So -- I'm already having the back to school Nightmare!

It went like this:
I'm running through the school hallway, on my way to class. But then I run into a broken staircase -- and I have to jump over a huge abyss. I'm too scared to jump. The caretaker is encouraging me to jump. Then the bell goes. I have to jump. I spend a REALLY long time psyching myself up, and then I jump. I scramble up the side and run through the hallways, and up and down many sets of stairs.... then I get to my classroom. And the parents are all inside. They are not impressed. It is the first day of school and I didn't even meet the children outside in the playground like every other teacher did.
My classroom is some kind of courtyard, with a pool in it, and a rotting, rickety wooden pool deck. I call the kids to climb out of the pool... but they ignore me. I can't get them to come out of the pool. They aren't listening! The parents are rolling their eyes because I have no control of the children. Then they leave, sneering and say "Good luck..."

Then I woke up. Yikes!


Usually, my back to school nightmare goes like this: I run and run from class to class, but I can't find my classroom or my kids. Then I find them,  phew.

That's it.
 
None of this jumping over an abyss, like in a video game. None of this "ignore the teacher" stuff. None of these hostile parents!

What's with that?

 

(note the name of this school -- for real! It's just outside of Rochester, NY)

Today in Port Mouton... it's a lazy day

Overcast, 20 (68F)... waiting for rain....

I can't paint outside... I could have painted inside, but I needed a day off. I'm puttering, tidying, and catching up on my blog reading.
I needed this day :)

These are the coasters that I made with dropcloth scraps.

First I added some felt accents... but when I tested the wineglasses out on them, they were too wobbly.
So I'm going with a piece of felt sandwiched between 2 circles of dropcloth, and some simple stitching around the edges.

Mr. B is bringing some of my turquoise felt when he comes back next week, so I can make some more!

(and don't you just love my new mug?? I got it in a little shop in Mahone Bay. Sigh... I love Mahone Bay.. you can see the town live on the webcam here)

Today in Port Mouton.. summer is slipping away...

So I made slipcovers!!
I've never made slipcovers before -- but I've been procrastinating waiting for over 20 years to make these!

A kitchen island/ peninsula sure comes in handy as a cutting surface! (note Lie To Me on Netflix on my iPad)

I traced some parts and made paper patterns, and some parts I just measured and cut (the straight parts)
Then I pinned the pieces to the chair:

(can you guess what I used to make these? No? Painters dropcloths! It took 1 drop cloth (5x12 feet) to make each cover. With very little to spare. I made 4 coasters from the scraps!  Not bad for under $13.

The back and sides are pinned together:

And sewn and turned to check the fit (I basted it all together first, then trimmed the seams and finished them at the end. For the second one I trimmed and finished after each step because it made sewing on the skirt much easier)

 The seat base and the skirt, pinned!
 

Finished - except for the seat cushion:

This is what the seat cushion looks like :)

Andy seems to think that this is his own, personal chair.
 

 

Finished! 

Then I made the second one. It wasn't quite as fun as the first one.

Sorry that they are such a boring colour Meep! Meep has been hearing me talk about these for two decades. They were supposed to be burgundy... green.... velvet... patchwork velvet..... and, uhhh... I have all of the fabric for them.... but in the white beach house, they have to be white, right?

ArtUnraveled

 

(my nametag)

I'm usually in Phoenix this time of year, at ArtUnraveled. I miss my friends terribly!
Seth's blog shows his awesome classes and has my friends Susan and Don hiding in the pictures :) Susan and Don also sent me a photo of them at breakfast. Oh how I miss eating my omelets with Don and Susan... and Adina! And I miss Linda and Olivia at Happy Hour. And Lorri on vendor day..
So, even though I'm in the most beautiful spot on earth right now, I miss my peeps. Hope y'all are having a GREAT time!!!
(And I miss Maija, Ruth and Joanne -- who also aren't there this year)
Oh, and I miss the classes too -- but really, mostly, I miss the people.

(I gave these tags out at AU last year)

 

(not only am I felling lonely, but I'm feeling frustrated because I can't get the !@#$% lawnmower to work -- I got it going okay last week, but , nope, 3 hours worth of swearing today, and it JUST.WON'T.WORK. The grass is 6" high, and I'm an embarrassment to the neighbourhood :). Sigh..... on a happier note, it's not supposed to rain this week, so I should get the exterior painted. Well, the parts that I can reach without climbing on the roof.... which I won't do alone....

okay, thanks for visiting my pity party :)

Today in Port Mouton

Sunny with some clouds, high of 21 (70f)

I have been working my butt off!

It seems to rain every other day, so the outside painting has really slowed down (the wood has to dry out for about 2 days before i can paint, so I've been 1 1/2 weeks without painting)

However, I've been painting inside!

Here's the sunporch:
Before:

 

During:

 After:

And the bedroom:

 Before:

After:

 

Unfortunately ALL of this paint in the bedroom has to be sanded off and redone. The paint store sold me an expensive primer (over $50!!) and said that it would be "perfect for this" (it is fake wood paneling - the primer adhered well to the real wood paneling) Well, it wasn't. 2 coats of primer and a coat of paint later, it does this when I run the back of my fingernail over i (not even scratching with my nail -- running the BACK over it. sigh....) Will sand it back to get a better grip. Hopefully, the paint store will replace the paint and primer. It's Benjamin Moore, so a bit spendy. Pretty, though, isn't it? It's not a huge job to redo, but super annoying because, as you know, I'm here without transportation, so I have to wait for Mr. B to return to go to the paint store. Grrr.

Having said that, I have 2 wonderful Nova Scotia friends who I met through blogland, although hilariously coincidentally, I went to the same High School as Sara - at the same time (but she was 3 grades above me so I didn't know her), and Amanda lived a few blocks from my school in Toronto until she moved here just over a year ago.

A MILLION THANKS to:
Amanda was going on a road trip to Lunenburg and offered to take me along (who says no to Lunenburg? Pas moi!). After stopping in Bridgewater to pick me up a dehumidifier and a fan (super damp basement - 85%  humididty) and going to the fabric store and to some trift shops, and the grocery store... we finally made it to Lunenburg and went to Dots and Loops and The Makery. I didn't escape without some personal shopping....

(Little house necklace by Gold Fools, from Halifax)

And Sara came to visit and very graciously took me into town - to the hardware store... where I picked up painters drop clothes. Tune in tomorrow to see what I did with them..... We also hit the grocery store (i have enough tp to last a year) and we went out for lunch at Lanes. I recommend it!  Afterwards we took Andy for a walk on the beach. He loved it! I haven't taken him in his bike trailer to the beach yet. My legs and lungs are still getting used to the solo rides up the hills.

(you can click on their names to visit their blogs)

Woo Hoo - 2 dry days in a row! As soon as the dew drys, I can paint outside! I hope to get a lot finished today. Wish me luck!