woo-hoo, Friday!

It’s day 8 of my little February manini project, and I’m thrilled that I’ve been able to get this momentum going.

Although yesterday was not a bad day in all respects — not even close — the thing about the paint on the frame was really frustrating. I put another coat on this morning, then pretty much decided that just wasn’t going to work out at all, even if I put six more coats on there.

I’m nothing if not resourceful, though, so I just grabbed the can of spray paint I had set aside for another project, covered up the garage floor with some newspapers and cardboard (convenient, since the car is at the shop and the garage was empty), and put sprayed two quick coats.

Lessons learned:

1. I should have just used the spray paint in the first place.
2. I really do prefer satin paint to gloss paint.
3. Holy carp, I had forgotten how much spray paint stinks. Note to self: save all spray-painty projects for summer. (Yes, once the frame was dry enough to pick up, I moved it into the house for final drying and opened the garage door to air it out.)

No pictures yet, since I still have to reassemble the metal to the wood frame, which I won’t be able to do for another couple hours, and by then it will be terrible light for taking pictures. But I’ll definitely do a before and after at some point.

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That was thing #27, technically yesterday’s thing. What about today?

Today I didn’t have a ton of time to devote to projects, so I chose something small: figuring out the Zinio + library account situation (#6 on my list).

A few weeks ago, I got notification from the library that they now have access to a large array of titles through Zinio, and that I can somehow connect that access to my personal Zinio account. For a magazine junkie like me, that was music to my ears.

Like most things involving the library computer system, however, the process didn’t look to be very straightforward, so I knew I’d need a little time to jump through the hoops. So, I chucked it onto the to-do list and let it sit there for a while.

This afternoon, I finally sat down to do it, and — surprisingly — it was much easier than expected. It took only a couple of minutes to get the accounts connected, then a few more to figure out how to add the titles I wanted to my personal account so I could easily access them.

By far the most time-consuming bit was paging through forty-five pages of offerings and figuring out what I wanted. I added a nice selection of artsy-craftsy titles, some interesting-looking shelter titles, and a few general-interest titles to my list. I didn’t add anything that I already subscribe to personally, although they did offer a few of those. I like to directly support with a subscription those magazines I read pretty much cover to cover, and if any of my new finds end up falling into that category, I’ll do the same with them.

Does your library have a hook-up with Zinio or a similar service? Have you found any great new magazines lately?

Foiled

Today’s project was repainting the frame on the metal art in the family room. I ran into a couple of roadblocks, though, so the reveal will have to wait a day or three.

I took the piece down and unscrewed the metal from the frame. I think that part was the big hurdle to me starting this before. There are eight little screws that hold it together at weird angles, and they’re hard to take out.

A light sanding took the sheen off the old paint and should have prepared it for the new paint. Hurdle #1: the paint was doing some weird stuff. It wasn’t covering very well, and seemed really, really thin for black paint. I let it dry for a bit and plan to give it another couple of coats. I had planned to do that when I got back from this afternoon’s errands.

However, after three stops and a trunk and backseat full of groceries, my car died again in the lot at Heinen’s.

Again. Yes. Two weeks ago, it died in the bank parking lot. I had the battery replaced, and when they checked everything else out, they said it was fine.

Apparently not.

Hurdle #2.

I managed to get it started after a couple dozen tries and drove it straight to the shop. John had to come get me and all of the groceries there. By the time we were done with all that, I was out of steam for the day.

Thus, this project is going to take a bit more time than originally planned.

I’m still counting it as a win, though, since it was substantially started.

It’s a sign!

Today’s project for February’s manini things was a simple one: make a new sign for my jewelry booth.

You may recall the 2012 Summer Market Friday downpour/hailstorm/lightningpalooza. Although, apparently, I didn’t write about it here, even though I could have sworn I did. Anyway, one of the many things affected by that storm out of nowhere was my sign.

It was a simple thing, just my logo, name, and tagline, laser printed, tape-sealed, and tacked to a painted board. The board had hooks so I could hang it from my sign stand.

In the deluge, the water seeped between the tape lines and behind the tacks and warped the paper. Redoing it has been on my list to fix it since then.

(Yes, I’ve done three shows between then and now. Yes, I used the bedraggled sign. Sometimes I’m lazy, if you haven’t picked up on that yet.)

Since I’m doing a new show in a new-to-me area this weekend, I figured it was time to do the sign. So, I simply printed out another copy of my sign on cardstock, cut it down a little on each side, attached it to an olive green sheet of cardstock, and used packing tape to laminate the front. Voilà!

It’s a little curled up from the tape,
so it looks crooked here.
But it’s fine in real life. 

Did you notice the cheat, though?

It’s not attached to the board. Why, you ask? Well, the show I’m doing Sunday is an indoor show, and I’m already using my large earring display, which will be perfect to attach this to, and thus I won’t have to also haul the sign stand. That’s the minor reason.

The major reason is that after far too long of noodling it over and fruitlessly brainstorming to come up with the perfect name, the stars have finally aligned and I have a new business name, and that business will soon be its very own limited liability company, instead of being just a sole proprietorship under my name.

This is big news for me.

I’m not going to jinx it all by revealing the name before all the paperwork is finalized and approved by the powers that be, but I’ve already registered the domain name and the Etsy shop name and the Twitter handle.

I also need to work on a new logo. (I do adore the one I’ve been using, but it’s modified public-domain clip art, and I’d rather have something more custom.)

Once I’m official, believe me, you’ll hear all about it.

Hooray for little patches!

#4 and #10 on my February manini list done! Yay!

All but the kitchen took two coats, but it was easy enough since by the time I worked my way around the upstairs, the first room I did was ready for its second coat. (That’s one thing flat paint is good for, anyway.) I didn’t worry too much about the patch in the kitchen, since it was in a dark spot under the cabinets and behind the coffeemaker, and no one ever sees it except for the few times a year we pull out the coffeemaker and make coffee. I just wanted to cover up the glaring drywall white from the chip that was taken out of the paint.

I did skip out on painting over the patches in the blue room, however. When I got up close and personal and spackled in there yesterday, I noticed how bad the paint job is and how much gunk is on the walls (former young girl’s room = lotsa marks + tape residue). Repainting that room just slid up a few notches on the priority list. And maybe it should, since it’s the first room we see in the morning when leaving our bedroom, and it really isn’t a color I would have chosen for myself.

It’s hard to believe what a difference such little things make. We’ve lived in this house for more than five years now, and it is an ongoing Project with a capital P. Every time I turn a corner, I see eight more things I’d like to take care of, an effect magnified by working at home, since I see it all that much more by being here all day.

Not that I’m complaining. I love this house, and I love a good project.

It was just so nice to lay in bed last night and not be distracted by those two holes in the ceiling where the former owners had hung something (a swag lamp, maybe?), or the three holes in the wall above the bed where someone else’s pictures once hung. It will be nice to go into the master bath and not be confronted by the dozen or so holes left when the previous owners took out their shelves when they left (plus they left a couple of mismatched drywall anchors). Although we won’t get around to repainting the guest room and guest bath before we have another round of houseguests — or, let’s face it, before at least another year passes for the guest room and until we’re ready to completely remodel the guest bath — at least our guests won’t be confronted with swiss cheese walls.

Ha! Appropriate, because the walls in those rooms actually are kind of a swiss cheese pale yellow.

And having the last glaring swath of Pepto-Bismol pink gone just makes my heart sing.

Why did it take so long to get around to this one? Inertia. Burning desire to repaint all those upstairs rooms, and figuring I’d get around to it when it was time to repaint, but the high ceilings in the master bedroom and bathroom preclude DIY painting. Overwhelm on the project list. Higher-priority things coming first.

I’m glad that I tackled this one as part of my February project.

A little reconfiguring

In hindsight, #4 and #10 on my February manini list are somewhat related and will each spread out over more than one day, so I’m smooshing them together and taking care of them today and tomorrow.

The previous owners had a thing for what I call clown colors. Our family room and dining room came complete with a good, thick coat of Pepto-Bismol pink. I don’t think it lasted much more than two months after we moved in; getting rid of the pink and the awful purple in the kitchen were Major Projects #1 & #2.

Of course, we ended up having to repair the furnaces and replace our thermostats soon after I painted. At the time, it was absolutely frigid outside, and we had been without heat for a while, so touching up around the dining room thermostat wasn’t the first thing on my mind. I just wanted that new one stuck on there and making the heat go.

that pink makes me like Pepto-Bismol even less

Let’s just say it’s been that way for a while.

As you can see, there was some chipped paint from when we had to pry the old thermostat off the wall, so that needed to be sanded and spackled, which I took care of today. Because these colors are so dark, it’s going to take two coats of paint. Coat #1 is drying now; I’ll take care of coat #2 tomorrow.

Since I had the spackle in my hands already, I wandered upstairs and realized that there were a lot more holes in a lot more places than I had originally realized when I stuck this on my manini list. The previous owners must have had a lot of shelves and hooks that they took with them.

It took about a half-hour to pull the anchors that needed to be pulled and fill those holes, some nail holes, and some miscellaneous dings in the walls that have been bugging me.

Then, when I went to put the spackle stuff away, I remembered there was one ding in the kitchen behind the coffeemaker that I needed to take care of, so I did that, too.

Because all of the rooms upstairs, other than the hall, are slated to be painted colors other than what they are now, tomorrow I’ll just put a single coat of touch-up on those spots I spackled today and call it good. And I think I’ll be able to get away with that in the kitchen, too.

paring down to favorites

I have this little problem where I know what lotions and the like work for me, but I still feel compelled to keep trying new stuff. My skin is sensitive, and I hate stinky smelly lotions and soaps, so 90% of the time, the new stuff I pick out just doesn’t work for me. Then, because I hate to waste stuff, I feel like I have to use up all the stuff, just so as not to be wasteful, even though it’s not my favorite and I’m just counting down the days until I can get back to my favorite. Also, there’s this thing about saving my favorites for… I’m not really sure what.

The face lotion I’ve ended up with is more expensive than I would like, but it’s what works. It doesn’t clog my pores, it doesn’t smell like a perfume factory, it doesn’t make me break out, it doesn’t sting my eyes, and, while it’s on the pricey side, I can afford it… what more could I want? Yet, last week, I found myself buying yet another face lotion, which ended up being a weird texture and having a strong scent.

this is what works

I’ve been working a bit with the concept of the Book of Me (thank you, Havi), and this past week I added an entry about sticking with what works (until they inevitably change or discontinue it, anyway) and resisting the temptation to pile on new stuff just for the sake of it being new. And pampering myself by using my favorites and not feeling like I have to make do or look for compromises.

Thus, today I gathered up all the lotions, soaps, and such that aren’t my absolute favorites and put them in a bag to give to my sister and my niece, the latter of whom just officially became a teenager and both of whom like trying new stuff a whole lot more than I do. And that’s another thing done off my February manini list.

automating without becoming an automaton

I live my life by lists. My lists keep me sane and allow me to get all of the various stuff I do done. (Thanks, Mom, for the genetic propensity to put everything on a list.)

This February exercise in getting 28 manini things done gives you a little peek into one of my little flaws in this area, though: putting the little stuff on a list, but continuing to push it back and back and back again in favor of tackling bigger (more revenue-generating, more interesting, more urgent) stuff. So, a month of mindful decluttering to streamline the master list and make everything work that much more smoothly.

Anyway. Where was I? Lists.

I do several art shows every year, some indoor, and some outdoor. Sometimes the indoor ones provide tables, and sometimes they don’t. While I keep (most of) my show stuff in boxes and ready to go, these variables determine what I need to take and what I don’t for different kinds of shows.

an old show setup

After one bad experience a couple years ago when I grabbed the tent boxes for an indoor show but not the all of the ones I needed for an indoor show, and then had to send my sweet, sweet husband back home for the right ones, I determined to make a list.

And then I kept putting it off, until this past summer, when I got serious about it and went through each and every box and listed its contents.

And then I chucked that scribbled list into my in basket. And here we are today.

This morning I excavated the list and typed it up into a Word document, with checkboxes and everything. I mentally went through every step for setting up an outdoor show, to make sure I had everything.

Then I saved and copied that list, and I adjusted it for indoor shows where I have to bring my own tables. I deleted all the tent- and bug-related stuff and adjusted a few other things.

Then I saved and copied that list, and I adjusted it for indoor shows where they provide the tables. I deleted the tables and custom table covers and added tablecloths and table risers, just in case they might work with the tables supplied. (My own new tables have built-in height adjustment.)

I will still likely end up bringing a few more things than I absolutely need (chronic overpacker here), but at least now I can be sure I have everything and free up some space in my brain for important stuff.

In February, we conquer the manini things

Inspired by Laurie over at Crazy Aunt Purl, I’m making a list of 28 manini* things that have been hanging around on my to-do list for far too long, and I’m going to conquer one per day for the entire month. And have a very nice glass or two of wine when I’m done.

(* manini = slang for [among other things] little, small, with a connotation of being pesky or irritating. One of my favorite highly useful words.)

Since coming back to this space with some sort of regularity is one of my wishes for this year, that makes a nice little kick in the ass to actually come here and write something every day this month, too. Not a novel. Not even necessarily multiple paragraphs. But something.

So, with no further ado and in no particular order, here are the 28 manini things I intend to conquer in February:

1. Hang up the little owl sculpture in the office. (2/1)
2. Go through old computer password book, enter what’s still relevant into 1Password, and shred the paper. (2/23)
3. Make appointment for annual physical. (2/27)
4. Repaint around the thermostat in the dining room. (2/4–5)
5. Redo the jewelry booth sign that got soaked in the July 2012 deluge. (2/6)
6. Figure out Zinio access through the library. (2/8)
7. Type up packing lists for indoor and outdoor shows so I don’t have to recreate them every time. (2/2)
8. Type up packing lists for classes. (2/28)
9. Make a spreadsheet for extra class supplies costs. (2/28)
10. Pull unused anchors and other crap from master bath & guest bath walls; spackle; touch up paint. (2/4–5)
11. Borrow the sewing machine. (2/25)
12. Hang hooks in my closet. (2/28)
13. Pot the plants that are ready to be potted. (2/28)
14. Clean out the front closet. (2/28)
15. Clean out the till closets. (2/27)
16. Go get some paint chips so I can decide on a color for the till and the office shelving. (2/13)
17. Buy a bookshelf for the guest room; move fiction from office to guest room. (2/13)
18. Deal with the magazine backlog. (2/26)
19. Office cord management. (2/28)
20. Organize my business reference notebook. (2/23)
21. Gather up all the lotions, bubble bath, and the like that I never use and put them in a bag for my sister and niece. (2/3)
22. Add the new names to the CH mailing list database. (2/16)
23. Go around with the Magic Eraser and clean up the scuff marks on the baseboards. (2/23)
24. Clean out the hardware drawer. (2/14)
25. Cull T-shirt stack. (2/15)
26. Take measurements for framing the oil painting in the office. (2/12)
27. Repaint frame on metal art in family room. (2/7–9)
28. Clean out office drawers. (2/12)

Mostly small things; a few slightly bigger things thrown in there for when I have more time. Here’s to a shorter to-do list at the end of February!

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Since today is the first day of February, I jumped right in and hung up the little owl sculpture I bought at Bazaar Bizarre in December.

The artist is Nina Vivian Huryn, and her table drew me right away and left me there with my jaw open and not being able to stop saying, “Your stuff is just so cool!” over and over again. I wasn’t leaving without a piece of art.

The owl is carved in leather, painted, and mounted with nails on thick board, about 1.5 × 2.5 inches. He’s tiny and intricately detailed and textured, and he makes me smile. Now he lives on the wall over my desk, keeping watch over the basket that corrals the mugs o’ pens & other short sticklike office supplies, my reading glasses, paperclip bowl, hand lotion, and stereo remote.

It took five minutes, only because I bent the first nail I tried to hammer into the wall and had to go get another one.

Go, me!

Updating systems

It’s been a light workweek here at Pax Industries, so I finally he some time to do some updates I’ve been wanting to get to for a while. Software was the big one.

I’ve been putting off upgrading to Mac OS X Lion because I first needed to come up with a replacement for Quicken, which has run my financial life for the last 15 years or so. I was never in love with Quicken, but it did what I needed it to do and I was used to it. There aren’t a lot of options out there in the Mac world; iBank is probably the best known, but one of the helpful trainers at the Apple Store gave me some pointers to some others, including Moneywell and SEE Finance.

In the end, I went with iBank, mainly because it has some history behind it and doesn’t appear to be likely to go away anytime soon. The import of my Quicken data went shockingly well. I was a little worried, having read a few reports of things getting hinky there, but my fears were allayed. I’ve been using it for a few days now, and I think it will be a fine replacement once I get used to its quirks. So far I’m finding it irritating that I can’t use the plus and minus keys to change the date and that opening an account doesn’t automatically open a new transaction. But I think it will be fine once I break some decade-plus-old habits. I’m also not excited about the cartoony interface with its ugly, oversized icons. Here’s hoping those will mature as the program matures.

With the path clear for Lion, I bit the bullet and started the download. It was taking a while — Apple’s servers have apparently taken a hit this week with all the iOS 5 upgrades — so I left it overnight and installed in the morning. I haven’t had any glitches thus far, just having to do a few tweaks. There are some new things here, but most of it seems to be hidden, so I have a book and hope to sneak into an Apple Store workshop tomorrow to see what’s what. In the meantime, programs are working as usual, so I was able to pick up quickly when a last-minute project came in just as I was finishing my upgrades.

Along with the software I put in place a couple of new procedures for handling email and projects, which I’ll talk about another time.

September

September has always been one of my favorite months. Generally beautiful weather, a great time to work in the garden, that delicious leftover beginning-of-the-school-year feeling (I was one of those nerds who l-o-v-e-d school and couldn’t wait for it to start — still am, in a way).

This September seems to have snuck up on me, though. I still love it, and I’m glad it’s here, but I don’t feel quite as mentally prepared for it as I usually am. It’s been a crazy, busy year — a crazy-busy year, really. By the end of June I had invoiced as many editing and proofreading projects as I had for the whole of 2010, and more of them were editing than the year before, too. I completed (with the help of my mom) a couple of big garden projects and put down fifty bags of mulch, although I didn’t get to everything I had hoped to tackle this summer. I’m glad that there will still be some time yet this fall to try to get a jump on at least one of those projects for next year. I spent some of my rare downtime this summer thinking about and putting into place some systems and doing some reorganizing to help me move more efficiently through my work and personal projects (thanks in part to Jennifer Hoffman of Inspired Home Office). I want to write about some of that, too, in case it can help someone else in my place.

So, hello, September. I’m glad you’re here.