Paint, paint, paint, paint, PAINT!

Posted on by jsudar

Life has been busy. Work for Dan, a school board conference and Saturday workshop for me, and lots of little interruptions. However, we’ve made progress on the house. We still have a lot to do, but in other ways we are so close to unpacking the rest of the boxes!

Since I last updated this blog, we have painted. Painted a lot. We had to go get more paint. Some for the touch ups in the hall corners and then more for the living room. I went ahead and did a crazy thing. I painted the dining room. With a really soft roller. It took about two hours, but… it looks beautiful. Very bright. 🙂

I’ve been stripping the cupboard doors and drawers in the kitchen and breakfast nook. I sanded a few, and realized that it was crazy. Since then, I have decided that Citrusstrip is my best friend! Ecological, smells nice, and it does not make me wheeze. I’ve done 11 drawers and I’ve done 9 of 16 doors. Tomorrow I will be doing the second coat of paint on the breakfast nook and kitchen. Oh, and stripping more doors.

Today I was on the ladder a lot. I cleared, cleaned and hung the light in the studio. I put up a curtain rod and attached the plate for the fire alarm. Pretty good for someone who has intermittent vertigo!

Here are some of the latest pics.

So Tired…

Posted on by jsudar

I fell off the Blogsphere for a while. Life got busy, hectic, crazy. Oh yeah…

The day of John Thomas’ memorial at the library, it snowed. So, there were about 55 people there. Lots of people shared memories.

Since then, I spent a lot of time sorting out possessions, trying to be organized, attended school holiday parties, did a wiring job with Dan for District O.N.E., sew new clothes for an SCA event in January, attended an SCA holiday party, and went shopping on December 19th. Oh that was a mistake. It was crazy!

Then Yule, Christmas and Yoolis. The first was the solstice. Our quiet time. Spent it doing lots of catch up stuff. Christmas Day I made green chile and we had tamales from Romeros. Yum! Daniel and Angela came over for dinner and we all ate way too much. Yoolis was the SCA holiday party. It was fun. Good conversation, food and a relaxing time.

On December 30th, I took Gir to a no kill shelter in Trinidad. Beth hadn’t been able to find a home for her. It was a sad but necessary thing.

We had a computer job on December 31st. Drove up to Castle Rock and back by 8pm. I stayed up watching stuff off of Netflix. Dan woke up at about 11:55pm, and we celebrated the New Year with a bit of whisky.

New Year’s Day started on a fast track. I started off my day with cutting out two Viking hoods, and a new Viking dress. Then we went off to pick up furniture that Ethan left at the John Mall house. He wasn’t there, so we headed to get some lunch. Just got lunch when Beth rang to say that she was almost ready to go. She’d been packing for a month, and was finally ready.

We headed over to the house and said our goodbyes. Then we finally picked up the stuff from the JM house and then did some organizational work at the house. We just got started when Daniel and Angela showed up to pick up his stuff. He and Dan moved some furniture that will go to friends. Got home in time to finish up the pinto beans, make corn bread and slice the ham. Yum…

Since then, we have moved furniture, rounded up cats (9 of 16), bagged trash, sorted out ‘stuff’, and cleaned. For the most part, it has been sort, toss, sort, keep, sort… I am amazed at all the stuff. We’ve been downsizing a lot over the last few years, but omg! We took a truck load of stuff to the ARC, the thrift store in Pueblo. I will have another load by the end of the week. Today was a rough day. We cleared three rooms. After we scraped floors, Dan bleached sprayed the walls while I wiped them down. Then we mopped the floors. All with bleach water. The worst room was the breakfast nook. However, I think we got all the cat shit off of the floor. I’m hoping that the smell is lessened.

Tomorrow, we will prep the rooms for painting. We will Spackle holes, cracks and divots.  Then we will tape off windows, and edgings. Then the paint… We’ve decided on one color for most of the rooms. From there we will highlight them with colors from the same range. We are working towards restoring the house to it’s 1936 Mission/Arts & Crafts glory.

The Flag, the Funeral and the Conference

Posted on by jsudar

Last week was hectic. Really hectic.

Monday: Packed for a week’s trip. Finished running errands and getting ready by 1am.

Tuesday: Up at 6am. Out the door by 7:30am. Funeral at 11:45am at Ft. Logan in Denver. After the funeral, the Thomas family, Dan and I went out for breakfast/lunch at the Littleton Cafe, which use to be an IHOP. In fact, it was the IHOP that John and I use to go to for breakfast before speech meetings. It was great. Granted, the cafe was probably glad when the 22-23 of us finally left.  After that, we headed over to Judy’s house and visited for a while. When Dan and I got ready to leave, Erin asked me to wait. He had something for me. It was the flag that he’d been presented with as eldest son. He said that as I had been the military wife for 17 years, that I should have it.

John Thomas' flag

Later that night, we went to the wake held by the SCA. It was lovely. Lots of good food, friends and drink.

Wednesday: After sleeping in, and a brief trip to IKEA, we headed to Colorado Springs for the CASB conference. We checked into the hotel and collapsed.

Thursday-Sunday: The Colorado Association of School Boards 75th Annual Winter Conference. It was a good one. I didn’t get elected to the CASB board, but I will run again next year. Learned a lot. Saw a lot of people and made some new connections. I will have a bunch of stuff to tell my board.

Today. Catch up day. Job day. Deal with insurance day. My head is spinning and it isn’t even noon yet. Oh, and the week isn’t slowing down yet. Tomorrow is the school board meeting. Wednesday, we go shopping in Pueblo. Saturday is John’s memorial down here at the library. sigh….

Life has been…

Posted on by jsudar

Crazy? Stressful? Awkward? Daft? Over and under booked? Yeah. All of those.

Meetings. Hello, my name is Jaye, and I have a serious case of S.T.P. Syndrome. (Same Ten/Twenty/Thirty People at a meeting.) It comes of living in a small rural community, where there just aren’t enough people around to fill out all the various positions at a meeting. I’ve had board meetings, committee meetings, Maker group meetings, SCA meetings, festival meetings, etc. I’m still the school board president, and Celtic Music Festival chair. I’ve tried to resign as secretary from the district accountability group. (DAAC) I’ve cheered when some of them have been canceled. And… I’ve had to set up a few. sigh… I think I need Meetings Anonymous… (oh wait… that’s another meeting!)

Cars. A couple of weeks ago, my parent’s Subaru started acting up. A mysterious oil leak. Turned out that the engine had a fault, that all Subaru’s of that era and engine type develop. We took it to our favourite mechanic who suggested we take it to a place in Pueblo. After an hour, that place got back to us. Their recommendation… Junk it. The cost of the repair was prohibitive, and no guarantee that it would stay fixed. The result is that we have a new to us Subaru. It’s a 2000 Forester. Runs well, and Dan has been making the minor repairs it needed.

new car

Work has been crazy. Line up a job, have it canceled. Think we have a free day, job pops up. The inconsistent income is driving me crazy. However, it has had an upside. We were able to move 99% of our stuff out of storage and into the garage. Granted, that doesn’t mean I’m any more organized. We tried to find some of the stuff we needed like clothing, some dishes, etc. Found about 45% of what we were looking for. Oh well… At least I got my desk! I have missed it!

mydesk

Meanwhile, the last of the garden was harvested. Onions and leeks. 🙂 We still have kale outside, but at the moment it lives under a plastic box. I’m using them up as fast as I can. There isn’t any more room in the freezers for a shred more of food.

Leeks and onions

I also turned 56 on November 9th. It was an alright birthday. I had lots of stuff to do, so I didn’t get to indulge myself in snuggling in a chair with a good book and being waited on hand and foot by Dan. sigh… There is always next year. I did get some nice prezzies though. A tool box, and a coloring book. 🙂

While I don’t expect things to calm down or mellow out any time soon, at least I have things to occupy my time!

Last but not least, it snowed!

Finding time!

Posted on by jsudar

It’s been crazy. We got back from Battlemoor and went into full on “Celtic Music Fest” mode. We had a great time, in spite of some last minute panic attacks, late teeshirts and a few other bits. Check out the website to see pics of the festival.

We’ve been working on emptying our storage locker and moving it all to my mom’s garage. This is in between shopping trips, packing away most of the summer clothes, rain storms, meetings, my nephew visiting, dog sitting, trying to find work, working, checking out our 1/4th of an acre of land, and school district issues.

Our executive secretary lost her grandma and husband in the span of two weeks. She’s devastated, and the office is just a tad scattered. Plus, we’ve been losing teachers. They simply can’t cope with rural Colorado and the needs of our students. The ‘funny side’ to this is that Dan is getting his substitute teacher’s license and will be replacing the STEM teacher.

Tomorrow we are off to work in Castle Rock. Aieee-ya!

Getting back to normal

Posted on by jsudar

Or, whatever that is!

Monday we unpacked. We moved the TVLH into the garage and while I worked on sorting clothes, dishes and other bits, Dan worked on paperwork and Mark 2 of the TVLH. (yes, ideas were burning up his brain!) I did a lot of computer work as well. All those pics! Oh, and I wrote an article for the newspaper.

Tuesday I did laundry, put clean dishes away, had a Celtic Music Fest and a School Board meeting. At the meeting, it was announced that we don’t have to hold an election. As there were only four candidate petitions, and only four seats open, we are automatically rolled in. 🙂 It saves the district over $10,000. Oh, and I folded more clothes than I thought possible. I swear that they multiplied in the dryer. Wrote a letter to the editor about someone’s bad behavior too!

Today we went to Pueblo and got groceries. This afternoon, I’m taking delivery of the CMF office boxes and harvesting veggies out of the garden. More zucchini to shred!

I’ve also added a few pics. I forgot my bracelets and the forks that Dan made. This evening, I plan to organize all of the crafts stuff. I want to get started on sewing EARLY rather than late. No more finishing a project the night before a war!

Stats Explosion!

Posted on by jsudar

Well, now I know how to make my stats on views go crazy. All I have to do is post a new tutorial in the SCA section. 🙂 1367 views just today. Last time I had this many was when I posted about the Viking Hat. That was 1490 views.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a quiet week. Two days of no meetings, no crazy adventures. For the most part, I’ve been sewing, picking lovely tomatoes, working on websites and had lunch at George’s. 🙂 Tomorrow we are off to Pueblo. Shopping of course. King Soopers, Gagliano’s Deli, Walmart and then Chinese for lunch. Ahhh…

Oh, and sewing during the drive. I have a tunic to finish!

Yet Another Crazy Week.

Posted on by jsudar

We thought it was going to be fairly easy. (yeah, you can start laughing now) Our friend Ethan was heading from California to Colorado to be our new STEM teacher. Well, at first he was suppose to arrive on Sunday at midnight. That didn’t happen. He left California on Sunday afternoon. Keep in mind that it is a 14+ hour drive and he was due to start work at 11:30am on Monday.

Well… at some point, he realized that he wasn’t going to cope. He and Dan talked and they decided to meet in Las Vegas, NM. Dan told me of this plan around midnight. (insert cussing) So, we went to bed and got up at 4am. We had time enough to dress, and head out the door. Awwwgh!

We got to Las Vegas at 7am. We had breakfast at Charlie’s Spic and Span Bakery. Bought tortillas, macaroons and sugar cookies. I drove Ethan’s car and Dan drove the truck while Ethan sort of slept.

We got to school with 30 minutes to spare. Dan went home and Ethan and I went to New Teacher orientation. When it was over, we headed home as Ethan was staying with us. He napped while I made a salad. Why? Well, because at 5:30, we had the Staff and Family BBQ. Ethan, Dan, Mom and I went. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday we got up and Ethan and I went to the first Teacher Inservice day. I only had to be there for a few hours. Then I headed off to work on signatures for my petition, and a few other things. Yes, I’m running for school board again. We had a Town Hall meeting at Washington School as well. An attempt to get people to understand what the school district is up against and how everyone should work together. We had 25 people. Not bad, but it could have been better.

Wednesday, a repeat of the day before, only I cleaned up the clothing bank. Thursday I went up to Gardner and taught some of the staff how to run a WordPress site. 🙂 In a fit of craziness, I volunteered to do the district’s websites. At least start them up. Overall, it saved the district about $5000. They look pretty good too.

Friday… Mom and I went shopping while Dan figured out why his computer fried. He was trying to get the SQUARE program set up on the website for the Celtic Music Festival. He’s had a lot of frustrations. Oh, and everyone has been asking when will it be done. Aieee-ya! We went to Bargain Box and I found some neat stuff for Battlemoor!

Today… Celtic Music Fest Board meeting. We are about a month out from the festival, and everyone is a bit edgy. Frustrated. Panicked. So, tempers got a little warm. The dust is now settled, but… there is still work to do. If you like Celtic music, check it out. Better yet, Come to the festival. If you can’t come, donate towards a good cause!

Tomorrow is gardening for me and sewing work on the bespoke tunic. Dan will be battling with SQUARE, and we will both help Ethan move into his new home.

Waiting is…

Posted on by

We are under a Winter Storm Warning. One that had people scrambling for groceries, firewood, batteries, etc. It even canceled our SCA event, Corazon. I took my mom to the grocery for a few things and then for a bit of a drive. It was crazy. Oh, and 62F was our high temp today.

When I got home, I made bread, a plum cake and then a casserole. While it was baking, I helped Dan with the firewood. We heat with it, and we’ve been whittling down a ‘hedge’ of pine. Today, we cleared the last of it. What wasn’t chopped, split, or stacked went into the compost bin. It was so strange to see the yard clear. By the time we came in, it was 38. We now have a bunch of firewood. 🙂

Since I posted last, we’ve had a bit of snow. Nothing like my friend Kirsty, who has 7 feet in her front yard. She lives in Massachusetts.

I’ll post pictures if we really get the snow they say we will.

Okay, it’s been like FOREVER since I last posted.

Posted on by

It’s been busy. Never Ever let anyone tell you that taking care of your elderly parents is easier than babies. Nope. Not even gonna believe that. It’s been three months of adjustment and reorganizing. Between shopping, drives, housecleaning and just everyday things, my life has been HECTIC.

Plus, it’s been busy. Usually our lives slow down around the end of the Celtic Music Festival. Not this year! Our one client in Denver moved, and we’ve been doing a lot of work getting their new home tech ready. On top of that, having new admin in the school district has been interesting. We’ve gotten more done in the last few months than we have in the last few years. Oh, and Morgan goes off to College in January.

So, now for some highlights.

Sunday Drives. In trying to meld my parent’s schedule in with ours means that we try to take Sunday drives. We saw some brilliant aspen in October. November and December brought sunny but cold days with snow. We also try and have breakfast at this little diner in Trinidad, called Bob and Earl’s. It’s the kind of place you walk into and everyone knows each other. Good food too.

Along with this is the Wednesday shopping in Pueblo which has been fun and yet eaten my life!

The Spanish Peaks Community Foundation Gala.  A night to dress up and honor people in the community. It was a very nice evening and lovely to dress up!

Skunked! We were woken up out of a dead sleep around 3am. Our dog Brandy got skunked on the front porch of the Wendy House. We had to open all the doors and windows, and I sat up until nearly 6am, trying to breathe. Ugh…

So, instead of working on some of our various projects, we will be washing Brandy and her area along with bedding, curtains, etc. I hate skunks.

Halloween. Dan and I handed out candy on my parent’s front porch. We must have seen over 300 kids. It was a lot of fun, and the weather was so nice!

Outlander Yes, I’m a fan. The series was fantastic. And… All the costume work. So much of it that a group formed on Facebook with all sorts of knitting, sewing, crocheting, etc. I have knitted two shawls and a cowl. 🙂 One man put out a survivor’s guide.

School stuff Our new superintendent is great. We’ve worked out a lot of the issues that the district has had problems with in the last 6 months. We have a lot of new staff as well, and it seems to be going well. Plus, we took a big chance. We bought iPads for every student in the district. It’s been interesting. We’ve also started a clothing bank. Too many kids without coats or basics. We are running out of a class room. 🙂 I went to the CASB Winter Conference at the beginning of December as well. It was a really good conference. Lots of info, ideas and connections.

We’ve had a Veteran’s Day celebration which honored Vets from our community, and local nursing home, and some creative literary nights. Night at the Museum was a lot of fun. The One Room Schoolhouse was great too. We also had a holiday dinner at La Plaza. More dressing up. 🙂

Weather November had some bitter cold and snow. Brrr! December has had it’s surprises as well. We are having a white Christmas as there was about 6 inches of snow on the 22nd. Oh, and it’s going to snow on Boxing Day as well. (26th) Lots of deer in the yard too, eating everything.

The Wendy House. We painted! We trimmed! We built another raised bed and oh have we gathered, chopped, split and burned firewood! We got permission to trim up two dead trees and were given two loads of wood. Wow. Morgan teased us that we love Halloween so much that we live in a pumpkin. Oh, and we got a bathtub and on demand water heater for the bathroom! 

Family. My Great Uncle Richard Ridge passed away on Halloween. He was 91. My Great Aunt Ann Sudar had her 100th birthday on December 13th. That was a wonderful party with 75 friends and family present. I got to see a lot of Sudars I hadn’t seen in years.

The Great Experiment Dan and I have been looking into hydroponics and aquaponics. So, we tried a small inside experiment. There will be more on that on this blog. We learned some lessons and will be trying it again in the spring.

Thanksgiving. My sister and her family, my aunt and her family, my parents and my family all got together for Thanksgiving dinner. Eleven people for three days. Wow! It was really nice.

And now for some pictures. 🙂

This slideshow requires JavaScript.