Covid Journal, Day 293: Small Changes at Home, Big Events in DC

34 and cloudy. Damp and dark all day, although no rain or snow.

I am listening right now to coverage of the events at the Capitol. What a sad and shameful day for this country. I support peaceful protests and the right of people to make their voices heard--if you recall, I took part in the Women's March in 2017, and have attended a few other rallies and protests in my lifetime. None were violent or destructive. Let's all hope our country gets through this day with no deaths. I have worried that as we got closer to the inauguration, this kind of unrest, and worse, would happen. 

Before the news broke about this protest, I was having a quiet day. How life can change in a few seconds. But I will leave my trust with the authorities in DC, and try to go back to my little life. Sometimes being buried up in the country is a very good thing.

So, what was I doing earlier in the day? Seems silly to write about it now, but here it is.

I pulled some suitcases out of my booth yesterday with this project in mind. I love the result.

I can use these suitcases to store decorations for the smaller holidays like Valentine's, St. Partick's Day, and Easter. Currently those decorations are stored in an area that requires a ladder to get them down, and as we get older we realize that we should try to find other storage options. This is one step in that direction.

As I listen to the radio--no TV here--I'm cooking turnip greens with the Christmas ham bone, and the house smells wonderful. Isn't it cool to be able to pick things from the garden this late in the year? I guess this is the first year we've been able to keep greens going this late in the season. We'll have the greens with baked potatoes and some grilled salmon, along with a green salad that will have a bit of garden lettuce in it. Simple things, simple things. They help keep us grounded and calm in such times.

We finally packed up the last of Christmas and Larry is taking it up to the building as I write. I thought I was finished packing it up, but every year it seems like there are little things here and there that I miss. And then there was all the things from the booth, that I brought home yesterday. So three totes and one more tree, and I can finally say I'm done "breaking up Christmas." Today is Old Christmas, as you might remember, and the "official" day to take down decorations. I was early this year for some reason, but those last pieces kept me within the boundaries of superstition, I think! There's more about this day, and Twelfth Night, which was last night.

I love this old illustration with the mistletoe over the couple in the center.

I did remember to pack away the mistletoe to be burned in next year's Winter Solstice fire, and kept a little inside the house for luck and to repel any malevolent spirits hanging around. 

Superstitious? Well, better safe than sorry, right? I will also keep some of the holly wood from the outside decorations, because it was believed to provide protection from fire and lightning and other dangers. Again, better safe...  I do love the old superstitions, and like adding them into our annual traditions.

Friends, be safe and try not to stress too much about today's events. All we can do, or at least most of us, is to continue to live our lives and be the kind of Americans that made this country. Good and sense will prevail in the end. We have to believe that. And pray that it will be so.

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

Projects, or, All That Painting

Yesterday's post seemed to have a lot of painting in it! So here's a look at some of what we were working on.

Progress on the chest of drawers--it's coming along.

Those bar-shaped handles are the ones causing problems with missing parts. There are two little metal things you can't see in the photo that are necessary to hold the handles in place. Those are missing on three pulls, so Larry is making some that will work just fine. I am painting this chest to match the dressing table I finished up last week.

This stool goes to the dressing table.

And this bed will be painted to go with the set this week. A lot of veneer to be removed before painting though.

Larry painted these chairs--they'll be sold as "flowerpot chairs." If I have time, I'll see about filling some pots with blooms to add to them, for the Ripley On Sale event at the end of May.

He built this shelf from a bi-fold door,

and then painted it. I just need to distress and wax it now.

I finished painting the iron bed last night,  so it will go to our Riverbend booth today.

Another Larry project, and a funny story. We had this table, but the legs were bad, so Larry replaced them. It had a porcelain top, and it was in terrible condition, so we decided to replace it too. Then it was missing a drawer so we found one in our stash that would work and Larry put that in. So all that's actually left of the original table is the frame that the top rests on!

Next step for the table is this stencil, then distress and wax. It's taller than most tables so we thought it could be a coffee station. Could be used with stools too.

Upside down bench--it needed lots of sanding and a leg repaired before painting.

Now I just need to seal it with polyurethane, and it's ready to sell. It's about 6 feet long, so finding space in a booth is going to be a challenge.

A small shelf I painted yesterday--seems just the right size for a salt and pepper collection or other smaller items. It's bigger than it looks, about 24x30 I think.

You would not believe how dirty this suit case was. It took about 30 minutes to clean the grime off of it.

The top of this small desk is warped, so we're in the process of trying to get that out of it. Then paint? The top definitely must be painted, but the rest looks good. So paint just the top? I'm not sure. The missing drawer is being re-glued.

Last but not least, these 4 chairs were a Goodwill find. They were as dirty as the suitcase! So lots of scrubbing ensued, but now three of the four are done. These will go with a formica-top table.

That's most of what's in progress. We're trying to get plenty done now, before Larry's knee surgery and before summer storytelling keeps my too busy to paint.


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

Projects Everywhere

We had a few days of warmth but now we are back to winter. Which is as it should be, for January. Today it is snowing on top of the icy icky that fell yesterday evening. This is perfect gather in time, time to be by the fire and cozy in the house.

But.

It is also a great time to move forward on projects, and they are scattered all over the house and workroom. It is both a disadvantage and an advantage to live so far out: a disadvantage in that we are not on the way to anywhere and few people venture out our way even in good weather. In wintry times, forget having visitors. The advantage is that we can spread our work out all over the place without worrying about anyone seeing the mess!

So here it was early this morning:

In the kitchen, a mirror and a picture get new paint. After finishing the mirror, I decided I didn't want to use it as I think the silvering is just too bad. So another mirror will be on the table later today.

Also in the kitchen the drawers to the dressing table that the mirror will go on, and painted picture frames--finished, thank goodness.

In the living room, ebay sales wait to go up to the mailbox,

and another drawer to the dressing table.

In the log room the dressing table awaits glazing and waxing,

a small trunk waits for paint and other work,

and a mirror and more picture frames need paint, backs, etc.

This doesn't include the projects Larry is working on out on the back porch and in the workroom. There is only room for one of us to work in the workroom since the dogs and cats are in there, staying warm in this bad weather. So my work has moved inside the house, for now.

I guess I know what I will be doing the rest of this snowy day.

Stay warm and safe, friends.


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

Quiet but Busy: Painting and Canning

Besides planning for our trip, I've been canning and painting, not necessarily in that order.

 Pickles and vegetable soup have been the order of the day this week, along with some frozen squash medley. I have discovered that if I saute' squash, onions, celery and peppers together the squash is delicious and not squeaky like frozen squash usually is. We have had an overload of yellow squash this year, after having none last year, and a person can only eat so much squash! This mix is delicious with a little garlic and red pepper tossed in and put over rice, or mixed into pasta sauce and put over spaghetti noodles or macaroni. I expect I'll find other uses for it too.

Larry planted late green beans and they've provided enough for seven pints canned, and for adding to vegetable soup. I've got about 30 pints of veggie soup put up now, and will probably get a few more before we're done.The late corn is just about ready, a small patch of turnips and other greens is getting going, and the late onions are also coming on now. Despite the terrible heat this summer the gardens have done well.

As for painting, I've been rolling out some small projects and Larry got another dinette set ready to go. Here's a look at some of what we've been doing:

 This little desk was just ugly--it had been badly painted in the 70's, I guess, with one of those antiquing kits. I planned to paint it all-over red, but the top was rough so I gave it a good sanding. As I sanded, this finish emerged, and I loved it.

 We have a stockpile of chairs, so it wasn't hard to choose one I thought would look best with the desk.

We've been putting this set together for a while. We started, actually, in February or March of 2015, when we found the table. It was in a small, non-electric log cabin that had belonged to a 95-year-old man. We bought several items from his estate. The table had no chairs to match so we began looking for some we could have re-upholstered. We had the two cream ones already done, and then found two others that were not really matches but we went ahead and had them covered in turquoise to make this set. Some elbow grease to clean up the table and here she is:

I have had this table in my booths for 3 years with no takers, so it came home and got a coat of paint. Maybe now it will sell? Fingers crossed!

The little decorative sled just needed a coat of paint and some white glaze; the table was another one of those "let's sand this and see what happens" moments.

This is a work in progress. I can see I need to take it apart--again--and paint the inside of that bottom piece.  It will also get some prisms hanging from each light holder and a crystal bead chain to hang it. I put timed candles inside the light holders.

I call him Don Carlos--he's made to hold a bottle of wine. He had some chips and scrapes so I did some repainting and touch-up to spiff him up. I think he's pretty cool.

Little lamp got a coat of teal to brighten it up.

Larry has been working on old fans lately. Somehow we ended up with a half dozen of them, all needed some TLC. He's done some rewiring, cleaning and even fixed one so it rotates properly.

An upcoming project. We've had this in the workroom for a while and finally pulled it out and put it together. Sadly it's missing two of the glass doors that swing up and under. It's a Wernicke lawyer's bookcase and in perfect condition they bring good money. This one, with the missing doors and the damage to the top, won't bring anything like the usual price. We will repair the base and remove the veneer from the top, which will then have to be repainted. The rest will get a good wipe-down and then we'll see if it needs more work to make it look good again.

It looks like the top got water damage at some point. What a shame.

I had so much fun re-doing this bed lamp. It was a plain brown metal, and needed to be re-wired. We teamed up to find a good cord for it and got it re-done, then I painted and stenciled it. Kinda wishing I could keep it but I really have no need for it.

Little magazine rack is ready to go. I am so bad about taking before photos, but try to imagine it dark brown stain, scratched and scuffed and dirty. There is such pleasure in transforming a piece from junk to keeper.

That's a few of the things I've been working on. In progress are a coat rack, two little tables that will be painted with a Coca-Cola theme, a wood box with a floral transfer on top, a mirror frame, some candleholders, two lamps...what else? Stay tuned to see the finished results.

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

A Table and Tung Oil

A project we can call done!

When I saw this table, I told Larry,"Look! All we will have to do to it is clean it up and haul it to our Marietta booth. Leave it exactly as it is, it's a primitive. We can just flip it and make some easy money."

Yeah, right. He looked dubious. That's because he knows me too well. I will think a thing needs no work, but then...

So we bought the green primitive table, carried it up a long flight of stairs out of the basement of the antique mall where we found it and got it into the van along with the two chairs, kitchen table, and other totes and boxes already in there. We might start a trip with an empty van but seldom does it return that way.

It's waited a month for us to get around to it.

At first glance it sure looked like the table didn't need much. Then I noticed a long chip out of the top. No worries, we can cut that part off the board and rearrange the top boards to make it look fine.

Then there was the drawer. It didn't slide right. After some thought and hunting for some pieces to make it work properly, much banging and false starts, the fix was in.

There were these random nails sticking out here and there too. The piece was made with leftovers, I think, reassembled to make a table that must have been in a garage to judge by the amount of dirt in and on it. So we pulled nails. And pulled nails.

Finally it was time to sand it down and get the loose paint knocked off. A LOT of loose paint. Most of the green left. Which made me a little sad because I liked it, but I can't sell it with loose paint.

This afternoon I put the tung oil finish on it.

That stuff is awesome but it stinks to high heaven and it is so sticky!

Yesterday afternoon I scrubbed almost all the paint off of my hands and arms and now? Back to scrubbing.

But the table is done, and I'm happy. Larry is happy too--happy to be done with it. There's nothing quite like pulling nails out of well-aged oak.

Tomorrow it will get a buffing up, then another coat of tung oil, then buffed again, and it will be ready for the booth.

The "it doesn't need anything other than cleaning up" table took us a good 6 hours or more.

Worth it? Totally. I'm just sad that there is no room for it in our house or it would be staying here. This small house can be a blessing, you know, because I say that about a lot of the things we buy for resale.

Tomorrow, those desks I promised to show you. They're done, really they are, but this table just wanted to be bragged on. It's rough, primitive and absolutely a one-of-a-kind find.

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