In 2015 I built an outdoor cat enclosure, or “catio”, in our back yard. It’s something I’d wanted to build for a while, and finally convinced hubby the cats would [1] be safe from predators and [2] hidden from 99% of public view. We have a pretty small back yard and the 6’x6’x3′ catio takes up about 1/3 of it!
Back in 2015 I published a page called “Flood of 2010” which chronicled the 2nd epic “100 year flood” of the Ipswich River less than 4 years from the first, and included photos taken by Jim & Flickr user Paula Stephens. Last May I deleted it, but now it’s back.
Back in 2015 I published a page called “Flood of 2006” which chronicled the epic “100 year flood” of the Ipswich River and included photos taken by Flickr user waterpixi. Last May I deleted it, but now it’s back.
The Fire Department was called in 2017 to the 3rd condo [first floor studio, which had been recently renovated and was empty] and I couldn’t reach the owner. Thankfully he showed up just as they were about to force the door, but it gave me an idea.
My last post about basement flooding was in June 2018. The only basement wall still in need of waterproofing was the long wall in Kathy’s cage, which borders the River.
I don’t like the new normal. Not at all. I am not good with change. It triggers my anxiety. And makes living with depression more difficult. But at the same time I am thankful for so much.
For Christmas hubby gave me a set of Chromatek watercolor pens which came with a pad of watercolor paper and access to 6 YouTube tutorials.
Since I still haven’t been posting very much [I have been doing projects and have about 6 posts to write!] I am sharing my Winter 2020 Instagram photos.
Got a very scary email this morning from WordFence (WordPress security plugin) saying my site has been infected with Malware. GoDaddy (my hosting provider) confirmed it and are in the process of removing it. Scary world.
I have added 2 new projects to my list of things to do in 2020. Even though I haven’t done anything yet on the existing list, I added two more.
I know most people have doors & locks on their basement cages. We never have. When I moved into the condo back in 2012 the cage door was already leaning against the wall around the corner from the cage. I never felt the need to put it back on. Until now.
For one of hubby’s Christmas gifts I ordered a TV-B-Gone Kit from Amazon. They will turn off about 85% of televisions in public places. Unfortunately, since these devices are questionably legal, you can’t buy a complete device, you have to build it yourself. They literally send you a bag of parts which I found very daunting!
Despite taking almost half a year off from blogging, I managed to accomplish a lot! Being on furlough for the first 5 weeks of the year with nothing to do but projects helped immensely, but I think that’s in part what caused my burnout.
The 3rd heating zone is our master bedroom. I installed the smart thermostat in there back on November 30th, but didn’t have time to feed the wire through the wall until this past weekend. Since you have already read all about our other 2 smart thermostats, I’ll keep this post very short.
This past November I decided to relax by coloring with crayons. I have been keeping an ear open to the recent trend of adult coloring books, but wanted to make my own designs to color in. I found a book of thick art paper in the girl cave, grabbed my circle templates [same ones I use for stained glass and art painting], a sharpie, and a ruler and set to work.
Last May I started de-mousing the foundation around our front stoop with hardware cloth. I only got a bit of the right side done. This past weekend I stapled hardware cloth around most of the front stoop in an attempt to keep ahead of them!
This past May I spent about 6 weeks completely cleaning and overhauling the girl cave. I removed 2 large trash bags of crap, and moved a bunch of stuff to the basement for storage. I didn’t take any “before” pictures, because, well, I guess since I wasn’t really in a blogging mood I also wasn’t thinking ahead to “before” pictures.
Just about a year ago I posted about my first stained glass mobiles, and mentioned that I’d made 2 more that same week and would post about them soon. Well, a year later, and here we go!
This past August I decided to craft 2 stained glass nautical stars. I had promised a coworker I’d make her a star, and she really likes nautical stars, so instead of my usual star pattern I found a new one online. I decided to make 2 stars, one for her and one for me.
Today after work I was running around doing chores and unpacking Amazon boxes into assorted Christmas gift piles. While I was walking through the kitchen to the basement I noticed Darwin was perched in front of the fridge, staring intently underneath it.
