pick a BIG door to learn on! The biggest thing to watch for is keeping the wire straight, otherwise it would look pretty crazy. I found some youtube tutorials, then just dove in.

I still have to put the bottom drawer back in--looking for some different handles for it.  This one was dark wood with rough oak unfinished shelves inside. I painted inside first with gray paint, then off white chalk paint, used a black chalk paint on the outside and distressed, then waxed with dark wax.

Today I will be working with my friend Jeff Seager on the Christmas carols program we offer each year. We research the carols to find out their history, and present those stories as part of our program. Lots of audience participation and singalong are included in this program which we both enjoy doing. Jeff's guitar and singing really add a lot to the presentation, and each year we seek out new songs so the program remains fresh.

What will Sunday bring? My plan is to restock our Ravenswood booth and take this cabinet over there, but we'll see what comes up.



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