Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Time sure does fly! 4 days since my last post.

Yesterday was the beginning of some housework/rearranging that needed doing. As with most old houses, there aren't nearly as many closets as one needs, so I had a 48" x 18" white coated metal shelving unit in one of the (unheated) upstairs bedrooms holding most of our linens. We have currently 4 bedrooms in this house - there were 7 when we moved in, but the 2 small ones that were the kids' rooms are now my office and yarn storage/shipping/booklet & Gazette layout rooms.

That brought us to 5, then another very small rear bedroom was stripped of its 8 layers of wallpaper, as so many rooms had to be, but then we didn't get back to fixing it up - as other more pressing jobs needed to be tackled. I also didn't want it to be a bedroom again, as it was when we bought the house. This place was divided into 3 apartments when we bought it, so we've been trying to determine the *original* use of the rooms as when the house was built in 1800 or so and added onto in 1845-1850.

So, this back room is off the dining room and behind the front hall stairs - an odd-shaped room and really shouldn't be a bedroom. As its future use is yet undetermined, it is currently a tool and project-parts storage room, for things being worked on elsewhere around the house.

So, that leaves 4 bedrooms. But this is a big house and we're not Rockefellers, so heating all 13 rooms is way beyond out budget. So, every year, the radiators get turned off in the parlor, the library, the 3 bedrooms, and that back room, as well as the pantry (or the room that *will be* the pantry). That leaves 6 rooms and a large upstairs/downstairs hall and 3 baths to keep heated. One *doesn't* turn off heat in bathrooms, unless one wants pipe problems!

But, with the very wet past 2 years we've had, we've also had some moisture problems in the unheated rooms. The entire closet full of linens and rugs began smelling moofah, and have to be washed and stored in another way. So, hubby went to Lowe's and bought 6 large, semi-clear plastic bins to put it all in after I'm done with the washing. I don't *purposefully* go out and buy plastic *anything* but, it looks like the only way to keep them clean.

So, I thought, great - I really could use that covered metal shelving unit in my office closet. Til now, it had 2 long shelves in it, that were functional, but definitely looked unappealing. As we *will* be trying to sell this house once its painted this spring/summer, making everything look as good as possible is a *must*, so I carried the loads of linens to the basement, took everything out of this closet, then hubby took out the shelves and the gazillion house-building nails the previous owner used to *secure* 2 home-made wooden brackets for the closet's original clothing rod. They never bought the *proper* fittings for anything, they always cobbled together something out of scrap wood, newspaper, you name it, and used enough housing-sized nails, staples, and/or tacks to secure it for 3 lifetimes.

But the shelf unit is in the closet now and I've put all my stuff back into it.

And, I did laundry yesterday, I'm doing laundry today and I'll be doing laundry - some of it hand washing - the wool rugs and such - for several days to come. They say climbing stairs is god exercise!

Saturday, we braved the mall - well for 2.5 hours anyway. Not easy with the one out-of-focus eye. The past few years, hubby would just drop me off on each of 2 days, and I'd do it all myself, as he *really* can't stand the crowds, the pushy moms and baby carriages, the parents who let their kids run around, the slow pokes who have all day to wander aimlessly, well, you know. But with this stupid eye, I can't tackle it myself this year, but all we could manage was the 2.5 hours. There's nothing like holiday shopping to take the joy out of Christmas! The rest of the gift -buying I'm doing online or have made already.

Today - wrapping and more pattern-writing. And that yarn better come soon, I have dad's hat and scarf to knit yet! But the Mill Hill beads did finally come in. I bought just a small bag to see if the size was right and it was perfect. So, Saturday, I online-ordered 1/2 kilo (2,500) of the 3/0 (5.5 mm) oriental pearl glass beads for the white cashmere hat and scarf samples for this new design. I also ordered some Miyuki bead sample cards from Caravan Beads, and need to order another bead catalog, this time from Shipwreck Beads, as I'm not happy with the Bead Warehouse selection or prices. So many places have the same things - tiny 11/0 beads and for larger beads, the Miyuki Triangles. There *must* be other good-quality larger beads available. And, after seeing the size of the 3/0 (5.5 mm) glass beads, we're not talking huge here. These are still small beads, but everything is clearly geared towards jewelry making, not using with knits or crochet.

Well, I've rambled enough, i think, to make up for not writing in for 4 days! I was so pooped yesterday, though, there was no way I could sit here and type for 1/2 and hour. Work awaist!