A little domestic blogging

The good news is I've gotten an itch to blog something. The bad news is that I haven't been doing  anything terribly interesting. We'll see what happens. But first I'd like to note, in light of my last blog post, that everything is still jogging along here as usual and nothing seems to be the problem except for this darn cold I'm still trying to shake. Currently my only symptoms are sleeping more than usual and having a few moments throughout the day in which my lungs attempt to turn themselves inside out. Apparently this is what happens when you have bronchitis as a little baby. I once spent an entire semester with a cough like Cerberus despite otherwise feeling great and not having any other symptoms. I probably scared a few people into taking their vitamin C though :)

A side affect of being sick has been that Allen's folks haven't been able to come over for dinner the past couple weeks and that I haven't been able to get much done. Seriously, until I started feeling better recently I had exactly two days in which to get anything done. One of those was a Sunday and the other day we were out of town. In other words, I got rather behind. Also, I got tired of chicken nuggets, but that's beside the point. This week though we're (sort of) back to normal. That means folks over for dinner this week and me trying to decide which project to tackle. I've decided that Allen's folks coming over makes a nice little mini-deadline for me to get on something and see what I can accomplish each week. It can be anything from getting a light fixture hung to building a bookcase to hanging curtains to painting something. You get the idea. We have quite a bit that still needs doing, and I like having my little once a week deadline as incentive to keep ticking things off my list.

This week I thought I'd maybe paint the transom window (finally!) and hang some curtains. I may still start on some of that, but in my erratic way of working I actually ended up getting our large mirror and several pieces of artwork hung. Yes, I know. I should be blogging with pictures. Still, I've really been enjoying our large blank walls and all the space we have for artwork. Growing up my parents really only had prints by two different artists on the walls. They were rather nice prints, and I really enjoyed having them in our house. I just didn't grow up with people who collected or sought after artwork to any great extent, and it really surprises me how easy and inexpensive developing an art "collection" really can be. In the den I just hung three vintage maps I got for maybe $10 all together. The living room contains a poster print of an antique photograph of Delicate Arch in Utah along other national park ephemera, a couple etsy finds, and a letterpress print. I don't think a single piece was above $30-40. I've also picked up $5 canvases at yard sales and thrift stores. While not great art they're pretty similar to what you'd find for much more at an arts and crafts show. My point is that it's really not too hard to assemble a decent collection of art. Even if your tastes runs more towards great paintings you can often find decent reproductions if you look. Eventually I'd love to walk into a gallery and pay $200-500 for an original painting I love, but even if those replace some of my $5 canvases I've started a collection of things I really like and that beautify our home. For not having grown up this way I really enjoy poking around art shows and tent sales and second hand stores looking for bits of art and furniture. The value I've gotten has been nothing like what these things would cost new, and with a coupon for a new frame or a coat of paint or a bit of fabric everything comes together. Ok, I admit I'm on the "eclectic" side of things. If your taste turns towards Italian Renaissance or imported English Oak you're going to have to look a lot harder. For my mid-century ranch meets traditional farmhouse and loves to travel the countryside vibe it works out very well. 

This is why I haven't been posting this past week - well that and I was sick for a couple days. My cousin is having twins, and I ended up scrambling to finish these blankets before her shower this last Saturday. I ended up using this pattern from Stitch Nation and just tweaking the color repeats slightly when I went from one blanket to the next. As beautifully as the rows knit up it's one of the easiest patterns I've used. There are just four stitches in the whole blanket: knit, purl, yarn-over, and knit-three-together. Easy peasy and super cute. It was really the colors that caught my eye though. Pastels can be adorable for babies, but the vibrant stripes are so fun and eye catching. They also work well when you don't know if you're knitting for a girl or a boy. In my case I found out most of the way through the first blanket. Considering that I punctuated my knitting with rounds of bookcase building, curtain hanging, and lots of cooking for guests it's probably a good thing I didn't put my knitting off any later! Domestic scatterbrain. That's me.

This next week I'll hopefully get back to blogging more. I need to tackle our crazy town assemblage of partially opened boxes in the spare bedroom, and I'm hoping to finally sew up my kitchen curtains. Still, all deadlines are off for a few days. More blogging, more piano playing. Less staying up until 4am trying to weave the last of the ends into a baby blanket.